Novo Nordisk is more than ever looking for deals, the CEO of the Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer said Wednesday in an interview with CNBC.
“If our ambition is to help hundreds of millions of patients, then we need not only the best, but also the largest pipeline in the world,” said Mike Doustdar, CEO of Novo Nordisk. “So let’s go see who else has complementary assets to what we have. And we’re very active with those.” [business development] discussions and acquisitions, and you will see more of them in the future. »
Novo created the GLP-1 weight loss drug market with its weekly Ozempic and Wegovy injections. More recently, the company has faced analyst concerns about the ability of Novo’s pipeline to remain a leader in the increasingly competitive obesity drug space.
Mike Doustdar, CEO of Novo Nordisk A/S, during an interview in New York, USA, Wednesday, February 11, 2026.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Rival Elie Lilly has already overtaken Novo in market share for weekly GLP-1 injections, although Novo has quickly taken the lead in the new category of GLP-1 weight loss pills.
Doustdar said he disagreed with concerns about Novo’s upcoming treatments, arguing that the drugmaker had “one of the best pipelines in the industry.” He highlighted Novo’s CagriSema, a drug candidate targeting GLP-1 and amylin, which Novo hopes will be approved late this year, as well as an experimental amylin-targeting drug called zenagamtide, whose development Novo has accelerated, among other assets.
“Of course, there are a lot of things in my pipeline that I’m currently allowed to look at and get excited about, but I haven’t shared them with the world yet,” he said. “So I’m incredibly excited about our pipeline, and I would just say to investors who are a little skeptical to wait and see.”
Doustdar spoke to CNBC after the company said its Wegovy pill performed better than expected in the first quarter and that it raised its profit forecast for the full year.