Novo CEO Says Risk-Taking, Deals Are Needed to Win Obesity Race

Novo Nordisk A/S needs to be ready to take calculated risks on deals in order to win, Chief Executive Officer Mike Doustdar said, sketching out the Ozempic maker’s strategy as it seeks to regain lost ground in the increasingly competitive obesity market.

Doustdar, a former head of international operations who took over as CEO in August, announced Novo’s largest-ever deal to boost its pipeline of experimental drugs on Thursday. Novo agreed to buy Akero Therapeutics Inc. for as much as $5.2 billion to expand its portfolio in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, a liver disease that’s linked to obesity.

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