10 biotech companies leading the way in Denmark

Known for being one of the happiest countries in the world, Denmark has become a big hub for biotech in Europe. In this article, we take a look at 10 of the best biotech companies headquartered in Denmark. 

In the last few years, Denmark’s life sciences sector has accelerated its output of high-quality research, as the country was ranked 16th overall for biological sciences-related output in 2022. The country is also among the fastest-growing nations in Europe for biotech investment, hitting $434 million in 2021. 

Following the example of Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk – which on its own has helped to raise Denmark’s gross domestic product (GDP) after the success of its weight loss drug, Wegovy – many biotech companies in Denmark are striving to bring forth the next big breakthrough in the biopharma industry.  

Adcendo 

• Technology: Antibody-drug conjugates 
• Disease area: Oncology 
• Recent news: Dosed first patient in phase 1/2 trial of ADCE-D01 

Adcendo is working on harnessing the uPARAP receptor to develop antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for the treatment of cancers with a high unmet medical need. The uPARAP receptor was originally identified as a novel target and cloned by the scientific founders of Adcendo. It is a key player in the body’s management of the extracellular matrix, particularly in collagen remodeling. It is essential for tissue repair and maintenance, but also happens to be overexpressed in several cancer types.  

Just last month, the Danish ADC company announced that it had dosed the first patient in a phase 1/2 trial of its uPARAP receptor-targeting candidate ADCE-D01 in patients with metastatic and/or unresectable soft tissue sarcoma. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the drug, while the secondary objectives are to characterize the pharmacokinetics and to evaluate its preliminary efficacy. 

Meanwhile, in February, the company also announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provided clearance of its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for a phase 1 study evaluating its other candidate, ADCE-T02, in patients with advanced solid tumors. The drug is an anti-tissue factor ADC; tissue factor is expressed on the surface of some solid tumors, but generally not on healthy tissues. According to Adcendo, which licensed the drug from Multitude Therapeutics in 2024, the candidate’s unique antibody design minimizes the impact on the coagulation pathway, while the T1000-exatecan linker-payload technology platform has been shown to amplify the bystander effect, improve linker stability, and has the potential to overcome emerging resistance mechanisms. 

In November 2024, the Denmark-based biotech company completed a $135 million series B financing round to “advance, broaden, and accelerate” the development of its ADC pipeline.  

Antag Therapeutics  

• Technology: Peptide therapies 
• Disease area: Obesity 
• Recent news: Initiated phase 1a trial of lead candidate, AT-7687 

Obesity-focused company Antag Therapeutics is working on the development of peptide therapies targeting the GIP receptor (GIPR). GIP is an incretin hormone released by the small intestine in response to food intake that plays a crucial role in the regulation of insulin secretion, glucose metabolism, and fat storage. By targeting this hormone, Antag is aiming for better weight loss and metabolic benefits without common side effects like those caused by GLP-1-based therapies, such as tolerability issues and loss of muscle mass.  

The company’s lead candidate, AT-7687, is a peptide designed to be co-administrated with current or future obesity therapies, including GLP-1 medicines, to deliver superior weight loss and metabolic benefits. According to the company, this flexibility in dosing provides multiple advantages over competing GIPR blockers, such as the ability to optimally drug each target for maximal efficacy and tolerability. In addition, AT-7687 can also be used as a single agent in the maintenance setting.  

In April 2025, Antag initiated a phase 1a trial of its candidate, with topline results expected in Q4 2025. Following this study, the company plans to investigate AT-7687 as a combination therapy in patients treated with a GLP-1 receptor agonist. This trial is expected to commence at the end of 2025. 

In December 2024, the Denmark-based biotech secured €80 million ($84 million) in a series A financing round, which was led by Versant Ventures and included participation from founding investor Novo Holdings, among others.  

Ascendis Pharma  

• Platform technology: TransCon 
• Disease areas: Endocrinology rare diseases and oncology 
• Recent news: Partnered with Novo Nordisk for TransCon technology-based products  

Ascendis Pharma is a biotech company based in Hellerup, Denmark, focused on the development of improved treatments that address unmet medical needs. The company has a platform technology called TransCon, which allows it to slow down the release of a drug once inside the body, significantly reducing the frequency of injections needed to treat a chronic condition.  

