In his first major move since taking the helm of Novo Nordisk last month, Mike Doustdar, President and CEO, announced a restructuring plan as the company lowers its sales & profit outlook. What’s behind the move?

By Patricia Van Arnum, Editorial Director, DCAT, pvanarnum@dcat.org 

Restructuring plan aims to cut 11% of global workforce 
Novo Nordisk has announced a company-wide restructuring under it will  reduce its global workforce by approximately 9,000 of the 78,400 positions in the company, with around 5,000 reductions expected in Denmark, representing an approximately 11.5% reduction in its global workforce.  

The company says the restructuring in part of a strategy “to simplify its organization, improve the speed of decision-making, and reallocate resources towards the company’s growth opportunities in diabetes and obesity. “As the global leader in obesity and diabetes, Novo Nordisk delivers life-changing products for patients worldwide. But our markets are evolving, particularly in obesity, as it has become more competitive and consumer-driven,” said Mike Doustdar, President and CEO of Novo Nordisk, in a September 10, 2025, company statement. “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.” 

Financial impact 
The workforce reduction is expected across the company, including staff areas and headquarters functions, and is expected to deliver total annualized savings of approximately DKK 8 billion ($1.25 billion) by the end of 2026. The restructuring comes with an expected DKK 8 billion ($1.25 billion) in net one-off restructuring costs, including impairment charges. Restructuring costs of around DKK 9 billion ($1.4 billion) will be incurred in the third quarter of 2025, countered by savings of around DKK 1 billion ($157 million) in the fourth quarter. Consequently, Novo Nordisk expects an estimated one-off negative impact of around 6 percentage points on full-year operating profit growth at constant exchange rates (CER ) in 2025 compared to the operating profit outlook that the company issued last month (August 6, 2025) as part of its first-half 2025 earnings results. The company is now providing an updated full-year 2025 operating profit growth outlook of 4–10% at CER, down from the 10-16% operating profit growth outlook offered just last month (August 6, 2025). 

Restructuring comes with new CEO 
The announced restructuring comes just over a month after new President and CEO Mike Doustdar took over the helm of Novo Nordisk on August 7, 2025, a day after the company’s first-half 2025 earnings were released. The company had announced a pending change in leadership with the company reporting in May (May 2025) that then CEO and President Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen would be stepping down, citing a need for a change in executive leadership amidst challenging conditions. The company then and now faces increased competition from its blockbuster drugs, Ozempic/Wegovy (semaglutide), glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists, respectively for treating Type 2 diabetes and obesity, less than optimal results for its next-generation treatments, and experienced a sharp decline in the company’s stock prices earlier this year (2025), according to analysts. 

Novo Nordisk later lowered both its outlook for sales and operating profit for 2025 in its August 6, 2025, results citing what the company called the “persistent” use of compounded GLP-1s, slower-than-expected market expansion, and competition. Its reduced earning outlook was related to lower growth expectations for Wegovy in the US obesity market, for Ozempic in the US GLP-1 diabetes market, as well as for Wegovy in select international markets.  

Going forward 
Going forward, the company says that the savings from its restructuring will be redirected to growth opportunities in diabetes and obesity, including commercial execution initiatives and R&D programs. The company says that implementation of the restructuring will begin immediately (as reported on September 10, 2025), and that it expects to communicate with affected employees over the next few months, pending negotiations as per local legal labor market requirements. Further, the  company says that additional initiatives are to be implemented to enhance organizational focus, performance culture and speed of decision-making as well as cost efficiencies. 

The battle in the obesity drug market 
Novo Nordisk battles one-to-one with its Ozempic/Wegovy (semaglutide) in the diabetes and obesity market with Eli Lilly and Company’s Mounjaro/Zepbound (tirzepatide), a dual-activating GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide) and GLP-1 medication, respectively for treating Type 2 diabetes and obesity. Both Ozempic/Wegovy and Mounjaro/Zepbound, with the obesity indication a key driver driving blockbuster status for their respective drugs, which are administered as injectables. Both companies are moving forward with advancing oral obesity drugs.  

Novo Nordisk is advancing an oral version of its obesity drug, Wegovy. Novo Nordisk already has an oral version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, on the market in Rybelsus, which was first approved in 2019, but that is indicated for treating Type 2 diabetes, not obesity. In May (May 2025), Novo announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted its new drug application (NDA) submission for an investigational once-daily oral formulation of Wegovy (semaglutide) for chronic weight management in adults living with obesity or overweight with one or more comorbid conditions and to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in adults with overweight or obesity and established cardiovascular disease. If approved, Wegovy would become the first oral formulation of a GLP-1 indicated for chronic weight management. The FDA action date to decide on the Wegovy oral formulation NDA is in the fourth quarter of 2025. 

Novo Nordisk is advance subcutaneous and oral amycretin into Phase III development in weight management based on completed clinical studies during the first quarter of 2025. Amycretin is a long-acting GLP-1 and amylin receptor agonist under development for treating adults with overweight or obesity and for Type 2 diabetes. 

The company is also advancing CagriSema, a fixed-dose combination of a long-acting amylin analogue, cagrilintide, and semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic. CagriSema is being investigated by Novo Nordisk as a once-weekly subcutaneous injectable treatment for adults with overweight or obesity (REDEFINE program) and as a treatment for adults with Type 2 diabetes (REIMAGINE program). To boost its obesity franchise further, its REDEFINE clinical trials have been initiated to investigate further the potential efficacy and safety of CagriSema. Also, semaglutide 7.2 mg (a higher dose of Wegovy) has been submitted to regulatory authorities in the European Union. 

Novo is not alone in advancing oral GLP-1 agonists. Earlier this year (April 2025), Lilly reported positive Phase III results for orforglipron, an oral small-molecule (non-peptide) GLP-1 receptor agonist, for treating Type 2 diabetes and obesity. Orforglipron was discovered by Chugai Pharmaceutical and licensed by Lilly in 2018. Chugai and Lilly published the preclinical pharmacology data of this molecule together, and Lilly is running Phase III studies on orforglipron for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes and for weight management in adults with obesity or overweight with at least one weight-related medical problem. It is also being studied as a potential treatment for obstructive sleep apnea and hypertension in adults with obesity. 

Roche is also advancing an oral GLP-1 receptor agonist, CT-996, which it gained through its 2024 acquisition of  Carmot Therapeutics, a Berkeley, California-based bio/pharmaceutical company, in a deal worth up to $3.1 billion ($2.7 billion at closing plus $400 million in potential milestone payments). The acquisition provided Roche with three clinical-stage assets with potential in treating obesity and diabetes. These included CT-996, a once-daily oral small-molecule oral GLP-1 receptor agonist, in Phase I, for treating obesity in patients with and without Type 2 diabetes, as well as two injectable clinical drug candidates: CT-388, a once-weekly subcutaneous injectable in Phase II, for treating obesity in patients with and without Type 2 diabetes, and CT-868, a once-daily subcutaneous injectable, in Phase II, for treating Type 1 diabetes patients with overweight or obesity.