Obesity drug competition fuels Novo Nordisk restructure
Posted: 11 September 2025 | Catherine Eckford (European Pharmaceutical Review) | No comments yet
The company’s CEO says the shift will help prioritise investment into obesity and diabetes, the company’s leading therapy areas.
In a move to secure its long-term growth, Novo Nordisk is intending to cut its workforce by approximately 9,000 employees. In Europe, around 5,000 reductions are expected in Denmark. The decision is anticipated to deliver annual savings of DKK 8 billion by the end of next year.
Novo Nordisk’s approach to navigating the competitive obesity drug landscape
While the company has benefited from strong growth over the past few years thanks to global demand for its blockbuster obesity GLP-1 drug Wegovy (semaglutide), this has resulted in “increased organisational complexity and costs”, according to Novo Nordisk.
As such, the proposed changes plan to address this, enabling the firm to “invest more behind its science, commercial capabilities and manufacturing ramp-up.”
While Novo Nordisk highlighted the recent slowdown in growth in the obesity drug market, there has been continued global demand, especially for GLP-1 therapies.
Earlier this month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s approved a generic form of Teva Pharmaceuticals’ version of Novo’s injectable GLP-1 therapy Saxenda (liraglutide). Alongside Wegovy, Teva’s drug will therefore compete with Eli Lilly’s Zepbound (tirzepatide).
By realigning our resources now, we will be able to prioritise investments to drive sustainable growth and future innovation for the millions of patients with chronic diseases globally, particularly in diabetes and obesity”
With a significant number of talent made available following Novo Nordisk’s restructure and the company’s current position as a major player in the market, this could bring broad change to the life sciences sector.
Novo Nordisk President and CEO Mike Doustdar, who took on the role in July, affirmed on LinkedIn that the changes “enable us to do two things simultaneously — realign resources toward high-impact R&D and commercial initiatives while creating a more agile organisation that can respond faster to the evolving needs of millions of patients with chronic diseases”.
Commenting in the company’s official statement, Doustdar concluded: “… By realigning our resources now, we will be able to prioritise investments to drive sustainable growth and future innovation for the millions of patients with chronic diseases globally, particularly in diabetes and obesity.”
