Pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk has teamed up with the Mexican capital Mexico City in a bid to help the city overcome its increasing rates of obesity and diabetes.
Lars Rebien Sørensen, the head of Novo Nordisk, is looking forward to a project that will see the Danish company funnel millions of kroner into researching and mapping the health situation in the huge city, after which it will implement a health strategy involving treatment.
“For Novo, this is an open-ended experiment. We know that prevention is important – more exercise, better diet and much more – but we also know that treatment is necessary,” Sørensen told Poltiken newspaper.
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Huge market potential
Sørensen underlined that the researchers, who are from University College London, are free to do their research, but that Novo Nordisk obviously have a commercial interest in the project.
”Our agenda is to treat diabetes patients and preferably with our own products, but we believe that it is best to prevent them becoming ill in the first place,” Sørensen said.
It is estimated that 13 million Mexicans suffer from diabetes, but just half have been diagnosed and the issue is mostly prevalent in the larger cities.
José Armando Ahued Ortega, the leading health official of Mexico City, agreed that diabetes was undoubtedly the city’s largest and most pressing health concern.
