Novo Nordisk quietly loses key Washington insider amid pricing war | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Novo Nordisk is trying to get back on track in the U.S., but it just lost an important worker in Washington.

An internal memo said that Jennifer Duck, who was in charge of U.S. public affairs for Novo Nordisk, left the business on Jan. 5, Reuters reported. The developer of Wegovy and Ozempic is trying to get back into the weight-loss industry, which is getting more and more crowded. Eli Lilly has been pushing hard with its own blockbuster portfolio.

This is not a “who cares” note for investors. The U.S. is Novo’s most significant market, but right now it’s also the most difficult politically and financially.

As the weight-loss race heats up, Novo is making a strategic change most readers won’t notice.

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Novo Nordisk’s U.S. strategy just got more complicated

Duck is leaving Novo Nordisk after a big restructure led by CEO Mike Doustdar that would remove 9,000 workers in several divisions and areas, according to Reuters.

Reuters also indicated that Chris Pernie will temporarily take over as head of the U.S. public affairs team.

Timing is important for Novo. The firm has been under a lot of pressure about the prices and availability of its GLP-1 medications, and the White House is publicly focused on lowering the cost of pharmaceuticals in the U.S.

This means strategy should be at the center, not the fringes, of public affairs teams. These aren’t just those who form messages; they’re often the glue that holds together the following.

Lawmakers and those who set rules
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (third-party companies that manage prescription drug benefits for insurers, employers, and government programs) and payers
The real-world business of what patients can really obtain

Wegovy is still a monster brand, but the GLP-1 competitive gap just got real

Novo’s problem isn’t that demand went away. The market got sharper, and Eli Lilly has been quite active.

The Reuters reporting made Novo’s dilemma clear: It has lost ground to Lilly in the weight-loss industry and is now seeking to turn things around in its biggest market.

That competitive pressure is also making the category move faster toward next-gen convenience. The next big struggle in the industry is over oral solutions, or pills that might make the market bigger than just injections.

Novo is launching a Wegovy pill that people can take once a day in the U.S., and consumers can pay for it themselves, Reuters reported on Jan. 5.

A Novo press release regarding the Wegovy pill also noted the company’s efforts to make it more widely available.

At the same time, the Lilly ecosystem is working on new oral obesity medicines. Reuters reported on Jan. 6 that Lilly and Nimbus had formed a pact to develop these drugs.

Why investors should care about a Novo Nordisk “public affairs” exit

If politics were less tense, a change in leadership in public affairs may look like cleaning up the office. But it seems more like a pressure point in early 2026.

Novo is juggling many difficult tasks at once.

Maintaining pricing power amid a presidential administration that is generally opposed to it
Increasing access to its products and protecting its brand credibility in the U.S.
Continuing to develop new ideas, such as oral GLP-1 alternatives
Calming investors after a rough patch

That’s why communications, policy, and government affairs aren’t side pursuits; they have a direct impact on reimbursement mechanisms, legislative risk, and “headline risk,” which may change people’s minds quickly.

Novo’s shares went up around the time of the Reuters news, but the main question for investors is whether the company can keep its U.S. operations stable while competition and political scrutiny grow.

What Novo Nordisk investors should watch next:

Whether Novo does the job itself or hires someone from outside Washington
Signs of a bigger change in the U.S. approach related to obesity drug access, pricing, or payer tactics
How much support the oral Wegovy campaign gets as the market moves toward pill-based ease for GLP-1s.