Chief executive of Novo Nordisk from January 2017 until the board ousted him in May 2025, overseeing the company's rise as a maker of blockbuster GLP-1 agonist weight-loss drugs. Under his watch, Novo vastly underestimated demand for Wegovy and was slow to adapt as Eli Lilly launched its rival Zepbound. Lars Rebien Sørensen, chairman of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, rebuked the board for being "too slow" to grasp the shifts in the market. After stepping down, Jørgensen argued that pharmaceuticals alone cannot solve the obesity crisis and called for universal recognition of obesity as a societal rather than individual responsibility, including restrictions on junk-food marketing to children and urban planning that supports physical exercise over car use.
Remember, even if you win the rat race -- you're still a rat.