For years, Novo Nordisk was the envy of the pharmaceutical world. Riding a wave of unprecedented demand for its blockbuster weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, the Danish giant embarked on an aggressive hiring spree, swelling its global workforce to historic highs. But as of August 2025, the tide has turned. Facing intensifying competition, squeezed margins, and a sharp drop in market value, Novo Nordisk is freezing non-essential hiring and signaling that layoffs may be on the horizon.
According to Reuters and The Economic Times, Novo Nordisk’s workforce ballooned from around 43,260 employees in 2019 to 77,350 by the end of 2024—an average of 131 new roles filled each week. That’s a pace far outstripping even its closest rival, Eli Lilly, whose headcount increased from 36,000 to 47,000 over the same period. The expansion was fueled by the runaway success of Wegovy and Ozempic, as Novo scrambled to keep up with skyrocketing demand and to outpace competitors in a lucrative new market.
But the weight-loss drug boom has proven to be a double-edged sword. As Reuters notes, the rapid expansion is now under intense scrutiny from both investors and Novo’s own management. The company’s employee expenses soared, reaching nearly $9.9 billion in 2024, while gross margins dipped to their lowest point in more than two years by mid-2025. And after issuing two profit warnings this year and forecasting possible sales declines for the second half of 2025, Novo Nordisk’s market capitalization has plummeted by a staggering $490 billion from its peak.
“I don’t want to limit myself in terms of where I look for savings, and salaries are a cost item. I will go through everything,” said CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar on August 7, 2025, his first day in the job, as reported by Reuters. True to his word, just two weeks later, Novo announced a global hiring freeze for non-critical roles. When pressed for details on potential headcount reductions, a company spokesperson pointed back to Doustdar’s comments, signaling that nothing—no department or role—was off the table.
The mood among analysts and employees is tense. Many expect that layoffs will hit the sales division first—a common move in the pharmaceutical industry when companies look to cut costs. Novo itself hinted at this during its second-quarter results, stating it would begin deprioritizing sales of Rybelsus, its older type 2 diabetes treatment. Sales of Rybelsus have slumped, overshadowed by the surging popularity of Ozempic, which shares the same active ingredient as Wegovy.
TD Cowen analyst Michael Nedelcovych told Reuters, “That is probably not a coincidence. When companies try to cut costs, they probably look first to a sales force for an ailing drug.” Novo’s approach to launching Wegovy in the United States may have made matters worse: rather than relying on staff already promoting Ozempic, the company built an entirely new U.S. sales force for Wegovy. According to three former employees who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, this led to overlapping outreach efforts and ballooning costs, as both teams often targeted the same healthcare providers.
But sales isn’t the only area under the microscope. In response to the initial surge in demand for Wegovy, Novo Nordisk invested billions to expand its manufacturing footprint in Denmark and the United States. The company revealed that around 70% of new hires in the previous two to three years were in manufacturing roles. In 2024 alone, 49% of new hires were related to manufacturing, including about 3,200 employees who joined the company through its acquisition of Catalent, a contract drugmaker, by Novo Holdings, Novo Nordisk’s controlling shareholder.
Still, some industry observers believe that the first cuts may come from other corners of the business. Simon Birkso Larsen, founder of the Copenhagen-based consultancy Pipeline Clarity and a former Novo Nordisk employee, told The Economic Times, “Novo hired so rapidly that it has become difficult to figure out who does what in the organization... There are limits to how many people you can integrate and still be effective.” He suggested that functions such as communications or administrative roles could be targeted first, since trimming sales or manufacturing could hinder the company’s ability to regain lost market share.
The cost-cutting drive comes at a pivotal moment for Novo Nordisk and the broader weight-loss drug industry. The initial euphoria surrounding Wegovy and Ozempic has given way to a far more competitive landscape. Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and a slew of cheaper copycat drugs have entered the U.S. market, ramping up pricing pressure and eroding margins for everyone involved. As The Economic Times observed, “Novo Nordisk faced cost pressure and competition from Lilly’s Zepbound and cheaper weight loss copycat compounds in the US as of August 2025.”
For investors, the company’s dramatic reversal has been a wake-up call. Lars Hytting, head of trading at Danish investment firm ArthaScope, which holds Novo shares, told Reuters, “Their earnings had been so strong that you could ignore the cost side. The firm had grown ‘complacent’ and now needed to slim down.” He quipped, “Novo is now going on Wegovy,” a play on the company’s own weight-loss product.
Market analysts say this isn’t just a Novo Nordisk story—it’s emblematic of a wider shift in the pharmaceutical sector. Hiring booms can turn on a dime, and the industry’s focus is rapidly pivoting from explosive growth to operational efficiency and cost discipline. As the dust settles, cost controls and trimmed headcounts may well become the new normal for pharma giants, their employees, and patients alike.
As for Novo Nordisk, the coming months will be decisive. The company’s management faces the unenviable task of balancing the need to cut costs with the imperative to maintain momentum in a fiercely competitive market. With a global hiring freeze in effect and the prospect of layoffs looming, thousands of employees are now anxiously awaiting word on their futures. The weight-loss drug race, it seems, has entered a new and far more sobering phase.
For an industry that thrives on innovation and rapid response, Novo Nordisk’s abrupt shift from hiring spree to hiring freeze is a stark reminder of just how quickly fortunes can change. All eyes are now on Copenhagen as the company charts its next move in a market that’s as unforgiving as it is lucrative.
