Instant View: Wegovy-maker Novo Nordisk ousts CEO as competition in obesity drug market heats up

Reuters

Fri, May 16, 2025, 5:21 AM 1 min read

LONDON (Reuters) -Wegovy-maker Novo Nordisk said connected Friday its CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen volition measurement down implicit concerns the institution is losing its first-mover vantage successful the highly competitory obesity cause market.

Here is absorption to the news:

LUKAS LEU, PORTFOLIO MANAGER AT BELLEVUE ASSET MANAGEMENT, WHICH OWNS NOVO SHARES:

"Seems similar he's been made redundant. He was starring the institution for 8 years and successful my sentiment that was highly successful...Stock has been anemic since mid-2024. That is unexpected and not excessively good."

JP MORGAN:

"Overall, portion the announcement of the CEO modulation is unexpected, we judge this reflects decisive enactment from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to enactment Novo successful the strongest presumption to capitalise connected the GLP-1 (obesity/diabetes) marketplace accidental implicit the adjacent 10 years.

JYSKE BANK ANALYST, HENRIK HALLENGREEN LAUSTSEN:

"Our archetypal thoughts are that these are uncertainties that the Novo stock does not request successful the existent situation. On the look of it, a antagonistic terms absorption makes sense, contempt the caller challenges for Novo...They don't request much uncertainty, they request a steadfast grip connected the wheel.

"The Novo Nordisk Foundation is expanding its power and has appointed its chairman, Lars Rebien Sørensen, arsenic an perceiver connected the Novo Nordisk Board of Directors for predetermination successful 2026. The changes are without immoderate changes to the company's strategy, according to Chairman Helge Lund."

GOLDMAN SACHS

Obviously not large astatine archetypal look, immoderate aboriginal feedback pointing to the institution acknowledging show has not been acceptable and alteration was needed but volition besides telephone into question the inflection successful scripts if and erstwhile that comes.

(Reporting by Maggie Fick successful London and Stine Jacobsen successful Copenhagen;Compiled by Josephine Mason; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)