novo444Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk announced plans today to open a new obesity research unit in Seattle, a move that had been previously reported earlier this month. The facility will attempt to identify novel approaches for obesity treatments, employing up to 60 people when it is fully operational in 2016.

“Our ambition is to drive scientific progress in the obesity disease area and through this identify and develop new treatment options for people with obesity”, said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, executive vice president and chief science officer at Novo Nordisk.

Leading the charge for the new facility is Dr Kevin Grove, an expert in endocrinology who most recently served as a senior scientist at the Oregon Health & Science University.

“I’m looking forward to leading the Novo Nordisk Obesity Research Unit in Seattle and gather a team of preeminent researchers within the obesity and endocrinology field. We have a real opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the management of this disease that impacts so many people globally,” he said.

Earlier this month, Novo Nordisk announced layoffs, with 63 people in the Seattle area impacted.

Novo Nordisk employs about 40,000 people worldwide. It acquired Seattle-based ZymoGenetics in 1988. It later spun off Zymo into a public company and then it was acquired again in 2010 by Bristol-Myers Squibb.

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