TransCon refers to “transient conjugation,” which is the ability to temporarily link an inert carrier to a parent drug with known biology. Depending on the carrier used, TransCon prodrugs can be designed to act systemically or locally, focused on meeting a specific therapeutic goal. TransCon is widely applicable to proteins, peptides, or small molecules in multiple therapeutic areas. 

Ascendis has a pipeline focused on oncology and rare diseases involving endocrinology. In 2021, it had its first product approved by the FDA, named SKYTROFA, which is a treatment for pediatric growth hormone deficiency. People with this rare disease require daily injections, and many patients are known to skip doses during the week due to the high frequency required. In contrast, Ascendis’ treatment only has to be taken once a week, reducing the burden for patients.  

Ascendis also announced in 2023 that the European Commission had approved another one of its products, called YORVIPATH, for the treatment of adults with chronic hypoparathyroidism, a rare condition where the parathyroid glands, which are in the neck near the thyroid gland, produce too little parathyroid hormone. The FDA then followed suit in 2024 by approving YORVIPATH in the U.S. 

In November 2024, the company announced that it had granted Novo Nordisk an exclusive worldwide license to the TransCon technology platform to develop, manufacture, and commercialize Novo’s proprietary products in metabolic diseases (including obesity and type 2 diabetes) and a product-by-product exclusive license in cardiovascular diseases.  

Bavarian Nordic  

• Technology: Vaccines 
• Disease area: Infectious diseases 
• Recent news: Initiated a phase 3 study of chikungunya vaccine in children 

Currently in the spotlight as Nordic Capital and Permira have made an offer of around $3 billion to buy all shares of the company, Bavarian Nordic is a pioneer in the vaccine space, focusing on the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of life-saving vaccines.

Bavarian Nordic has built its foundation around poxviral-based vaccine platform technologies, and in particular, its proprietary technology, Modified Vaccinia Ankara – Bavarian Nordic (MVA-BN). MVA-BN is an adaptable platform suitable for addressing a wide variety of infectious diseases and cancers. It is a further attenuated version of the Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) virus, which is a highly attenuated strain of the poxvirus Chorioallantois Vaccinia virus Ankara (CVA). 

The company is a global leader in smallpox vaccines and has been a long-term supplier to the U.S. government of a non-replicating smallpox vaccine, which has been approved by the FDA, and is also intended to protect against monkeypox. The vaccine is also approved as a smallpox and monkeypox vaccine in Canada and as a smallpox vaccine in Europe.  

More recently, Bavarian Nordic also received FDA approval for its virus-like particle single-dose chikungunya (a virus spread by mosquitoes that can cause symptoms like fever and joint pain) vaccine, sold under the brand name VIMKUNYA. It is the first chikungunya vaccine approved for people as young as 12 years old, addressing an unmet need for chikungunya prevention for younger travelers. Additionally, last month, the Danish biotech company initiated a phase 3 study of its chikungunya vaccine in children aged between two and 11.  

The company’s commercial product portfolio also contains vaccines against rabies, tick-borne encephalitis, cholera, and typhoid. 

Genmab 

• Technology: Antibody therapies  
• Disease area: Oncology 
• Recent news: Opened a new site in New Jersey, U.S. 

Founded in 1999 in Denmark, international biotech company Genmab has invented next-generation antibody technology platforms and leveraged translational, quantitative, and data sciences, resulting in a pipeline including bispecific antibodies and ADCs aimed at tackling cancer. To help develop and deliver these novel antibody therapies to patients, Genmab has formed more than 20 strategic partnerships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, such as AbbVie, Janssen, Amgen, and BioNTech.  

The company already has some of its products on the market. These include Tivdak (tisotumab vedotin-tftv), for previously treated recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer, and Epkinly (epcoritamab-bysp), for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. In total, Genmab says on its website that there are eight approved medicines incorporating its antibody technology. 

Genmab also has more than 20 products currently in clinical development, as its vision is to transform the lives of people with cancer and other serious diseases by 2030 with “knock-your-socks-off (KYSO)” antibody medicines.  

