News24 | Ozempic owner slims down its name

As the patent on semaglutide expires, Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer Novo faces increased comptetition.

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Novo Nordisk will shorten its name for day-to-day use to just Novo in a bid to become more recognisable in its obesity market war with Eli Lilly.

The drugmaker is also tweaking its logo, shifting its trademark bull to look to the right, it said Monday. The change comes as Lilly also increasingly leans on a single-name identity, dropping the word “Eli” from its marketing materials. Like Lilly, Novo will retain its full name as a legal global company name.

Chief Executive Officer Mike Doustdar is pushing Novo to become leaner and more competitive as the Danish company tries to wrest back a larger share of the obesity market it pioneered from Lilly. The brand is “strategically important”, Doustdar said.

For Novo, stripping “Nordisk” from the everyday name removes a link to the company’s history. The drugmaker was founded as Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium in 1923, bringing the newly-discovered technology for producing insulin to Denmark. Former employees founded the rival Novo branch two years later, and the two merged in 1989.

Doustdar will present the new brand identity to employees tomorrow. Next week, he will face investors at the company’s annual capital markets day.

“A new name, logo, and slogan must be accompanied by a true strategic change,” Evan David Seigerman, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a note. Next week’s meeting “must bring substance and strategic direction to support a sustainable organisation into the 2030s and beyond.”