The news: Novo Nordisk is cutting 9,000 jobs—11% of its workforce—as it aims to regain its lead in obesity drug sales against Eli Lilly and telehealth companies.
Why it matters: The layoffs mark another shift for Novo in a turbulent year. CEO Mike Doustdar is only about a month into the role after the previous CEO stepped down amid plummeting stock prices and sales.
How we got here: Novo’s Wegovy (semaglutide) was the first GLP-1 drug to market, two years ahead of Lilly’s Zepbound, but it failed to capitalize on its advantage.
- Novo didn’t anticipate high demand for Wegovy, spurring shortages and opening the door for compounding pharmacies to make copycat versions. (The FDA allows compounded drugs during shortages.)
- Telehealth companies like Hims & Hers and Noom continue to cut into Novo sales by offering lower cost, personalized versions of semaglutide.
- Novo recently cut its 2025 sales growth guidance to 8% to 14%, down from the prior view of 13% to 21%, citing lower-than-expected sales of Wegovy.
Our first take: Novo’s layoffs and lowered outlook are near-term moves mostly aimed at appeasing Wall Street and investors amid a challenging year; its stock is down about 38% YTD. Though Novo has lost the GLP-1 market lead to Lilly, it can regain ground if its weight loss drug pill performs well in clinical trials, it leans into tech such as AI to avoid past mistakes around forecasting drug supply needs, and it focuses on bringing products to market faster.
This is our immediate perspective. We’re actively developing this story throughout the day with more research and data from the EMARKETER database. Our in-depth analysis will be included in our client-only Briefings. Non-clients can click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.
Check out other EMARKETER content related to this story: