Novo Nordisk Foundation

The Novo Nordisk Foundation is based in Copenhagen. It owns 77% of Novo Nordisk’s voting rights and 28.1% of its shares. It was a condition of the company's permission to make insulin that the proceeds should be invested in research. That is why the foundation was set up 1924. At the end of 2022 it had DKr805 billion or $116 billion. It is the largest charitable foundation in the world.

It pays for research into obesity and diabetes, cardiometabolic diseases, stem cell science and climate change.

Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen is the chief executive.