The Denmark-based company recently opened a new site in New Jersey to expand its U.S. presence and to become a fully integrated biotech company that can also commercialize and deliver its drugs to patients rather than relying on external companies to do so.  

Gubra 

• Technology: Peptide therapies 
• Disease areas: Metabolic and fibrotic diseases 
• Recent news: Entered into license agreement with AbbVie for obesity candidtae GUB014295 

Organized into two business areas – CRO Services and Discovery & Partnerships (D&P) – Gubra specializes in preclinical contract research services and peptide-based drug discovery within metabolic and fibrotic diseases. According to the company, these two businesses are “highly synergistic” and create a unique entity capable of generating a steady cash flow from the CRO business, while also enjoying the biotech upside in the form of potential development milestone payments and potential royalties from the D&P business. 

The Danish biotech company currently has two main clinical assets listed in its pipeline for the treatment of obesity. The first candidate, called GUB014295, is a long-acting amylin analog currently being investigated in a phase 1 study. In March this year, Gubra announced a license agreement with AbbVie to develop the candidate. Under the terms of the agreement, Gubra received $350 million upfront and is eligible to receive up to $1.875 billion in development, commercial, and sales milestone payments with tiered royalties on global net sales. 

Meanwhile, the company’s second obesity treatment, called BI 3034701, is a triple agonist that is fully outlicensed to Boehringer Ingelheim. The two companies announced the launch of a phase 1 study for it in July 2024, with the initiation of the trial releasing a milestone payment to Gubra.  

IO Biotech 

• Technology: Vaccines 
• Disease area: Oncology 
• Recent news: Named to Fast Company’s list of the “World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2025” 

IO Biotech is a player in the immuno-oncology field and is developing therapeutic cancer vaccines based on its T-win platform, which is based on a novel approach to cancer vaccines designed to activate T cells to target both tumor cells and the immune-suppressive cells in the tumor microenvironment. The result of this is a stronger immune response against the tumor. 

The company’s lead candidate, which is called Cylembio but is also known as IO102-IO103 in clinical trials, combines two of IO Biotech’s wholly-owned T-win vaccines, IO102 and IO103, that are designed to activate and expand T cells specific for IDO and PD-L1, respectively. IDO and/or PD-L1 are overexpressed in many types of solid tumors and immune-suppressive cells (Tregs and TAMs) in the tumor microenvironment. By combining IO102 and IO103, the candidate is intended to have a synergistic effect on cells in the tumor microenvironment that express IDO and/or PD-L1, leading to enhanced cell killing. 

Based on positive phase 1/2 first-line advanced melanoma data, IO102-IO103, in combination with Merck’s checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda, has been granted a breakthrough therapy designation for the treatment of unresectable/metastatic melanoma by the FDA. This combination is now being tested in a phase 3 trial for the same indication. Furthermore, in January 2025, IO Biotech completed enrollment in a phase 2 trial of IO102-IO103 in combination with Keytruda as a neoadjuvant/adjuvant treatment for patients with resectable melanoma or head and neck cancer.  

In March 2025, the Danish company was named to Fast Company’s list of the “World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2025.” It was recognized for its potentially game-changing approach to immune-modulatory cancer vaccines, earning its place as the 9th most innovative company in the world in the biotechnology category. 

MinervaX 

• Technology: Vaccines 
• Disease area: Infectious diseases 
• Recent news: Entered into agreement with Wacker Biotech to manufacture active protein ingredients for BGS vaccine 

As an antibiotic resistance company based in Copenhagen, Denmark, biotech MinervaX was established to develop a prophylactic vaccine against group B Streptococcus (GBS) based on research from Lund University. It is currently developing a GBS vaccine for maternal immunization since GBS can cause a potentially fatal infection in newborn infants.  

The company’s vaccine is different from other GBS vaccine candidates in development, which are generally based on traditional capsular polysaccharide (CPS) conjugate technology. Instead, it is a protein-only vaccine based on fusions of highly immunogenic and protective protein domains from selected surface proteins of GBS.  

