Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk pushes out its CEO over declining stock price
The company’s share price has fallen about 50% in the past year as the industry faces the threat of tariffs and Novo’s dominance in the weight-loss segment begins to fade.
Novo Nordisk announced on Friday that it would replace its CEO, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, as the company’s stock price slips amid fierce competition for new weight-loss drugs.
The company said the decision was made in light of “recent market challenges, the share price decline, and the wish from the Novo Nordisk Foundation,” the company’s research arm. Jørgensen, who has been at Novo since 1991 and CEO since 2017, will continue to lead the company until the board finds his replacement.
The company’s share price has fallen about 50% in the past year as its dominance in the weight-loss segment begins to fade and the industry faces the threat of tariffs.
Novo is the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, two of the most recognizable brands of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. While they were early entrants, their dominance is being challenged by Eli Lilly’s GLP-1s, Mounjaro and Zepbound, which are more effective and catching up in sales. Lilly has also had more success than Novo in developing new generations of GLP-1s.
Last week, Novo reported lower-than-expected sales of Wegovy and slashed its full-year sales forecast. The company placed some of the blame on compounding pharmacies, like Hims & Hers.
