London: Danish obesity drugmaker Novo Nordisk‘s head of public affairs in the U.S. has left the company, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, at a time when the firm is battling to revive its fortunes in its top market.
The company, like other drugmakers, is facing pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump on medicine pricing and is trying to regain lost ground to U.S. rival Eli Lilly in the lucrative and competitive weight-loss market.
The departure, previously unreported, sees U.S. public affairs head Jennifer Duck leave the firm. It follows a major global restructuring under CEO Mike Doustdar that includes cutting 9,000 jobs across departments and regions. One source said the memo was sent to staff late last week.
The wider overhaul has paved the way for new hires, such as veteran U.S. pharma executive Greg Miley in November as Novo’s new global head of corporate affairs.
The memo said Duck, previously a senior adviser to prominent U.S. Democratic senators, “has made the personal decision to leave Novo Nordisk and pursue other opportunities outside of the organization”.
The memo added that Chris Pernie will take on leadership of the U.S. public affairs team on an interim basis with immediate effect. Pernie’s LinkedIn profile says he is an executive director of government affairs at Novo.
Duck led Novo’s U.S. public affairs for more than six years and worked on high-profile initiatives, including two matters involving the U.S. Senate’s HELP Committee and two Inflation Reduction Act “maximum fair price” processes, the memo said.
Novo confirmed Duck’s departure in an email to Reuters. The company said that her last day was Friday.
Duck did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Novo, which has lost ground to Lilly over the past year and seen sales growth slow, has faced scrutiny in the U.S. over the pricing and access of its blockbuster obesity and diabetes drugs. It launched a new pill form of Wegovy on Monday.
Novo shares were up 3.5% around 1530 GMT.
CEO Doustdar is trying to restore investor confidence by sharpening Novo’s focus, after a tough year in which the company issued multiple profit warnings and saw its shares almost halve in value.
(Reporting by Maggie Fick in London and Dan Levine in San Francisco. Additional reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington and Patrick Wingrove in New York. Editing by Adam Jourdan and Mark Potter)
