Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Jorgensen testifies earlier than a Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor, and Pensions Committee listening to on U.S. costs for the load loss medicine Ozempic and Wegovy, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 24, 2024.
Piroschka Van De Wouw | Reuters
Novo Nordisk mentioned Friday that CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen is stepping down because the Wegovy-maker seeks to revive its ailing fortunes amid rising competitors.
The Danish pharmaceutical large mentioned Jørgensen would stay in his put up “for a interval to help a easy transition to new management.” It added that the seek for a substitute was ongoing and an announcement could be made sooner or later.
Novo Nordisk shares have been final buying and selling 3% decrease. In the meantime, shares of rival weight problems drug maker Eli Lilly have been up 1.6% in premarket buying and selling.
The choice comes as Novo Nordisk’s share worth has taken a battering over the previous yr amid elevated competitors within the ballooning weight problems drug market and disappointing trial outcomes for its next-generation therapies.
The corporate’s share worth is at the moment down by greater than 50% for the reason that center of 2024.
“Novo Nordisk’s technique stays unchanged, and the Board is assured within the firm’s present enterprise plans and its means to execute on the plans,” Chairman Helge Lund mentioned in an announcement.
“The adjustments are, nonetheless, made in gentle of the current market challenges Novo Nordisk has been going through, and the event of the corporate’s share worth since mid-2024,” the corporate mentioned in an announcement.
In reference to the change, the corporate mentioned that Novo Nordisk Basis chair Lars Rebien Sørensen will be part of Novo Nordisk’s board, initially as an observer.
Novo final week reported lower-than-expected first-quarter gross sales of its flagship Wegovy weight problems drug and trimmed its full-year gross sales development forecast amid elevated competitors from compounded drug markets within the U.S.
“Compounders took part of our enterprise away,” Jørgensen advised CNBC’s Charlotte Reed.
The corporate however mentioned that it anticipated gross sales to enhance within the second half of the yr as the provision of copycat compounded medicine is phased out after the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) ended its drug scarcity ruling.
Novo has in the meantime struggled to shake destructive sentiment following a sequence of disappointing trial outcomes for its next-generation weight problems drug candidate CagriSema. Jørgensen beforehand mentioned that he was “very optimistic” concerning the prospects for the therapy.
“From the information now we have, CagriSema is the most effective product that has been examined out or is in the marketplace, and we consider we will get these knowledge even higher.”
