Legal issues

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Legal issues

This account on legal issues involving Novo Nordisk is replicated from the Annual Report 2008, signed 28 January 2009.

Pending litigation against Novo Nordisk

As of January 26, 2009 Novo Nordisk Inc., along with a majority of the hormone therapy product manufacturers in the US, is a defendant in product liability lawsuits related to hormone therapy products. These lawsuits currently involve a total of 50 individuals (as compared to 45 individuals in January 2008) who allege to have used a Novo Nordisk hormone therapy product. These products (Activella® and Vagifem®) have been sold and marketed in the US since 2000. Until July 2003, the products were sold and marketed exclusively in the US by Pharmacia & Upjohn Company (now Pfizer Inc.). According to information received from Pfizer, 51 individuals (as compared to 27 individuals in January 2008) currently allege, in relation to similar lawsuits against Pfizer Inc, that they also have used a Novo Nordisk hormone therapy product. Novo Nordisk does not have any court trials scheduled for 2009 and does not presently expect to have a trial scheduled before Q3 2009.Novo Nordisk does not expect the pending claims to have a material impact on Novo Nordisk’s financial position.

In November 2006, Novo Nordisk A/S and its Italian affiliate Novo Nordisk Farmaceutici s.p.a were sued by A. Menarini Industrie Farmaceutiche Riunite s.r.l. and Laboratori Guidotti s.p.a. (‘Menarini’) in the Civil Court in Rome. Menarini alleges that Novo Nordisk breached an alleged contract withMenarini for the sale and distribution of insulin and insulin analogues in the Italian market or, in the alternative, has incurred a pre-contractual or extra contractual liability arising from negotiations between the parties. Novo Nordisk disputes the claims made by Menarini. A hearing in the matter is scheduled to take place on September 29, 2009. Novo Nordisk cannot predict how long the litigation will take or when it will be able to provide additional information. At this point in time, Novo Nordisk does not expect the pending claim to have a material impact on Novo Nordisk’s financial position. Novo Nordisk Inc is currently a defendant in four separate cases filed in the US alleging that Novo Nordisk and a number of other pharmaceutical companies provided a false Average Wholesale Price for certain drugs covered by Medicaid. These cases have been brought by the State of Alabama, and the counties of Oswego, Erie, and Schenectady, New York. Novo Nordisk was dismissed from a similar action brought by the State of Mississippi. Further, in 2005, Novo Nordisk was dismissed in 38 similar cases brought by counties in the State of New York. Novo Nordisk does not expect the pending claims to have a material impact on Novo Nordisk’s financial position.

Pending claims against Novo Nordisk and investigations involving Novo Nordisk

In December 2005, the office of the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York served Novo Nordisk with a subpoena calling for the production of documents relating to the company’s US marketing and promotional practices. The company believes that the investigation is limited to its insulin products. The subpoena indicates that the documents are necessary for the investigation of potential criminal offences relating to healthcare benefit programmes. Novo Nordisk is cooperating with the US Attorney in this investigation. At this point in time, Novo Nordisk cannot determine or predict the outcome of the investigation. In addition, Novo Nordisk cannot predict how long the investigation will take or when the company will be able to provide additional information.

In February 2006, Novo Nordisk received a subpoena from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) calling for Novo Nordisk to produce documents relating to the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme. Other companies have disclosed that they have received similar subpoenas. Novo Nordisk has been discussing the matter with the SEC and the US Department of Justice, and has fully cooperated with the US authorities. Further, since 21 September 2006, the Danish Prosecutor has investigated the possibility of disgorging profits earned under the Programme. Novo Nordisk can neither determine or predict the outcome of these investigations, nor predict how long they will take.

At this point in time, Novo Nordisk does not expect the pending claim to have a material impact on Novo Nordisk’s financial position.

Other litigation proceedings

In addition to the above, the Novo Nordisk Group is engaged in certain litigation proceedings. In the opinion of management, settlement or continuation of these proceedings are not expected to have a material effect on the financial position.

Liability for the debts and obligations of Novozymes following the demerger of Novozymes in 2000

Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S are subject to joint and several liability for any obligation which existed at the time of the announcement of the demerger in 2000. At the end of the year the remaining part of the joint and several liability in Novozymes A/S amounted to DKK 557 million (DKK 557 million in 2007).

Debts and obligations pertaining to the period before 1 January 2000, which are recognised after 1 January 2000 and which cannot be clearly attributed to either Novo Nordisk A/S or Novozymes A/S, will be distributed proportionally between the two companies according to an agreement established in connection with the demerger in November 2000.

Disclosure regarding Change of Control

The EU Take-Over Directive, as partially implemented by the Danish Financial Statements Act contains certain rules relating to listed companies on disclosure of information that may be of interest to the market and potential takeover bidders, in particular in relation to disclosure of change of control provisions. For information on the ownership structure of Novo Nordisk, please see ‘Shares and capital structure’ on pages 49–50. For information on change of control clauses in share option programmes please see pages 78–80 with note 33 ‘Share-based payment schemes’, and in relation to employment contracts of Executive Management of Novo Nordisk, please see note 34 ’Management’s remuneration, share options and shareholdings’ on pages 80–82.

In addition, Novo Nordisk discloses that the company has significant agreements to which the company is a party and which take effect, alter or terminate upon a change of control of the company following implementation of a takeover bid. If effected, a takeover could – at the discretion of each relevant counterparty – lead to the termination of one or more of such agreements and a total loss of approximately 5% of Novo Nordisk’s turn over, corresponding to approximately 4% of Novo Nordisk‘s gross profit.

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