In a move that has sent ripples through the global pharmaceutical industry and Denmark’s economy, Novo Nordisk, the maker of blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, announced on September 10, 2025, that it will cut 9,000 jobs worldwide—5,000 of them in Denmark. The layoffs, representing 11% of the company’s workforce of 78,400, mark one of the largest corporate restructurings in Danish history and signal a dramatic shift for a company that, until recently, was Europe’s most valuable.
This sweeping restructuring aims to reduce organizational complexity, speed up decision-making, and reallocate resources toward Novo Nordisk’s core growth areas: diabetes and obesity treatments. The company expects the move to save 8 billion Danish kroner (about $1.25 billion) annually by the end of 2026, with those savings earmarked for research and development as well as manufacturing expansion. The cuts will begin immediately, with affected employees notified over the coming months, depending on local labor rules.
The announcement comes as Novo Nordisk faces fierce competition in the red-hot obesity drug market, particularly from U.S. rival Eli Lilly. Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound drugs have not only overtaken Wegovy in weekly U.S. prescriptions earlier this year, but studies have also shown Mounjaro to be more effective than Wegovy in reducing weight. According to Reuters, the company’s once-unstoppable momentum has slowed, and Novo’s share price has fallen nearly 46% since the start of 2025, slashing its market capitalization from a peak of around $650 billion last year to about $181 billion today.
"Our markets are evolving, particularly in obesity, as it has become more competitive and consumer-driven. Our company must evolve as well. This means instilling an increased performance-based culture, deploying our resources ever more effectively, and prioritizing investment where it will have the most impact—behind our leading therapy areas," said CEO Mike Doustdar in a statement quoted by AFP and AP. Doustdar, who took over as CEO in August 2025 after Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen’s departure, called the overhaul “the right thing to do for the long-term success of Novo Nordisk.”
The company’s fortunes had soared in recent years, thanks to the runaway success of its GLP-1 drugs, with Wegovy becoming the first highly effective obesity medication approved in the U.S. in 2021. Novo Nordisk’s workforce ballooned from 43,700 in 2020 to 78,400 in 2025, and the company’s success was even credited with boosting Denmark’s GDP in 2023. But the hiring spree has now backfired. As Bloomberg and Guardian report, the layoffs will return Novo’s headcount to early 2024 levels.
Investors initially welcomed the news, with Novo Nordisk shares rising more than 3% in Copenhagen trading after the announcement. Michael Novod, head of equity research for Denmark at Nordea Bank, told Reuters, "This is the new CEO's first major move to simplify Novo's structure and redirect resources toward growth in diabetes and obesity, rather than just cutting costs to boost margins." However, not everyone was reassured. Lukas Leu, a portfolio manager at ATG Healthcare, commented, "The obesity market was misjudged. It's much more consumer-driven than anticipated, and Novo expanded organisational complexity too quickly."
The restructuring is not without pain. Mass layoffs of this scale are highly unusual in Denmark, a country known for its strong labor protections and robust social safety net. Palle Sorensen, chief economist at Nykredit bank, told AFP that the 5,000 domestic job cuts were "significant," noting, "The Danish economy created 2,300 new jobs in June. So it is approximately equal to two months of job growth." Novo Nordisk declined to specify which business units will be most affected.
Alongside the layoffs, Novo Nordisk issued its third profit warning of 2025, now expecting operating profit growth of just 4% to 10% for the year, down from 10%-16% and a far cry from the 19%-27% forecast at the start of the year. The company cited 9 billion kroner in one-off restructuring charges as a major factor. According to The Guardian, Novo Nordisk’s market value has dropped by nearly $100 billion since its profit warning in August.
The company’s challenges extend beyond competition. Novo Nordisk has seen disappointing results from its new obesity drug, CagriSema, which failed to outperform Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro in late-stage clinical trials. Sales have also been hit by the end of a U.S. regulatory allowance for pharmacies to compound weight-loss medications during shortages—a practice that had allowed cheaper, copycat versions of Wegovy to flood the market. Former CEO Jørgensen recently said that the generic, copycat market had “equal size to our business” and that compounded versions of Wegovy were sold at a “much lower price point.”
On the international stage, Novo Nordisk and other European pharmaceutical firms face the threat of U.S. tariffs, particularly from Donald Trump, who has repeatedly warned of sector-specific import duties targeting drugmakers that do not shift some production to the United States. This uncertainty has further weighed on the company’s outlook, as noted by Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter, who told The Guardian, “Uncertainty over American tariffs has also been a risk that continues to cast a shadow over the industry.”
Despite these headwinds, Novo Nordisk insists that the restructuring is about more than just cost-cutting. The company says it will reinvest the savings into research and development, manufacturing expansion, and improving global patient access. As Reuters reported, the company is also preparing to launch a pill version of Wegovy and is exploring additional health benefits of its GLP-1 portfolio.
Analysts say the scale and speed of the layoffs reflect a broader industry shift. Sydbank analyst Soren Lontoft Hansen described the cuts as "surprising," adding, "It just shows that the company is transitioning from a period of rapid growth and heavy hiring to a new reality of slower growth, and is now adjusting accordingly." The move follows a global hiring freeze announced in August for non-essential roles.
For Novo Nordisk, the hope is that by “cutting the fat” now, it can become a leaner, more agile player in an increasingly crowded and competitive marketplace. As Doustdar put it on LinkedIn, “Sometimes the hardest decisions are the right ones for the future we’re building. I’m confident that this is the right thing to do for the long-term success of Novo Nordisk.”
With the obesity drug market rapidly evolving, and both consumer demand and regulatory pressures mounting, Novo Nordisk’s dramatic restructuring marks a pivotal moment—not just for the company, but for the industry as a whole. Whether this gamble will pay off remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the battle for supremacy in the weight-loss drug market is far from over.
