In 1994, few of China’s legions of diabetics—the nation has 96.3 million today compared with 26 million in the U.S.—received regular insulin treatments. That’s when Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk committed to tackling diabetes in China—an effort that involved training tens of thousands of physicians, educating patients, and investing in local manufacturing and R&D. The results? A 2011 research paper estimated that the efforts had saved 140,000 life-years from diabetes-related complications. Novo, meanwhile, has a 63% market share in China.