Overview
- Chair Helge Lund, Vice Chair Henrik Poulsen and independent directors Laurence Debroux, Andreas Fibig, Sylvie Grégoire, Christina Law and Martin Mackay will not stand for election at the extraordinary general meeting.
- Talks with the Novo Nordisk Foundation broke down over the scale of board renewal, with the board favoring selective additions and the foundation pushing for a more extensive reconfiguration.
- The foundation said it will put forward its chair, former Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Rebien Sørensen, to succeed Lund, and Cees de Jong to replace Poulsen as vice chair.
- Seven of the company’s 12 board seats are set to change, and shares fell about 1% after the announcement.
- The governance shake-up follows a recent CEO change to Mike Doustdar and a cost-cutting drive as competition intensifies for the company’s obesity and diabetes drugs.