Novo Nordisk Names New CFO Amid Strong Q3 Results

Novo Nordisk has announced that long-time CFO Karsten Munk Knudsen will leave the firm at the end of the year to seek new opportunities.

Karsten has been with the healthcare firm for 27 years and has served as CFO since 2018. One of his recent notable accomplishments was overseeing Novo Nordisk’s launch of Wegovy – a weight management drug – which obtained FDA approval in 2021.

The company recently named Luigi La Corte – who is currently CFO at Galderma – as Novo Nordisk’s next CFO.

Luigi previously held leadership positions at several pharmaceutical companies, including Recordati and AstraZeneca.are

Additionally, his tenure as CFO coincided with a time when Galderma’s operating profit and operating cash flows nearly tripled, and he also helped expand the company’s manufacturing capacity, ensuring it had a consistent medicine supply.

Discussing his new position, Luigi says: “I am absolutely honoured to have been offered the opportunity to take on the CFO role at Novo.

“[I am] excited at the prospect of joining a team that is at the very heart of one of the biggest transformations in healthcare of this decade.”

A strong Q3 fuelled by Wegovy GLP-1

The leadership change comes at a notable time, as Novo Nordisk grows the market for its Wegovy GLP-1 weight-loss drug in pill form.

By the end of the company’s third quarter, Novo Nordisk had launched its obesity pill in the US, UAE, UK and Germany – followed by four other countries – bringing the total number of markets to eight.

During the same quarter, adjusted operating profit increased 27% at a constant exchange rate compared with the same quarter last year, with the company adding that GLP-1 sales helped drive overall growth.

This week, company shares rose after Novo Nordisk raised its 2026 outlook as third-quarter net sales grew year-over-year.

Novo Nordisk now expects adjusted sales and operating profit growth between -2% and 2% at constant exchange rates, compared with -6% to 0% growth projected previously.

Adjusted net sales for the three months ending September rose to 79.2bn kr from 74.98bn kr a year earlier. However, adjusted net profit declined to 25.6bn kr from 29.18bn kr.

CEO Mike Doustdar on the quarter’s success

Discussing Novo Nordisk’s Q3 results, CEO Mike Doustdar says: “We delivered a stronger-than-expected third quarter and are raising our full-year outlook for adjusted sales and adjusted operating profit. 

“We are particularly pleased to see both US Operations and International Operations deliver sales growth this quarter. 

“Growth was led by our obesity portfolio, with continued uptake of the Wegovy pill in the US and encouraging early launches internationally.”

Wegovy pill sales brought in 5.39bn kr in revenue for the three-month period. 

Mike adds: “Our focus is on sustaining this progress through disciplined execution and broader access to our medicines. We are also advancing our pipeline and preparing for the US launch of CagriSema in early 2027, subject to regulatory approval.”

Novo Nordisk partners:

Flagship Pioneering: Novo Nordisk collaborates with Flagship Pioneering to advance transformational medicines across cardiometabolic and rare diseases via bioplatform innovation.
CEO: Noubar Afeyan | Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts, US

Aspect Biosystems: Novo Nordisk partners with Aspect Biosystems to develop bioprinted cell therapies designed to treat diabetes and severe metabolic disorders.
CEO: Tamer Mohamed | Headquarters: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Amazon Web Services (AWS): Novo Nordisk selected AWS as its preferred cloud partner to modernise infrastructure and apply artificial intelligence to drug discovery.
CEO: Matt Garman | Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, US