Public Affairs
Public Affairs, also known as advocacy or government affairs, is not new to Novo Nordisk. We have always cared about and engaged in debate in society in general and the health policy agenda in particular. With the creation within the last few years of a dedicated Public Affairs capability, we seek to build a more systematic and coherent approach globally and across functions.
Public Affairs can be defined broadly as the “multidisciplinary management of public policy issues and opportunities by adapting to and influencing public behaviour, attitudes and policies”. In Novo Nordisk, Public Affairs has a long-term perspective and a solid foundation in other disciplines such as health economics, medical affairs and public relations. The arena of Public Affairs covers several stakeholder groups: regulatory bodies, payers and policy-makers, health care professionals and the diabetes community. This means all people with a specific, direct stake in better diabetes care and prevention, including people with diabetes and their networks.
The management of Public Affairs in Novo Nordisk is the discipline of understanding, entering into a dialogue with and even partnering with these groups to promote better quality in care for people with diabetes. Going forward, our public affairs efforts will also be extended to other areas, such as haemophilia, where Novo Nordisk has a leadership position and responsibility.
Read about guidelines for our public affairs efforts here.
Our public affairs ambitions
We advocate an ambitious approach with three integrated ambitions:
- Give people with diabetes appropriate priority: assign governmental resources on par with the scope and severity of the disease and its complications
- Drive outcomes for people with diabetes: motivate governments to reorganise healthcare systems around a holistic and outcomes focused perspective from the earliest risk factors to late-stage complications. The quality of care ambition is to improve control, prevent or delay complications, improve quality of life for people with diabetes and achieve long-term savings for society
- Break the curve of the global diabetes pandemic: mobilise multi-stakeholder efforts to monitor the fight against diabetes and set clear targets for improvements in prevention, quality of care and reduction of disease progression, complications and deaths caused by diabetes
Breaking the curve of diabetes is a win-win situation for people with diabetes, for society and for Novo Nordisk. Our three patient-focused Public Affairs ambitions go hand-in-hand with our Corporate Strategy and Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach and support our diabetes product portfolio. We live up to our ambitions through wide-ranging initiatives such as the Changing Diabetes® Leadership Forums and the Changing Diabetes® Barometer (visit the website).
For more detailed information on our public affairs work and recent performance visit the latest annual report site.
