Novo Nordisk is ending all work in cell therapy, including a Type 1 diabetes program, amid CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar's reorganization. As part of the move, the company is laying off nearly all of the division’s 250 employees, according to the Danish publication that first broke the news.
“We can confirm that we have decided to discontinue our cell therapy R&D efforts,” a Novo spokesperson told Fierce Biotech. “We are in the process of identifying partners with the right capabilities and manufacturing capacity to further develop our innovations.”
“Out of respect for the employees involved, we will not share additional details about individual sites or areas,” the spokesperson added.
The decision includes nearly all of the division’s 250 employees being terminated, according to Danish publication Borsen, which first reported the cuts.
The move is part of new CEO Doustdar’s initiative aimed at saving about $1.3 billion annually by the end of 2026. The cost-cutting bid involves laying off 9,000 employees, or about 11% of the company’s global workforce.
“As part of this change, we are assessing all business areas and regions to simplify structures, reduce duplication and sharpen focus,” the spokesperson said today about the initiative.
The axed R&D encompasses work across Parkinson’s disease and chronic heart failure as well as research aimed at reversing or curing Type 1 diabetes.
Less than two weeks ago, the pharma dumped a $598 million cardio cell therapy pact amid the restructuring, which is supposed to reallocate resources to areas such as obesity and diabetes treatments.
The cell therapy discontinuation also comes on the heels of yesterday’s announcement that the pharma is buying Akero Therapeutics and its liver disease drug candidate for $4.7 billion in cash. The FGF21 analog is in a phase 3 program that is scheduled to deliver data starting in the first half of next year.
The Wegovy maker joins a string of other pharmas bidding adieu to cell therapy work, including Takeda Pharmaceuticals, which announced the end of its development in the modality last week.