Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk announced on Wednesday that it will cut nine thousand jobs worldwide to reduce costs amid fierce competition among global suppliers of weight loss medications.
The company is best known for its weight loss products Wegovy and Ozempic, as noted by the German news agency Dpa.
The announced nine thousand layoffs represent approximately 11.5 percent of Novo Nordisk’s workforce, with more than half of the jobs, around five thousand, being eliminated in its home country of Denmark.
Plans for layoffs at the company’s international locations have not yet been finalized, according to Novo Nordisk.
A company spokesperson stated only that they are changing their business on a global scale and that the number of layoffs will vary from country to country, from location to location, and from region to region.
Novo Nordisk is responding to pressure in the weight loss product market, particularly from American competitor Eli Lilly, which has successfully launched a competing obesity treatment product, Zepbound.
– Our markets are evolving, especially in the area of (treatment – ed. note) obesity, as competition intensifies and consumers are becoming increasingly important. Our company must evolve as well – said Novo Nordisk’s CEO Mike Doustdar.
The goal is to simplify Novo Nordisk’s operations and accelerate decision-making, they claim, noting that they intend to focus on growth opportunities in diabetes and obesity medications. The forecast for operating profit for this year has been significantly lowered.
Novo Nordisk estimates that the reorganization will cost it eight billion Danish kroner (approximately 1.26 billion dollars). The same amount is what management intends to save annually from 2026 onwards.
Although the Danish manufacturer was occasionally at the very top of the European market by market value last year during the surge of weight loss medications, its stock price has fallen by about 60 percent over the past year, Dpa notes.
In December, the Danish government had raised its economic growth forecasts for 2024 precisely due to the rapid expansion of Novo Nordisk’s business. Approximately one-fifth of the growth in employment in Denmark is attributed to the increase in jobs at Novo Nordisk, the Ministry of Economy stated at that time.
