Novo Nordisk Announces Leadership Transition in Greater China Region: Christine Zhou Departs, Yan Cai Appointed as New President

On January 30, Novo Nordisk announced that Zhou Xiaping (Christine Zhou), Global Senior Vice President and President of Greater China, will leave the company to pursue external career development opportunities. Her position will be succeeded by Cai Yan (YNC), effective from March 1, 2026.

During her tenure, Xiaoping Zhou also served as the chairman of the board for Novo Nordisk's multiple entities in China and represented the company in PhRMA’s China Executive Liaison Team. Prior to joining Novo Nordisk, Christine held senior management positions in the United States, China, and Malaysia, accumulating over 30 years of extensive experience in the global pharmaceutical industry. Through the WIN+2025 strategy, Christine shaped a clear strategic direction for the Greater China business. Under her leadership, revenue for the Greater China region doubled, and Novo Nordisk climbed eight places in the ranking of China’s pharmaceutical market. In terms of accelerating innovation, she facilitated the approval and launch of ten new drugs, including Rybelsus, Wegowy, and Awiqli.

Cai Yan, who took over the baton, graduated from Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences in China and obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Copenhagen. She has also completed several executive development programs, including those at Harvard Business School, and serves as a board member of the World Diabetes Foundation (WDF). Over her more than 23-year career at Novo Nordisk, she has held various key positions at the R&D headquarters and IO: establishing the Regional Clinical Development Center (CDC) in Beijing, promoting the implementation of the new CDC structure within IO, and introducing new functions such as Clinical Medical Manager and Real-World Evidence (RWE).

Novo Nordisk stated that Cai Yan and her team have achieved outstanding results in multiple key missions, including unifying the commercial execution around the GLP-1 weekly formulation, launching Project Amplify to enhance patient activation and multi-channel engagement, and preparing for the launches of Sema 7.2 and Ozempic 2.0. Meanwhile, the team also supported the accelerated promotion of Wegovy in IO, achieving market entry in 36 markets by 2025.