Answer: Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products and services. Created in 1989 through a merger of two Danish companies dating back to the 1920s, it has become one of the world's leading companies in diabetes care, where Novo Nordisk pursues research into pulmonary delivery systems; other companies, such as Medtronic, have expanded into insulin pump systems. Novo Nordisk also commands large sectors of the markets in haemostasis management, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy.
The Novo Nordisk logo since the year after the company’s foundation is the Apis bull, one of the sacred animals of ancient Egypt. The Apis bull was worshipped as the incarnation of Ptah, creator of the universe, city god of Memphis and the patron deity of craftsmen. The logo is a stylised reproduction of an Egyptian statuette dating from circa 664–323 BC. It is richly ornamented with symbols representing, among other things, the eternal dualities of life, day and night, life and death. The choice of the logo follows an old European chemist's tradition of identifying pharmacies by an animal symbol.
