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Instant View: Reaction to new Novo Nordisk CEO, profit warning
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 29, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 29, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Novo Nordisk appoints Mike Doustdar as CEO amid a profit warning, leading to market reactions and concerns over the obesity drug market.
(Reuters) -Novo Nordisk on Tuesday appointed insider Mike Doustdar as its new chief executive after the Danish obesity drug maker cut its full year outlook for the second time in 2025, sending its shares tumbling.
Here are some reactions from market analysts and investors:
MARKUS MANNS, A PORTFOLIO MANAGER AT MUTUAL FUNDS FIRM UNION INVESTMENT AND A SHAREHOLDER IN THE COMPANY:
"While most people had expected Novo to just trim the top end of the guidance, the magnitude of the guidance cut is a shocker. Novo's problems are much deeper than just compunded Wegovy in the U.S. and extend to the international Wegovy franchise and even to Ozempic in diabetes. Novo has underestimated the self pay market in obesity and just recently started to focus on this important patient segment."
JEFFERIES ANALYST BENJAMIN JACKSON ON NEW CEO:
"We are surprised by the appointment of Mike Doustdar as CEO, with feedback suggesting an external candidate may have been preferred."
J.P.MORGAN ANALYSTS ON THE PROFIT WARNING:
"Lowered guidance (is) a reflection of growth expectations in H2'25 for both Wegovy and Ozempic."
CITI ANALYSTS ON THE PROFIT WARNING:
"We caution against over-reading into Novo's assessment, given tirzepatide's script strength pre-July 1st has been robust and Lilly may have had a more conservative outlook on expectations when giving its own 2025 guidance. Thus, we remain buyers on weakness."
ANGELO MEDA, PORTFOLIO MANAGER AND HEAD OF EQUITIES AT BANOR SIM IN MILAN:
"The biggest concern is the illegal channel siphoning away market share—something that's hard to quantify. Rebuilding trust will take time."
(Reporting by Maggie Fick and Danilo Masoni in London, Writing by Boleslaw Lasocki in Gdansk; Editing by Matt Scuffham)
Mike Doustdar was appointed as the new chief executive of Novo Nordisk.
Novo Nordisk cut its full year outlook for the second time in 2025, which surprised many analysts.
Analysts expressed concerns about the illegal channel siphoning away market share, which is difficult to quantify.
Benjamin Jackson noted surprise at the appointment of Mike Doustdar, suggesting that feedback indicated an external candidate might have been preferred.
J.P. Morgan analysts indicated that the lowered guidance reflects growth expectations for Wegovy and Ozempic in the second half of 2025.
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