Novo said Friday that its current CEO will resign
Obesity drug manufacturers have been struggling to compete with our rival Eli Lilly
Analysts say U.S. CEOs are better off dealing with Trump administrators.
Patrick Wingrove and Maggie Fick
May 16 – As Denmark’s Novo Nordisk Shops, to replace Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen’s next CEO, it should be spread across the Atlantic Ocean to be deeply rooted in the largest U.S. market, its largest.
Novo, which makes the popular weight loss drug Wegovy, said Friday that its current CEO will introduce the company’s advantage of losing its first-time promoter in the competitive obesity drug market.
Financial analysts spoke with Reuters that Americans may be better at dealing with the Trump administration, which is rewriting rules on pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, regulation and drug pricing.
The Danish manufacturer, under Jorgensen, has become the world leader in the weight loss drug market, but in the United States, the largest market for these drugs and the most profitable market, it has been fighting our rival Eli Lilly.
Novo has greeted customers with Indianapolis Company, contracted with insurance companies and launched a direct-to-consumer product to match Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbough. However, Zepbough’s prescription exceeded Wegovy’s regulations this year, exceeding 100,000 per week. Clinical trials show that the drugs have lost 15% to 20% weight, although among the five weight loss goals, Lily ran a head-to-head trial that found Zepboud more effective than Wegovy.
Barclays analyst Emily Field said Danish producers need someone who has a better understanding of the American system because they “haven’t competed the same level as Eli Lilly…and definitely feel like they are in a disadvantaged position.”
Novo, the largest drugmaker in Denmark, has only five CEOs in its 102-year history, and all Danes will be one CEO leaving the United States.
Jorgensen’s predecessor Lars Rebien Sorensen will now take on the role of observer, holding the highest position from 2000 to 2016.
Eli Lilly’s CEO has met with President Donald Trump several times, while Novo said it was not.
Novo executives said on a call with investors on Friday that they will study both internal and external candidates and are conducting searches.
Asked if the U.S. CEO is needed, Jorgensen told Reuters: “I think we have a great president of the American organization who is American and has been working in the industry for a long time, and I think we do cover it there.”
He refers to David Moore, executive vice president of the U.S. business leader, replaced Doug Langa last year.
Berenberg analyst Kerry Holford pointed out that three of Europe’s largest European pharmaceutical companies (Roche, Bayer and Novartis) all have European CEOs.
Yuri Khodjamirian, chief investment officer of Tema ETFS, said the fact that any successor could show preference for external candidates was not announced this time.
Morningstar analyst Karen Andersen said Nova traditionally chose long-term insiders as CEO roles, but said of Novo: “I think given how dynamic the market has become, given that there are so many.”
Trump has pledged a commitment to boost domestic manufacturing, and has been putting pressure on drugmakers since taking office to transfer drug production to the United States, threatening specific sector-specific tariffs in the industry.
The Trump administration has picked out Novo’s Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbough to push its goal of lowering the price of prescription drugs. The United States pays the most for drugs in the world, usually three times as much as other developed countries, and Trump says he wants to end the spread.
Facing these challenges, Eli Lilly benefits from the links CEO David Ricks has established with the Trump administration, analysts said.
Ricks was appointed as the industrial lobbying group PHRMA in 2020, and the current head of the group, the CEO of other major drugmakers, such as Pfizer, has met with Trump several times since December. Former Lily Chief Executive Alex Azar served as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services during Trump’s first term.
Jorgensen, who was one of the shortest-serving CEOs of Novo Nordisk after eight years, told Reuters on Friday that he had not met with Trump but had met with Trump administration officials.
“Dave Ricks knows how to meet,” said BMO analyst Evan Seigerman.
This article was generated from the Automation News Agency feed without the text being modified.
