Novo Nordisk, the Danish drugmaker behind Ozempic and other weight loss and diabetes drugs, announced on Wednesday that it would cut 11 percent of its global work force as it seeks to lower costs and rejuvenate the company’s growth prospects.
The company will shed about 9,000 jobs, 5,000 of which will be in Denmark, and expects the decision will save 8 billion Danish kroner ($1.3 billion) a year by the end of 2026.
The job cuts are the latest in a string of gloomy announcements from the drug maker which has recently replaced its chief executive, issued a big profit warning and seen its share price plummet.
Just over a year ago, Novo Nordisk was seemingly growing in every direction: more staff, more production facilities, more market value. For a while, it was Europe’s most valuable public company.
But the past year has been tumultuous. The company has struggled to fight off the competition from Eli Lilly’s weight loss drugs and cheaper copycat versions. Investors have been disappointed in some of the trial results of drugs in development.
In the past year, the company’s share price has dropped 60 percent. Last month, Maziar Mike Doustdar took over as chief executive, charged with turning around the company’s performance. The company’s board said he was chosen for his track record of delivering growth quickly.
Though Novo Nordisk was the first to bring to the market the transformative weight-loss drugs, known as GLP-1s, with Ozempic, it has struggled to maintain its lead in an increasingly competitive field. In part, analysts say, because it was slower to shift its marketing and sales energy toward direct-to-consumer channels.
For most of the company’s century-long history, it was a diabetes company selling insulin. The broad-based appeal and interest in Ozempic and Wegovy, another of its weight-loss brands, took company executives by surprise. Now, Novo Nordisk is ramping up those efforts to reach patients directly.
“Our markets are evolving, particularly in obesity, as it has become more competitive and consumer-driven,” Mr. Doustdar said in a statement on Wednesday. “Our company must evolve as well.”
“We need a shift in our mind-set and approach so we can be faster and more agile,” he added.
Novo Nordisk expects the restructuring to lead to a one-off cost of 8 billion Danish kroner, which will hit this year’s profit. The company lowered its guidance for operating profit growth in 2025 to a range of 4 to 10 percent, six percentage points lower than the guidance given a month ago.
The job cuts would lead to a simplified organizational structure and faster decision-making, the company said. The savings would allow for more investment in science, commercial operations and manufacturing, it added. The company had already begun a hiring freeze, which meant that some new hires lost their jobs shortly before they were expected to start.
Novo Nordisk shares rose about 3 percent on Wednesday morning in Copenhagen following the announcement.
Eshe Nelson is a Times reporter based in London, covering economics and business news.
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