The world's biggest maker of insulin, Novo Nordisk, plans to trim about 1,000 jobs, or 2 per cent of its workforce, to cut costs as it faces increasing competition and resistance to high prices for diabetes products in the United States.
Most cuts will be in research and development units and staff functions at its headquarters, as well as in the global commercial organisation, the company said. The headcount reduction is part of a broader effort to pare expenses.
The move underscores the increasingly difficult operating environment in the US, Novo’s largest market, as payers become more selective about the drugs included in coverage plans for their clients and cheaper copycat medicines force the company to cut prices or lose ground to rivals.
The pricing uncertainty is likely to extend into 2018, according to chief executive Lars Rebien Sörensen.
The stock has soared more than ninefold during Mr Sörensen’s 16 years at the helm, even as he shunned mergers and ignored calls for diversification. Concern about the increasing competition has caused Novo to lose more than a quarter of its value this year, making it the second-worst performer in the Bloomberg Europe Pharmaceutical Index.
– Bloomberg
