novo444Seattle has been struck with some tough setbacks in the biotech community in the past few months, including the recent news that Amgen plans to close its R&D center along Elliott Bay. That decision alone will impact some 660 high-end biotech workers.

But now Novo Nordisk may pick up the slack. The giant Danish drug maker is considering opening a new R&D center in Seattle to study drugs and treatments to fight obesity.

Chief Science Officer Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen tells Bloomberg News that the new research center may be placed in Seattle, where the company already has operations. It could employ upwards of 500 people.

Interestingly, Novo Nordisk announced plans to cut its overall workforce by 400 people earlier this month, including 63 workers in Seattle. At the time, the company noted that it planned to reduce R&D efforts on rheumatoid arthritis, instead focusing on its treatments for diabetes.

Novo also is putting horsepower behind its obesity efforts, including a weight-loss drug by the name of Saxenda which won approval from an advisory panel at the FDA last week. The drug is a variant of the company’s approved drug for diabetes.

“Obesity is now considered a disease,” Thomsen tells Bloomberg. “Suddenly it’s coming into the same playing field as diabetes.”

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