Washington Business Spring 2012 | Page 35

business backgrounder | industry neighborhood has become a hotbed for medical research. “Seattle is a biotech center of excellence, and placing our inflammation research center here allows us to attract top scientists and collaborate with high-quality partners,” said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, Novo Nordisk’s, executive vice president and chief science officer. Seattle was one of many cities Novo Nordisk was looking at for their research facility in 2009 according to Beck. “What we found here is a vibrant community of researchers and companies that we wanted to be a part of. We’ve developed some great partnerships with surrounding research facilities and businesses.” With the expansion of their Seattle office, Novo Nordisk hopes to add the skills and talent they procured towards Type 1 diabetes research. The expansion also shows that Novo Nordisk will continue to be one of the anchors of the Seattle biotech community. “Novo Nordisk has been a trem e n d o u s p a r t n e r i n S e a t t l e ’s biotech and life science community since opening their inflammation research headquarters in 2009. By selecting Seattle for its North American diabetes research headquarters, they will add dozens if not hundreds of new jobs to our region, it also demonstrates that Seattle is a global leader in the biotech and life science industry,” said Chris Rivera, pres