Novo Nordisk to lay off 400 staff in R&D and refocus pipeline

18 September 2018

Despite just a week ago opening a major R&D facility in the UK, today Danish diabetes care giant Novo Nordisk (NOV: N) announced plans to restructure its R&D organization to accelerate the expansion and diversification of its pipeline across serious chronic diseases, but also reducing staffing.

To enable increased investment in transformational biological and technological innovation within both core and new therapy areas, around 400 employees will be laid off from R&D roles in Denmark and China. Market reaction was mooted, with Novo Nordisk’s shares down just 0.61% at 301.35 Danish kroner by close of trading today.

To support its strategic ambitions, Novo Nordisk will establish four Transformational Research Units in 2018 to pursue novel treatment modalities and platform technologies. The biotech-like units, based in Denmark, the USA and the UK, will operate as satellites of Novo Nordisk's central R&D function and will drive innovation in priority fields such as translational cardio-metabolic research and stem cell research.

This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.

Try before you buy

Free

7 day trial access

Take a Free Trial

All the news that moves the needle in pharma and biotech
Exclusive features, podcasts, interviews, data analyses and commentary from our global network of life sciences reporters.
Receive The Pharma Letter daily news bulletin, free forever.

Become a subscriber

£820

Or £77 per month

Subscribe Now

Unfettered access to industry-leading news, commentary and analysis in pharma and biotech.
Updates from clinical trials, conferences, M&A, licensing, financing, regulation, patents & legal, executive appointments, commercial strategy and financial results.
Daily roundup of key events in pharma and biotech.
Monthly in-depth briefings on Boardroom appointments and M&A news.
Choose from a cost-effective annual package or a flexible monthly subscription

The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed

Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK