Novo Nordisk’s Official Page Keeps Knudsen as CFO Amid No Confirmation of La Cour Appointment
Key Facts
Luigi La Cour’s appointment as Novo Nordisk’s new chief financial officer could not be confirmed on November 4, 2026; the company’s official executive leadership page still lists Karsten Munk Knudsen as executive vice president and chief financial officer. No reliable company announcement was available about Knudsen’s departure or the selection of a successor. On the same day, Novo published its nine-month and third-quarter results, which showed a mixed financial picture, with adjusted operating profit rising and reported profit falling. Those results were at the forefront of the financial context available on the trading day the appointment news circulated. The published information also provides no administrative or operational reason for a change in financial leadership.
Novo’s net sales in the third quarter reached 79,195 million Danish kroner, up 4% at constant exchange rates. Adjusted operating profit came to 31,720 million kroner, up 27% on the same basis. The company attributed the growth to higher sales of GLP-1 products and a favorable comparison base, after recording company-wide transformation costs of 9 billion kroner in the third quarter of 2025. Reported operating profit, however, fell 9% at constant exchange rates to 23,011 million kroner. The divergence between the two measures reflects the impact of non-cash accounting items the company reported during the quarter.
Novo said non-cash impairment charges totaled 8.7 billion kroner in the third quarter of 2026. They included 4.6 billion kroner related to ziltivekimab and 4.1 billion kroner related to a reset of the manufacturing network. For the nine months ended September 30, net sales reached 254,506 million kroner, up 13% at constant exchange rates. The company raised its 2026 outlook and now expects adjusted sales growth and adjusted operating profit growth in a range of -2% to +2% for each, at constant exchange rates. It linked the updated outlook to higher estimates for GLP-1 product sales, according to its results statement.
In its obesity business, the company said Wegovy pills had launched in the United States, the UAE, Britain and Germany by the end of the third quarter, generating sales of 5,394 million kroner during the period. It added that launches in 4 other countries after the quarter brought the number of markets where the pill is available to 8. Novo also said the Wegovy franchise retained a share of more than 50% of the branded obesity drug market in the United States, measured by treatment starts among new patients. These indicators provide important commercial context for the increase in the company’s GLP-1 sales outlook. The available information does not link these results to any announced change in the CFO role.
As for La Cour, Galderma says he became its CFO effective May 1, 2026, and has more than 30 years of international financial leadership experience in the healthcare and consumer goods sectors. Before Galderma, he was CFO at Recordati from 2019 to 2025, joined its board in 2022 and remains a member, according to his biography on Galderma’s website. This career information is separate from any move to Novo, for which no reliable confirmation was available on the date of the news. Novo’s official leadership page lists Knudsen in his role, without announcing a departure or succession. The company had scheduled an investor call on November 4 at 13:00 Central European Time, corresponding to 07:00 Eastern Time, to discuss its nine-month results.
Looking ahead, Novo said it was preparing to launch CagriSema in the United States in early 2027, subject to regulatory approval. The company said the drug achieved 21% weight loss at week 68 in the REDEFINE 9 trial. Alongside the updated 2026 outlook, the drug program forms part of the company’s upcoming commercial and research plans. The CFO appointment decision attributed to Novo in the circulating draft is not supported by the official information available on November 4. The company’s cited materials contain no announcement of a successor to Knudsen or a date for a change in his role.