Danish Novo Nordisk CEO steps down

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Board of Directors addressed the similar body of Novo Nordisk with the thematic proposal. The former company's board also expressed a desire to increase its representation on the Novo Nordisk Board of Directors. Novo Nordisk Foundation, through its investment company Novo Holdings A/S, controls the majority of votes at the annual general meeting of shareholders of the pharmaceutical manufacturer.

In addition, it was decided that Lars Sørensen, Chairman of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, will participate in Novo Nordisk board meetings as an observer. He plans to stand for election to the pharmaceutical company's board of directors in 2026.

Lars Jorgensen joined Novo Nordisk in 1991. He took over the company in January 2017, having previously served as executive vice president and head of the manufacturer's economic development department. Before him, Novo Nordisk was headed by Lars Sorensen. The latter's resignation was also linked to the Danish drugmaker's poor financial performance.

In September 2023, Novo Nordisk, on the back of the success of its anti-obesity and anti-diabetic drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, became the most valuable company in Europe, with a market capitalization of $428 billion. The reason for the growth of shares was Wegovy's entry into the UK market. The self-injection drug began to be sold through the British NHS weight management system, where it was prescribed free of charge. The United Kingdom became the fifth market for the Danish blockbuster after the United States, Norway, Denmark and Germany.

Later, in February 2024, the company's market value exceeded the $500 billion threshold. Novo Nordisk's economic success helped Denmark avoid a technical recession in early 2023 and increase economic growth. The country's gross domestic product grew by 2% in the first months of 2024 due to increased sales of semaglutide-based drugs. Novo Nordisk shares reached their peak value in mid-2024, when the company's securities were trading at $1,025 per share. Later, their value began to decline steadily. Now the manufacturer's share is sold at the level of November 2022 - for $426.

The decline in Novo Nordisk's capitalization was due to growing competition in the weight loss drug market: another major player's drug, Zepbound (tirzepatide) from the American Eli Lilly, began to gain popularity in this segment (in Europe the drug is known under the trade name Mounjaro).

The last major drop in the Danish company's share price (almost 10%) occurred at the end of April 2025 due to Eli Lilly's announcement of the effectiveness of its drug, a competitor to Ozempic. The American experimental drug orforglipron showed good results in weight loss and sugar control in patients with type II diabetes. The April share price drop reduced Novo Nordisk's market value to $273 billion. As a result, the Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer fell to fifth place in the ranking of Europe's largest companies.

Novo Nordisk's financial difficulties in the US market are also related to the company's inability to meet national demand. American pharmacies began to compensate for the shortage of the drug with cheaper generics manufactured at their own facilities. Novo Nordisk applied to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in October 2024 with a request to ban this mechanism. The regulator ordered to stop manufacturing cheaper analogues of weight loss injections by May 22, 2025. Lars Jorgensen then noted that pharmacies "captured" about a third of the obesity drug market in the US.