Novo Nordisk announced this week (October 21, 2025) that the Board of Directors has decided to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting to elect new members of the company’s Board. In all, seven Board members will be stepping down and not run for re-election at the upcoming meeting, including Helge Lund, current Chair, and Henrik Poulsen, current Vice Chair, along with five independent directors. The Extraordinary General Meeting will be held November 14, 2025. 

The convening of the Extraordinary General Meeting follows an impasse between the current Board of Directors and the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the company’s controlling shareholder, in failing to reach a common understanding on the future composition of the Board. 

“Following dialogue with the Novo Nordisk Foundation regarding the future composition of the Board of Directors, it has not been possible to reach a common understanding,” said Helge Lund, Chair of the Board of Directors of Novo Nordisk, in an October 21, 2025, press statement. “The Board proposed a renewal focusing on addition of select, new competencies while also maintaining continuity, whereas the Board of the Foundation wanted a more extensive reconfiguration. After thorough deliberation and considering the Foundation’s position and control of the majority of votes in Novo Nordisk, the Board concluded that it is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting to elect new board members to provide clarity on the future governance of Novo Nordisk,” he said.  

In addition to Lund as Chair and Poulsen as Vice Chair not seeking re-election, five independent directors—Laurence Debroux, Andreas Fibig, Sylvie Grégoire, Christina Law and Martin Mackay—also will not stand for election at the Extraordinary General Meeting. Kasim Kutay (not independent) and the employee-elected Board Members—Elisabeth Dahl Christensen, Liselotte Hyveled, Mette Bøjer Jensen, and Thomas Rantzau—will remain on the Board. 

The pending re-haul of Novo Nordisk’s Board of Directors, including its Chair and Vice Chair, follows recent leadership changes and announced restructuring at the company.  

Last month (September 2025), Novo Nordisk announced a company-wide restructuring under which it will reduce its global workforce by approximately 9,000 of the 78,400 positions in the company, with around 5,000 reductions expected in Denmark, representing an approximately 11.5% reduction in its global workforce. The company said the restructuring is part of a strategy to simplify its organization, improve the speed of decision-making, and reallocate resources toward the company’s growth opportunities in diabetes and obesity. 

The announced restructuring was the first major move by Novo Nordisk’s new President and CEO Mike Doustdar, who took over the helm at the company in early August (August 2025), succeeding then CEO and President Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen. The company had announced in May (May 2025) that Jørgensen would be stepping down, then citing a need for a change in executive leadership amid challenging conditions. The company faced increased competition from its blockbuster drugs, Ozempic/Wegovy (semaglutide), glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists, respectively for treating Type 2 diabetes and obesity, potentially less than optimal results for its next-generation treatments, and a sharp decline earlier this year (2025) in the company’s stock price, according to analysts. 

Novo Nordisk will be releasing its third-quarter 2025 results in early November (November 2025). In its first-half 2025 earnings, which were released August 6, 2025, the company lowered both its outlook for sales and operating profit for 2025—projecting sales growth at 8-14% at constant exchange rates (CER), and operating profit growth at 10-16% at CER for the full-year 2025.  

In lowering its financial outlook at the time, the company cited what it called the “persistent” use of compounded GLP-1s, slower-than-expected market expansion, and competition. Its reduced earning outlook was related to lower growth expectations for Wegovy in the US obesity market, for Ozempic in the US GLP-1 diabetes market, as well as for Wegovy in select international markets.  

Source: Novo Nordisk