Dive Brief:
- Denmark-based Novo Nordisk said long-time CFO Karsten Munk Knudsen will leave the company at the end of the year to “pursue other opportunities,” according to a Wednesday securities filing. Knudsen has worked for the company for 27 years and served as finance chief since 2018.
- The pharmaceutical company named Luigi La Corte, currently CFO at Swiss pharmaceutical company Galderman, to succeed Knudsen. La Corte previously held senior finance roles at a number of pharmaceutical companies including Italy-based Recordati and U.K.-based AstraZeneca, according to his LinkedIn profile.
- Knudsen as CFO presided over the company’s launch of weight-management drug Wegovy, which obtained FDA approval in 2021. His tenure as finance chief also coincided with a period in which operating profit and operating cash flows “almost tripled” and he helped expand the company’s manufacturing capacity to ensure a steady supply of its medicines, the company said in its filing.
Dive Insight:
The finance leadership change comes as the company grows the market for its blockbuster Wegovy GLP-1 by offering it in pill form, an easier alternative to injections.
By the end of Q3, Novo’s obesity pill had been launched in the U.S., United Arab Emirates, U.K. and Germany followed by four other countries, bringing the total number of markets to eight, according to the company’s Thursday earnings report. During the quarter, adjusted operating profit rose 27% at a constant exchange rate compared to the year-earlier quarter, with the company asserting GLP-1 sales helped drive sales.
Novo is getting a new CFO amid a flurry of C-suite changes in the pharma sector. On Tuesday, New York City-based Pfizer named longtime company veteran Cecile Guegan, who had stepped in as interim CFO in August, to be its next CFO.
There were other shifts earlier this year. In May, Kai Beckmann took over as CEO of Germany-based Merck KGaA after Belen Garijo left for France-based Sanofi, Bloomberg reported. On the finance side, Judith Hartmann took the CFO seat at Bayer AG in June.
The jobs are lucrative. As CFO, Guegan’s compensation will include an annual base salary of $1.3 million and an annual target cash incentive opportunity of $1.3 million, according to the Tuesday securities filing. In 2025 stock and option awards helped push her predecessor Dave Denton’s total compensation to $9.67 million, including a $1.39 million salary.
Novo’s filing did not state what La Corte’s compensation will be. However, last year his predecessor Knudsen’s remuneration totaled 18.7 million DKK (USD $2.81 million), including a base salary of 10.3 million DKK (USD $1.5 million), according to the company’s 2025 remuneration report.
