Novo Nordisk rebrands to ‘Novo’ under CEO Mike Doustdar

Novo Nordisk on Monday said it is rebranding its name to “Novo” and updating its corporate culture, as the company works to win back market share in the obesity drug space. 

The Danish drugmaker called the changes the beginning of a new chapter, as it has been grappling with stiff competition from chief rival Eli Lilly and investor pressure to deliver new blockbuster products and chart a path toward long-term growth. Novo is preparing to detail its business strategy changes during its Capital Markets Day event on Sept. 21. 

In an exclusive interview with CNBC, Novo CEO Mike Doustdar said the rebrand and culture shift are “part of the same package” for the company to evolve its strategy as it tries to win back customers from Lilly.

“I think there’s no secret that over the last four or five years, the external environment and what has happened to Novo Nordisk has really made us reflect how we need to readjust and rethink about the next decade to come and what shifts are needed in our strategic direction,” he told CNBC.

Doustdar said the “work is cut out for us,” adding that Novo needs to improve several aspects – from research and development and manufacturing to sales and marketing – to be able to compete in the obesity drug market.

Shares of Novo have dropped about 15% this year despite the successful launch of the oral version of Wegovy, which surpassed 3 million prescriptions as of June. The company recently scrapped three trials on an experimental cardiovascular drug. That challenge came as it continues to lag in the obesity space with 38.8% market share compared to Lilly’s 60.9% in the second quarter, according to a Lilly earnings presentation citing IQVIA data.

In a release, Novo also announced a broader company rebrand focused around the phrase “Lasting Health Starts Now,” which promotes the idea that patients should make progress toward long-term well-being immediately rather than later. The company said the marketing is a bid to build relevance and trust with the public and other stakeholders, and bring “breakthrough science closer to people’s daily lives.”

When asked whether the rebrand and cultural overhaul were driven by Novo’s recent market share losses in obesity, Doustdar said the changes were less about competitive setbacks and more about adapting to a dramatically different operating environment.

He said the rapid growth of obesity treatments has transformed Novo’s patient base and shifted the market toward a more consumer-oriented model, where patients move on and off therapies more frequently than in traditional diabetes care. As a result, Doustdar said Novo needs to become more focused on meeting patients where they are, while increasing the speed and clarity of its decision-making to keep pace with the evolving market.

“Our operating environment phenomenally changed compared to just 10 years ago,” he told CNBC.

Novo Nordisk will remain the legal name for the company, according to the release. That original name dates back to the 1989 merger of two competing Danish pharmaceutical companies: Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium and Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium. 

The drugmaker said its corporate culture will be based on a new set of four principles that will help it gain advantages in an increasingly competitive market where more of its products have gone direct-to-consumer.

Those tenets are innovating with patients as the primary focus, raising the company’s performance to “create greater value for all stakeholders,” setting clearer priorities and simpler workflows and never compromising on patient safety and ethics. 

“When you think about strategy, that’s really the the journey you’re taking and the direction you’re setting the company to go forward with,” Doustdar said. “But you also need behaviors. You need a cultural element that allows your colleagues and yourself to really make sure that a strategy gets executed.”

Despite its challenges, Novo has had one significant tailwind this year in the launch of the oral version of Wegovy. On top of its explosive launch, the pill had a head start over a rival weight loss pill from Lilly called Foundayo.

Doustdar said Novo has maintained “a lion’s share” of the oral market even with competition, noting that physicians find the Wegovy pill to be more effective than Lilly’s, with around 17% of weight loss.