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"Considering the recent market challenges, the share price decline, and the wish from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Novo Nordisk Board and Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen have jointly concluded that initiating a chief executive succession is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders," the company said in a statement.

As part of the changes, the firm said that its former chief executive, Lars Rebien Sørensen, who now leads the Novo Nordisk Foundation, will also take on a greater role on the firm's board.

Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen has led the company since 2017, overseeing its rise to become the most valuable company in Europe after the launch of its flagship anti-obesity drugs.

"It worries me greatly because we do not spy on friends," Lars Løkke Rasmussen said, responding to the report in The Wall Street Journal.

Or did the forthright Merz - and ambitious SPD Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil - struggle to rally their own ranks?