Donald F. Steiner from the United States receives the Jacobæus Prize (then known as the H.C. Jacobæus Lecture of the Nordisk Insulin Foundation) and gives a lecture in Oslo. He receives the Prize for his contribution to research on insulin. The Prize promotes medical research and is awarded annually to a distinguished international researcher who is invited to give a lecture on his or her research.

In his last years, Hagedorn has Parkinson’s disease and is severely ill. By 1958, he is already using a signature stamp to sign his name because his hands shake so much. He gradually relinquishes his posts: in 1958 as Senior Hospital Physician, in 1963 as the Managing Director of Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium and in 1969 as Chair of the Board. He remains on the Board of the Nordisk Insulin Foundation until his death. In his final years, he is an inpatient at Steno Memorial Hospital.

In 1973,Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium A/S merges with its subsidiary Novo Industri A/S (established 1957) and adopts the name of the subsidiary and the company is listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. Knud Hallas-Møller is the Managing Director of Novo Industri A/S.

Although both the Nordisk Insulin Foundation and the Novo Foundation primarily support scientific causes, several humanitarian and social projects receive support over the years. In 1976, the Novo Foundation donates DKK 25,000 for Earthquake Victims in Guatemala and provides a further DKK 50,000 for Refugees 76.

Niels Steensens Hospital Research Laboratory is renamed the Hagedorn Research Laboratory – and later the Hagedorn Research Institute.

Throughout the 1970s, some members of the Board of Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium want the research at Steno Memorial Hospital to focus on new products that can be marketed and sold for the benefit of Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium, which owns the hospital. The Hospital’s physicians and researchers oppose this, since they fear that this will jeopardise free and independent research and the Hospital’s reputation. The proposal is not implemented, but the longstanding dispute ends when Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium restructures the organisation, placing three units under its control: 1) the commercial part consisting of production and sales under the name Nordisk Gentofte; 2) the Niels Steensens Hospital Research Laboratory, which is renamed the Hagedorn Research Laboratory and becomes an independent unit emphasising research and development for the benefit of Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium; and 3) Niels Steensens Hospital, which continues to focus on treating patients, independent research and education.