Copenhagen (AFP) – Danish pharmaceuticals giant Novo Nordisk, maker of weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, announced Monday a name change to just Novo, hoping it will be more “memorable and relevant” for clients. The rebrand comes ahead of a strategic presentation on September 21, when executives are to lay out their plan for “a faster, more competitive and increasingly consumer-driven market”.
The company is battling fierce competition in the anti-obesity sector, where its hugely successful Ozempic and Wegovy treatments have spurred rivals to catch up. It released a new tablet form of Wegovy in the United States in January, and the pill was recently approved for use in Europe. It will keep the full Novo Nordisk as its legal corporate name, using Novo and an updated version of its bull logo for its packaging.
Chief executive Mike Doustdar told Denmark’s TV2 television the rebrand was part of an effort to “reinvent the company”. “People who use insulin are only considered as patients,” he said. “But over the past four or five years, we’ve seen the emergence of a bigger and bigger group that tells us, ‘I’m not a patient, I’m not sick. I just want to lose weight’.”
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