Novo Nordisk’s CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar told investors on an earnings call that innovation is a matter of survival after a run of R&D setbacks. He pointed to “really good early signs” from early-stage pipeline products while avoiding further detail on assets that are still in development. The comments followed late-stage trial disappointments for Novo, including ziltivekimab’s Phase 3 ZEUS failure in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and inflammation. Novo also faces competitive pressure from Lilly’s obesity pipeline after head-to-head trial results raised doubts around Novo’s next-generation obesity candidate CagriSema. The episode highlights how Novo is managing investor expectations while attempting to re-center the obesity and cardiometabolic narrative on earlier-stage programs ahead of future clinical readouts.