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Ozempic maker faced with 'meltdown' as directors quit
The Observer
|October 26, 2025
Boardroom drama erupts at Denmark's Novo Nordisk as its market value plunges and competition intensifies in the weight-loss sector, writes Barney Macintyre
Novo Nordisk's chairman, Helge Lund, and six other board directors stepped down on Tuesday after reaching an impasse with the top shareholder at the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy.
The nonprofit Novo Nordisk Foundation, which owns 77% of voting rights at the drugs company, says it appoints independent directors to "ensure an arm's length relationship".
Lund will be replaced by Lars Rebien Sørensen, the chair of the foundation. Sørensen was CEO for 16 years and led the ousting of his successor, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, in spring.
"What has happened in the last six months has shown us who the power holders are," says Martin Jes Iversen from Copenhagen Business School. "It's the foundation, and to a larger degree than expected."
At the heart of the dispute is the pace of change at Novo, which has lost roughly 45% of its market value so far this year.
This story is from the October 26, 2025 edition of The Observer.
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