Novo Nordisk is not wasting time beginning the layoffs it announced last week as part of a major restructuring effort. The Danish company is dismissing 263 employees from its U.S. headquarters in Plainsboro, New Jersey, according to a state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN).
Additionally in New Jersey, Bristol Myers Squibb has continued its ongoing savings program with a new round of layoffs, eliminating 282 positions at its corporate headquarters in Lawrenceville, according to the WARN report.
The Novo pink slips come after the company revealed its plan to subtract 9,000 employees from its global workforce of 78,400, with 5,000 of the cuts expected to come in its home country. Novo warned in a release last week that the restructuring would “begin immediately,” with affected employees receiving layoff communications “over the next few months.”
In a brief statement, Novo confirmed the layoffs, saying the notice was sent to the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development on Tuesday of this week. The dismissals will be effective Dec. 31 of this year, according to the WARN report.
The goal of the restructuring is to save 8 billion Danish kroner ($1.3 billion) annually by the end of 2026.
The changes come six weeks into the tenure of new CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar, who was tapped to replace Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen after the Danish company’s sales growth sputtered amid competition from Eli Lilly and compounding pharmacies in the lucrative U.S. obesity market.
Just 15 months ago, Novo’s market cap was nearly double that of any other company in Europe at $640 billion. Today, the Danish drugmaker ranks No. 6 at $253 billion.
Meanwhile, the BMS purge comes four months after the company reduced its head count at its headquarters by 516. This round of layoffs will be effective between Dec. 11 of this year and March 27 of next year, according to the WARN report.
The moves are part of the company’s cost-cutting initiative designed to save $3.5 billion by the end of 2027.
“We started this process last year and the expansion in our strategic productivity initiative reflects our ongoing plan to reshape the company for long-term, top-tier growth,” a BMS spokesperson wrote in a statement. “Overall, we’re driving operational excellence and becoming an agile, more efficient company as we position the company for growth.”
In April of last year, BMS unveiled an initiative to ax 2,000 jobs and reduce costs by $1.5 billion. Then, in February, BMS jacked up its cost-savings drive by an additional $2 billion and did so without revealing how many positions would be erased.
“Unfortunately, there were impacts to some of our employees as a result of these changes,” the spokesperson added. “We are grateful for the contributions of our colleagues and a top priority for us is supporting employees throughout the transition process.”
Source – https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/new-jersey-novo-nordisk-cuts-263-workers-while-bms-slashes-282