Two phase 2 trials of the vaccine have been successfully completed, with data showing an acceptable safety profile in pregnant people and their infants, as well as high immunogenicity, leading to functionally active antibodies with the potential for broad coverage and protection, ultimately alleviating the need for excessive use of antibiotics.  

In 2023, MinervaX raised €54 million ($58.9 million) in upsized financing. More recently, last year, the company also entered into an agreement with the CDMO Wacker Biotech to manufacture its active protein ingredients for its GBS vaccine.  

Muna Therapeutics  

• Technology: Small molecule therapies 
• Disease area: Neurodegenerative diseases 
• Recent news: Entered into strategic alliance with GSK for Alzheimer’s disease treatment 

Launched by Novo Holdings in 2021 with $73 million in series A funding, Muna Therapeutics is focused on the development of small molecule therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The company was formed as a result of the combination of two European startup companies: Muna and K5 Therapeutics. 

Muna’s portfolio of disease-modifying small molecule potential therapies includes two programs that address the functions of a key cell type, called microglia, which respond to and exacerbate neurodegeneration and compromise neuronal function. Its most advanced microglial-focused drug program – TREM2 agonism for early-stage Alzheimer’s – is being prepared for clinical testing in healthy volunteers and patients, while other programs that address microglial and neuronal resilience are in early preclinical stages. 

In December 2024, Muna entered into a strategic alliance with GSK to identify and validate novel drug targets for the treatment of Alzheimer’s. As part of the agreement, the two companies will explore insights from Muna’s MiND-MAP platform, which applies spatial transcriptomics to brain samples from Alzheimer’s disease patients, cognitively resilient individuals, healthy controls, and centenarians with and without cognitive impairment. 

Zealand Pharma 

• Technology: Peptide therapies 
• Disease area: Obesity 
• Recent news: Announced positive phase 1b results for dapiglutide 

Working on the development of next-generation peptide therapeutics, Zealand Pharma is particularly focused on treatments for various indications, including obesity, which is proving to be an extremely popular field since the approval of weight loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic.  

The Danish biotech company’s two most advanced candidates are petrelintide and survodutide. Petrelintide is a long-acting amylin analog designed for weight management. The drug is currently in phase 2 of development, and Zealand Pharma also recently entered into a collaboration and license agreement with Roche, in which the two companies will co-develop and co-commercialize petrelintide as both a standalone therapy and as a fixed-dose combination with Roche’s lead incretin asset CT-388.  

Survodutide, meanwhile, is a long-acting, glucagon/GLP-1 receptor dual agonist designed to leverage the body weight reduction and glycemic control of GLP-1 receptors with some activity on the glucagon receptors, which are present in the liver. The drug, which achieved breakthrough results last year in a phase 2 trial for MASH, is licensed to Boehringer Ingelheim, with Boehringer solely responsible for development and commercialization globally, while Zealand has a co-promotion right in the Nordic countries. 

Zealand Pharma also recently announced positive topline results for another one of its candidates, dapiglutide, which was found to decrease mean body weight by 11.6% from baseline at week 28 in a phase 1b trial. The drug is a long-acting GLP-1/GLP-2 receptor dual agonist designed to leverage the weight loss effects of a potent GLP-1 agonist and address comorbidities associated with low-grade inflammation through improved intestinal barrier function by GLP-2.  

Denmark: A small nation with a mighty biotech sector  

Although Denmark is one of Europe’s smaller countries, it has an extremely well-established life sciences sector, and is home to several major international pharmaceutical companies, as well as innovative biotech companies like those mentioned in this article – many of which are following in the footsteps of Danish giant Novo Nordisk in developing obesity candidates. 

Denmark’s government invests substantially in research and development (R&D) in the country; it funds the academic sector, as well as the Danish National Research Foundation, which is an independent research-funding body established by the Danish parliament in 1991. Last year, the Danish government also released the “Strategy for Life Science Towards 2030” vision, which aims to realize the industry’s potential towards 2030, in turn showing the government’s commitment to the industry.  

On top of government funding, there is also a considerable amount of international investment in the sector. Ultimately, the combination of public and private investment is a major factor in the recent success of Denmark’s biotech industry. 

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