Protocols: Novo chief Sørensen is handing over the reins early; Cytokinetics moves Amgen-partnered heart drug into PhIII
Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Rebien Sørensen wasn’t your typical pharma CEO. Confident in his company’s abilities, he also wasn’t too thin skinned about potential market threats. He told me back in 2014 that he thought Eli Lilly’s dulaglutide was “a good product,” even as he braced for a market showdown. Now after 16 years at the helm Sørensen says he’s leaving Novo Nordisk, ahead of schedule. The company has been feeling the heat from an intensely competitive field, where each new advance is greeted with head-on rivals from a group of key players that includes Sanofi and Lilly. His replacement will be EVP and chief of corporate development Lars Fruergaard Joergensen. And don’t look for any dramatic changes from the market leader in diabetes. “You should not expect massive changes when I take over Jan. 1,” Joergensen told reporters. “We have a robust strategy, and the team to execute on that strategy.”
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