Danish diabetes giant Novo Nordisk has increased its market value from USD 44bn to USD 91bn in the last five years, and that growth has pushed the company onto the list of the 100 most valuable companies in the world for the first time ever.

The results are published in the annual PwC report ‘The Global Top 100’, which examines the market capitalisation of the 100 largest corporations across the globe.

The 91bn dollars puts Novo Nordisk in 66th place on the list, which is led by American conglomerates Apple (USD 416bn), Exxon Mobil (USD 404bn) and Google (263bn).

Largest growth

So there is still a way to go for Novo Nordisk, the only Danish addition to the list, which is otherwise heavily represented by pharmaceutical companies.

And within the industry Novo is also trailing somewhat behind the largest players, as seen from the list below. Growth in billion dollars from March 31, 2008 to March 31, 2013 can be seen in the brackets.

It should be noted that none of the other pharmaceutical companies have managed to surpass Novo Nordisk in terms of percentual  growth over the five-year period, while the Danish company with a growth of USD 47bn is only bested by Pfizer, Novartis and Merck in absolute terms.

13. Johnson & Johnson – USD 228bn (+44)

17. Pfizer – USD 207bn (+65)

21. Roche – USD 201bn (+36)

24. Novartis – USD 192bn (+52)

35. Sanofi – USD 135bn (+32)

38. Merck – USD 134bn (+52)

45. GlaxoSmithKline – USD 115bn (+0)

88. Amgen – USD 77bn (+32)

93. Gilead Sciences – USD 75bn (+27)

The entire report can be found here.

- translated by Martin Havtorn Petersen