Two senior Novo executives head for the exit

Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, is losing two senior executives just as it warned investors that 2026 sales and profits could fall sharply. The company disclosed the departures alongside a guidance update that sent its shares down more than 15%, briefly halting trading ^[1].

Dave Moore, Novo's executive vice president of U.S. operations, is leaving for personal reasons. Novo credited Moore with building its global business development function and overseeing the original launch of Ozempic. He will be replaced by Jamey Millar, who joins this week after serving as CEO of UnitedHealth Group's Optum Specialty Holdings ^[1]. Separately, Ludovic Helfgott, executive vice president of product and portfolio strategy, is leaving to pursue other opportunities. During his tenure he expanded Novo's position in rare blood and endocrine disorders and later led commercial strategy, medical affairs and business development across the company. Hong Chow, formerly of Merck KGaA, will take over his role ^[1].

The leadership changes came the same week Novo told investors it expects 2026 sales and operating profit to decline between 5% and 13%, a reversal from 2025, when the company posted 10% sales growth and 6% operating profit growth at constant exchange rates ^[1]. CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar said the guidance "reflects a year of unprecedented pricing pressure" and said the company would still "pursue volume opportunities in obesity and diabetes" ^[1].

Novo pointed to several forces behind the weaker outlook: intensifying U.S. competition, lower prices in some parts of its business, the financial effect of the "Most Favored Nation" pricing deal it struck with the Trump administration, a stronger Danish krone against the U.S. dollar, and looming patent expirations for semaglutide in some international markets ^[1]. For scale, Novo's 2025 sales totaled about 309 billion Danish kroner, or nearly $50 billion, with Ozempic contributing roughly 127 billion kroner (about $20 billion) and Wegovy about 79.1 billion kroner (nearly $13 billion) ^[1].

Not every recent signal was negative. Doustdar said more than 170,000 people started on Novo's new Wegovy pill in its first four weeks on the U.S. market, a pace he said was more than double that of previous branded anti-obesity drugs, with most prescriptions going to patients new to these medications ^[1].

Why it matters for patients

These executive departures and the profit warning are corporate and financial developments, not changes to any approved medication's safety or effectiveness. But patients who rely on Ozempic or Wegovy have reason to pay attention to a company under this much pressure. Novo has already been cutting costs through layoffs it disclosed in late 2025, and it says it plans to reinvest some of those savings into research and commercial efforts even as sales are expected to shrink ^[1]. How a company under earnings pressure prioritizes manufacturing, pricing, and access programs can affect drug availability and out-of-pocket costs over time, though the sources here do not spell out specific effects on supply or pricing for individual patients.

The strong early uptake of the Wegovy pill — more than 170,000 new patients in a month — suggests continued demand and competition in the obesity-drug market, which analysts say is expanding rather than shrinking ^[1]. That could shape which products insurers cover and how aggressively companies compete on price, though those decisions are not detailed in this reporting.

What happens next

Jamey Millar has already started this week as head of U.S. operations, and Hong Chow is set to take over product and portfolio strategy ^[1]. Analysts at Jefferies noted that Novo's fourth-quarter sales beat expectations by 3%, but said that result is likely to be "overshadowed" as investors recalculate their forecasts in light of the weaker 2026 outlook ^[1]. No further leadership or guidance updates are mentioned in current reporting.