Novo Nordisk's CEO Has a Comeback Plan
5/26/202622 min
When Maziar Mike Doustdar took over as CEO of Novo Nordisk last year, the company had lost ground in the anti-obesity drug market. Doustdar spoke with Jessica Mendoza about his plans to turn the company around, the recent success of their Wegovy pill and what keeps him up at night.
Further Listening:
- Ozempic Is a Hit. So Why Is the Drugmaker’s CEO Out?
- Trillion Dollar Shot
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJessica Mendoza· Host0:00
[music] Not long ago, it seemed pretty clear who was winning the war of the weight-loss drugs.
Speaker 10:11
Novo Nordisk. Novo Nordisk. Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk.
Mike Duust· Guest0:16
Novo Nordisk, king of the weight-loss people.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:19
Novo Nordisk, the Danish drug maker behind Ozempic and Wegovy, basically kickstarted an entire industry. But now, the race looks very different.
Speaker 3· Soundbite0:30
Really bad news for what was the first mover in this space. Shares of Novo Nordisk plunging by the most on record today.
Speaker 4· Soundbite0:36
The weight-loss trailblazer is rapidly ceding market share to rival Eli Lilly.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:41
Novo's biggest rival, the American pharma giant Eli Lilly, has surged ahead. Lilly's obesity shot, Zepbound, helps patients lose more weight than Novo's Wegovy. But Novo has an edge in one critical area: weight-loss pills. The company released the Wegovy pill earlier this year, and it quickly became the biggest drug launch in recent history. At the center of all this is Mike Duust, the CEO who was hired nine months ago to breathe new life into Novo Nordisk. Mike Duust, welcome to The Journal.
Mike Duust· Guest1:20
It's nice to be here. Thank you very much, Jess.
Jessica Mendoza· Host1:22
I reached Mike last week at Novo's headquarters near Copenhagen. I wanted to understand how the company that started this whole