Novo Nordisk A/S Chief Executive Officer Mike Doustdar says the company’s blockbuster obesity drugs could ultimately pull it into increasingly buzzy areas of healthcare, from longevity research to aesthetic medicine.
“We have to be obsessed with what our patients want,” Doustdar said Sunday in an interview at the American Diabetes Association conference in New Orleans.
On longevity, Doustdar pointed to a growing body of research suggesting the main ingredient in Novo’s drugs Ozempic and Wegovy — semaglutide — may do more than just help patients lose weight. In some studies, Novo has said the drug protects vital organs including the heart, liver and kidneys, and that these benefits appear to emerge before patients have lost significant weight.
“If it is true that semaglutide slows down a lot of those conditions as a molecule, then maybe whether we like it or not, we are already in a bit of a longevity game,” Doustdar said. “We’re sitting in the middle of fully understanding that, and of course, exploring that.”
His comments come as the Danish drugmaker’s focus on just two core areas — obesity and diabetes — has rankled some investors who want it to branch out in the face of generic competition and as rivals like Eli Lilly & Co. grab more share of the market. Unlike Lilly, whose portfolio spans oncology to immunology and neuroscience, Novo gets more than 90% of its revenue from diabetes and obesity treatments.
