The Novo Nordisk Inc. (NNI) ISS Program is dedicated to building on our 100-year heritage of putting patients first. That’s why we support independent scientific investigations that improve patient outcomes and add knowledge to our products and/or therapeutic areas of interest. The NNI ISS Program aims to support high-quality independent research that addresses evidence gaps and unmet needs and explores potential areas of innovation.

Thank you for your interest in our ISS Program. Please note that all new clinical ISS applications requesting semaglutide (injectables and oral formulation) are currently on pause and not being accepted. 

Interventional drug research which processes data derived from humans or human specimens.

Research measured according to standard of care, without any attempt to change or intervene. Data can be obtained through primary data collection, secondary use of data (e.g., claims data, medical chart review, electronic healthcare records, meta-analyses, etc.) or a combination.

Create an account on the ISS Portal. Refer to our ISS Portal Quick Reference Guide for instructions on how to navigate the system. 

Submission requirements include:

  • A well-written protocol and detailed line-item budget (e.g., when requesting funding) utilizing the NNI protocol and line-item budget templates. All budgets will be subject to Fair Market Value (FMV) analysis.
  • Investigator Curriculum Vitae (signed and dated within the last year)
  • Active medical license (e.g., if requesting study drug)
  • Conflict of Interest form


For more details about what is required for submission and how to access the protocol and line-item budget templates, refer to our Quick Reference Guide and our ISS Portal Quick Reference Guide

All applications are reviewed by the Novo Nordisk teams on both the US (NNI) and Global level. The teams are comprised of representatives from Medical, Clinical & Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Data Science and Evidence, Product Safety, and other functions as appropriate.

Your local Field Medical Liaison and/or the ISS Director will communicate the status of your application. You may also check the status of your application any time by visiting the ISS Portal.

You can submit your application through the ISS Portal. Please view our ISS Portal Quick Reference Guide for detailed instructions on how to navigate the portal.

We require:

  • A well-written protocol and detailed line-item budget (e.g., when requesting funding) utilizing the NNI protocol and line-item budget templates. All line-item budgets will be subject to FMV analysis. For more details about what is required for submission and how to access the protocol and line-item budget templates, refer to our ISS Portal Quick Reference Guide
  • The Principal Investigator’s Curriculum Vitae (CV) - signed and dated within the last year.
  • Active medical license (e.g., if requesting study drug)
  • Conflict of Interest form

We support observational studies where research is measured according to standard of care, without any attempt to change or intervene. Data can be obtained through primary data collection, secondary use of data (e.g., claims data, medical chart review, electronic healthcare records, meta-analyses, etc.) or a combination.

We support interventional drug research which processes data derived from humans or human specimens. Support of study drug must come from the NNI ISS Program.

NNI understands that ideas may arise that represent “out of the box thinking,” and are ultimately of great interest to our organization. We welcome these ideas for submission. Please email NNI_ISS@novonordisk.com to determine alignment of your idea with organizational areas of interest.

Yes, please refer to the Quick Reference Guide for submission requirements and the ISS Portal Quick Reference Guide for instructions on how to access the NNI protocol and line-item budget templates.

Please submit your ISS application for the next submission deadline.

The Novo Nordisk teams strive to provide timely responses to all applications. Specific timings for review vary based on volume of protocols submitted and nature of the protocols.

For additional information on ongoing ISS please refer to our Ongoing ISS page.

Given that the Novo Nordisk Inc. (NNI) ISS Program is dedicated to building on our 100-year heritage of putting patients first, we also have a Request for Proposals (RFP) program. This program demonstrates NNI commitment to addressing evidence gaps and unmet needs to improve patient outcomes. For additional information click here.

Please refer to the Quick Reference Guide.

For additional questions please speak with your local Field Medical Liaison or email NNI_ISS@novonordisk.com.