Layoffs

This year, Novo Nordisk and Merck announced significant layoffs, with Novo planning to axe about 9,000 employees and Merck projecting it could let go of roughly 6,000. Meanwhile, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis and Pfizer have also made noteworthy cuts.

Both BMS and Novo Nordisk have, in recent months, announced steep layoffs as they strive to cut back on costs.

Follow along as BioSpace tracks job cuts and restructuring initiatives throughout 2025.

Moving forward, Innate will focus on the clinical development of its antibody-drug conjugate IPH4502, the lymphoma candidate lacutamab and the AstraZeneca-partnered monalizumab.

The White House is clamping down on pharma’s ability to buy new molecules from Chinese biotechs; Sanofi, Merck and others abandon the U.K. after the introduction of a sizeable levy; Novo CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar lays off 9,000 while the company presents new data at EASD; Capsida loses a patient in a gene therapy trial; and CDER Director George Tidmarsh walks back comments on FDA adcomms.

The biopharma job market remains challenging, based on BioSpace data. In August, job postings live on the website dropped 32% year over year. In addition, during the first eight months of 2025, over 26,000 people were laid off or projected to be laid off.

Claiming that the domestic market undervalues pharma innovation, Merck has decided to pull the plug on all of its R&D efforts in the U.K.

As Novo Nordisk cuts 9,000 people from its organization in a restructuring effort, BioSpace looks back on the Danish pharma company’s rise.

These 27 markets, comprising countries across Asia, Europe and South America, together contributed some 12% of Lundbeck’s earnings in 2024.

Novo Nordisk also lowered its full-year profit growth guidance in connection with the restructuring effort. The pharma now anticipates operating profit to grow from 4% to 10%, down from its prior projection of 10% to 16%.