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SHAH ALAM – Healthcare firm Novo Nordisk has unveiled its new corporate identity in Malaysia, adopting the day-to-day name Novo as part of a push to bring chronic disease management closer to everyday lives.
The rebrand, centred on the slogan "Lasting Health Starts Now", reflects a shift towards whole-person care and preventative health. The company's legal entity remains Novo Nordisk A/S.
It comes with "The Novo Way", an updated organisational framework designed to improve operational speed, focus and competitiveness in a rapidly changing healthcare market.
The initiative comes as the 2023 National Health and Morbidity Survey found that 54.4 per cent of Malaysian adults are overweight or living with obesity, while 15.6 per cent have diabetes.
Novo Malaysia head of market access and public affairs Tee Loong Tek said chronic illness is managed daily, not just in the clinic and that science needs to be connected to people's routines through strong local partnerships.
"For us in Malaysia, this next chapter needs to feel relevant to people's everyday lives. Chronic conditions such as obesity and diabetes are lived every day, not only during a consultation.
"We want to bring science closer to those realities, so people can better understand their health, know when to seek support and feel more confident taking action.
"Strong partnerships across Malaysia's healthcare ecosystem will be an important part of making that progress possible," he said.
Universiti Malaya senior consultant endocrinologist Prof Dr Jeyakantha Ratnasingam said obesity and diabetes involve interconnected risks, making early awareness and timely intervention crucial.
"Obesity and diabetes rarely exist in isolation. In clinical practice, we are often looking at several interconnected risks, including blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and excess body fat.
"The earlier people understand these risks and have the right conversations about their health, the greater the opportunity to take appropriate action and support better health over time," he said.
Universiti Malaya emeritus professor Dr Chan Siew Pheng said earlier conversations and broader awareness allow people to manage health risks before severe complications develop.
"Chronic disease is lived between your clinic visits with your doctors. Understanding how your body functions and how illnesses like obesity and diabetes can be managed remains important, but so are the realities of everyday life, including what people eat, how they sleep, their level of activity, stress, family circumstances and whether they feel able to seek help.
"For such conditions, earlier awareness and informed conversations are important because risk often develops over time. Helping people understand their health before complications arise gives us a better opportunity to support meaningful change and sustainable progress," she said.
Novo's refreshed visual identity keeps its historic Apis bull symbol alongside a modern wordmark.
Novo chief executive officer Mike Doustdar said the company's core purpose of transforming lives and supporting long-term health remains unchanged.
"We remain true to our purpose of changing people's lives and are ambitious about our future to help them have lasting health, starting right now," he said.