The chair of Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk, Helge Lund, and six other board members are stepping down in a surprise shake-up, after a row with the company\u2019s majority shareholder.<\/p>\n
The Danish manufacturer of the blockbuster anti-obesity jab, and the diabetes drug Ozempic, said Lund, the vice-chair, Henrik Poulsen, and five independent board members would quit at an extraordinary meeting on 14 November.<\/p>\n
The move comes after Novo Nordisk ousted its chief executive, Lars Fruergaard J\u00f8rgensen, in May.<\/p>\n
The pharmaceutical firm has been battling a slowing rate of profit growth and a drop in its share price, after losing ground to its US rival Eli Lilly, which makes the Mounjaro and Zepbound injections. Clinical studies have shown that Mounjaro is more effective in causing weight loss than Wegovy.<\/p>\n
Lund said the board had been unable to reach agreement with the drugmaker\u2019s largest shareholder, Novo Nordisk Foundation, which wanted \u201ca more extensive reconfiguration\u201d of the board.<\/p>\n
This is Lund\u2019s second corporate departure this year \u2013 in April, he agreed to step down as the chair of UK energy company BP<\/a> amid shareholder opposition to its green energy plans.<\/p>\n Novo Nordisk\u2019s share price fell by 1.57% in Copenhagen on Tuesday.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n