Nov 13 (Reuters) - Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer's ( PFE )

former research and development chief, has withdrawn his

candidacy for Novo Nordisk's board, citing personal

reasons, the Danish drugmaker said on Thursday.

Dolsten, who led Pfizer's ( PFE ) R&D operations until 2024,

informed Novo that he would not seek election at Friday's

extraordinary general meeting.

He has previously held senior R&D roles at Boehringer

Ingelheim and AstraZeneca ( AZN ).

The other board candidates standing for election remain

unchanged from the October 21 meeting notice, Novo Nordisk said.

The development comes as Novo Nordisk's top investor, the

Novo Nordisk Foundation, in October moved to take control of the

drugmaker's board, vowing a sharper focus on the key U.S. market

to revive sales of blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy as Novo's

chair and six independent board members quit.

The company is also facing a shareholder backlash as its

minority investors prepare a protest vote against a board

shake-up forced through by its dominant shareholder.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation and Novo Holdings, the company's

controlling shareholders, will not propose a replacement

candidate at Friday's meeting. Instead, they said the incoming

board should identify and nominate two additional candidates at

the annual general meeting on March 26, 2026, alongside

already-nominated candidate Helena Saxon.

If all proposed candidates are elected, the board will

consist of nine members after Friday's vote: five

shareholder-elected directors including Chairman Lars Rebien

Sørensen and Vice Chair Cees de Jong, and four employee-elected

representatives.

Dolsten spent over 25 years at Pfizer ( PFE ), where he oversaw

development of the company's COVID-19 vaccine partnership with

German drugmaker BioNTech.