Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, chief executive of Novo Nordisk A/S, who has led the Danish company for eight years including a period of strong growth with the launch of two obesity drugs, is to step down. The management change was apparently taken under pressure from the Novo Nordisk Foundation which controls a majority of the company’s shares. It follows a steep decline in the company’s shares after Phase 3 data for a new obesity compound failed to meet investor expectations. It did however meet the trial’s primary endpoint.
