Maziar Mike Doustdar becomes CEO of Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy (both semaglutide), installed a new chief executive on Aug. 7, 2025. Maziar Mike Doustdar, a three-decade company veteran who ran its international business, replaced Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen ^[3]. Roughly a month later, he announced a restructuring that eliminates about 9,000 jobs worldwide ^[1].

The board announced the change on July 29, 2025, calling Doustdar "an exceptional leader" with "the unanimous support of the Board," and said the company "needs to address recent market challenges with speed and ambition" ^[3]. Doustdar joined Novo Nordisk in 1992 as an office clerk in Vienna and later led International Operations, which more than doubled sales to about DKK 112 billion in 2024 across 80 affiliates outside the United States ^[3][4]. He is the first non-Danish person to lead the company since it was founded in 1923 ^[4]. His appointment came the same day the company lowered its financial outlook, which pushed the share price down ^[4].

A fast, painful first move

On Sept. 10, 2025, Novo Nordisk said it would cut about 9,000 of its 78,400 positions — roughly 11.5% of the global workforce — with around 5,000 of those reductions in Denmark ^[1]. The company described it as "a company-wide transformation to simplify its organisation, improve the speed of decision-making, and reallocate resources towards the company's growth opportunities in diabetes and obesity" ^[1].

The cuts carry a one-off cost of 8 billion Danish kroner, about $1.26 billion, and are intended to save the same amount by the end of 2026 ^[1][2]. Because of those charges, Novo Nordisk lowered its full-year operating profit growth forecast to 4% to 10% at constant exchange rates, down from the 10% to 16% it had given with second-quarter results in August ^[1]. Shares rose 4.1% in London trading that morning ^[1].

"Our markets are evolving, particularly in obesity, as it has become more competitive and consumer-driven," Doustdar said. "Our company must evolve as well" ^[1]. On the July investor call, he said he was taking the job with a sense of "urgency" and listed three priorities: defending leadership in diabetes and obesity, building a high-performance culture, and realigning the cost base ^[1]. He also imposed a hiring freeze in non-critical areas ^[4].

The pressure is real. Novo Nordisk's market value fell from an all-time high of DKK 4.121 trillion (about $647.95 billion) in June 2024 to DKK 1.555 trillion (about $244.47 billion) by mid-September 2025 ^[2]. Eli Lilly's tirzepatide drugs are gaining: Mounjaro brought in $9.041 billion in the first half of 2025, up 85% from a year earlier, and Zepbound $5.693 billion ^[2]. Novo's Ozempic generated DKK 64.5 billion (about $9.6 billion) and Wegovy DKK 58.206 billion ($9.144 billion) in the same period ^[2]. Lilly's orforglipron became the first oral GLP-1 to succeed in a Phase III trial and has since posted positive results in two more ^[2]. Novo has also lost sales to compounding pharmacies and disappointed investors twice with weight-loss results for its next-generation candidate CagriSema ^[1][2].

Why it matters for patients

A corporate reorganization does not change how semaglutide works or what is on pharmacy shelves today. But it signals where the company plans to spend: Novo says resources are moving toward diabetes and obesity, its "leading therapy areas" ^[1]. Alongside the CEO change, Novo merged research and early development with its development unit under a single chief scientific officer, saying the combined group would focus significantly on diabetes and obesity ^[3]. That kind of narrowing can speed some programs and shelve others.

What the sources do not say is whether the job cuts will touch manufacturing, supply, patient support programs or US pricing. Novo has been dealing with supply chain problems and lost US market share ^[1], but the announcement did not break the 9,000 reductions down by function beyond the Denmark figure ^[1].

What happens next

Novo Nordisk expects the DKK 8 billion in savings to be realized by the end of 2026 ^[2]. Doustdar was named to Time's 2026 list of 100 most influential people in health for his work at the company ^[4].