Only a few months after stepping into the role of senior vice president of marketing and patient solutions for U.S. operations at Novo Nordisk, Ulrich Otte is no longer in the position, a company spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Pharma Marketing.
Otte took on the title in February, the culmination of nearly 25 years spent with the Danish drugmaker. As of his departure from the role on July 30, he’s now exploring alternative positions within Novo outside the U.S., the spokesperson said.
Until the company names a permanent replacement for Otte, his role overseeing marketing and patient solutions in the U.S. will be filled on an interim basis by Dave Moore, Novo’s executive VP of U.S. operations.
Otte’s exit comes alongside a handful of other high-level leadership moves at Novo in recent months. Earlier this year, Camilla Sylvest stepped down from her post as executive VP of commercial strategy and corporate affairs, ending her 28-year tenure at the company. Following Sylvest’s departure, rather than filling the role, Novo redistributed her responsibilities across several other existing leadership positions.
And, as of Thursday, Maziar Mike Doustdar, formerly executive VP of international operations, has assumed the role of CEO at the Big Pharma, replacing Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, who’d led the company since 2017.
“We have a well-defined strategy, a robust product portfolio, and a highly experienced leadership team globally and in the US. Today marks Mike Doustdar’s first day as CEO of Novo Nordisk. He brings a strong sense of urgency and a laser focus on performance, aimed at delivering innovation to the patients we serve,” the company spokesperson said in a statement.
The changes come as Novo faces ongoing commercial struggles. The company’s blockbuster GLP-1 meds Ozempic and Wegovy are fending off fierce competition from Eli Lilly’s offerings in the space as well as compounded versions of both companies’ drugs.
During a second-quarter earnings call Wednesday, Jørgensen said the compounded semaglutide market in the U.S. is now about the same size as Novo’s own GLP-1 business.
Though diabetes and obesity care sales grew 18% year over year in the first half of 2025—contributing to a companywide sales increase of 16%—Novo’s share price has been trending downward in recent months. Despite the first-half sales growth, analysts with ODDO BHF called the company's recent performance a "sharp slowdown."
Last week, Novo adjusted its full-year sales guidance, providing an updated forecast of between 8% and 14% growth for all of 2025, compared to the 13% to 21% range it offered at the start of the year, attributing the reduction largely to slowing growth of Wegovy and Ozempic sales in the U.S.
Amid the second-quarter earnings release this week, both the incoming and outgoing CEOs hinted that cost-cutting measures may be in Novo’s future, with Jørgensen reportedly telling Danish news outlet DR that “we probably won’t be able to avoid layoffs” and Doustdar noting on the earnings call, “We need to reallocate and relook at our cost base and really put the money where the growth is.”