--- title: "The Maker of Ozempic Is in Such Deep Trouble That It’s Going on Hiring Lockdown" description: "Thanks to massive competition from other drugmakers and generic fakers, Novo Nordisk, the company behind Ozempic, is now on a hiring freeze." date: "2025-08-20" modified: "2025-08-20" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/ozempic-hiring-lockdown" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "RX and Medicine" tags: - "novo nordisk" - "ozempic" - "semaglutide" - "wegovy" --- # The Maker of Ozempic Is in Such Deep Trouble That It’s Going on Hiring Lockdown ![Thanks to massive competition from other drugmakers and generic fakers, Novo Nordisk, the company behind Ozempic, is now on a hiring freeze.]() *\Image: Sergei Gapon / AFP via Getty / Futurism\* Novo Nordisk, the Denmark-based pharmaceutical company that makes Ozempic and Wegovy, looks like it's being toppled off its GLP-1 throne. In a [statement to *Reuters*](), the Danish conglomerate admitted that it "currently \[has\] a hiring freeze in non-business critical areas." Though Novo offered no additional explanation, the [writing has been on the wall]() for months that the once-dominant drug manufacturer is in big financial trouble. Despite ushering in the weight-loss injectable craze and reaching a whopping [$604 billion market cap]() in March 2024, Novo has for the past 18 months suffered hit after financial hit as [compounding companies]() cut into its profit margin by selling cheaper, [off-brand Ozempic]() — and as Eli Lilly, the makers of rival jabs Mounjaro and Zepbound, [surged ahead]() thanks to promising news about its [orforglipron GLP-1 pill](). By May of 2025, Novo's now-former chief executive, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, announced that he would be stepping down, citing "[recent market challenges]()" — a reference, it seems, to the pressures of captaining a sinking ship. After months of plummeting sales, the company in late July issued a profit warning, or notice to the stock market that its profits were projected to be lower than previously expected. With news that its outgoing CEO was being [replaced by Maziar Mike Doustdar]() — a former executive vice president at the company whose internal hiring [seemingly spooked investors]() — Novo shares [plummeted 21 percent]() to a [low of $46.90](), its lowest price in three years. With all those stumbles in just a few short months, Novo is now not only pausing hiring, but also considering laying off some portion of its staffers, who according to the [company's jobs page]() currently total more than 77,000. In an [interview with *Reuters*]() on the way out the door earlier this month, Jørgensen admitted that the drugmaker "probably won't be able to avoid layoffs" — and as [*Fierce Pharma* flagged](), Doustdar seemed to echo that sentiment in a recent earnings call. "When I think about the future and the huge opportunities that we have, we need to be able to finance that and not fall behind the competition," Doustdar said on an [August 6 earnings call](). "We need to reallocate and relook at our cost base and really put the money where the growth is." It doesn't sound like Ozempic and Wegovy are going anywhere, though: Doustdar said during that same earnings call that he wants to "focus more on diabetes and obesity, as this is our main core and has always been." **More on Novo:** [*A Side Effect of Trump's Tariffs: Making Ozempic Way More Expensive*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()