Novo Nordisk Slims Down Name to Novo

Novo Nordisk Slims Down Name to Novo

Adrià Calatayud

Mon, September 14, 2026 at 3:41 PM GMT+3 3 min read

• NOVO.B

Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk is rebranding as Novo, betting a shorter name will help it resonate more with consumers as it competes with rival Eli Lilly.

The move by the Danish drugmaker comes as Chief Executive Mike Doustdar works to revive the fortunes of a company that has ceded the crown in the weight-loss market it pioneered to Lilly.

Most Read from The Wall Street Journal

Since taking the reins in August last year, Doustdar has implemented a cost-savings plan that included 9,000 job cuts and the launch of a pill version of Wegovy, placing the company ahead of its U.S. rival in the market for oral weight-loss medications. Doustdar is expected to detail the next phase of his comeback plan in an investor update later this month.

Novo said Monday that the rebrand marked the beginning of its next chapter. The new corporate identity with the single Novo name aims to make the company more recognizable and consistent in the way it reaches people, the company said.

The Novo Nordisk name was the result of a 1989 merger between two Danish companies with roots dating back to the origins of insulin production in Scandinavia in the 1920s—Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium and Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium.

The company said it would use Novo—Latin for new—as its name in day-to-day operations, but keep Novo Nordisk as its legal name globally. It also refreshed its logo, maintaining the Apis bull of ancient Egypt that has been part of its brand for more than a century. The bull—initially part of a trend among European chemists to use animal symbols—will now face right instead of left.

"They want to signal, not only externally but also internally, a change of direction," said Ed Corbett, a brand strategy expert at consulting firm Branding Science.

The rebrand is a statement of intent that Novo wants to move on from a challenging period but a change of name won't be the end-all be-all, Corbett said.

Novo also said Monday that it would emphasize competitiveness in its corporate culture going forward, adding that new behaviors and ways of working were needed to lead in a faster, more competitive and increasingly consumer-driven market.

Some analysts say the market for weight-loss drugs—particularly the pill segment—resembles that of consumer-health products, as opposed to conventional prescription medicines.

Novo last month said it was benefiting from strong momentum for its Wegovy pill, with more than 5 million prescriptions since its launch in January, and lifted its full-year sales and operating profit guidance as a result.

However, some investors have grown worried about the company's drug pipeline after disappointing data for its next-generation weight-loss and diabetes drug CagriSema, as well as for an experimental cardiovascular drug.

Write to Adrià Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com

Most Read from The Wall Street Journal