Novo had around 250 employees working on cell therapies, all of whom will be laid off, though a spokesperson declined to reveal which offices and locations will be affected.
Novo Nordisk will stop working on its cell therapies, including a type 1 diabetes candidate, as new CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar seeks to chart a new direction for the Danish drugmaker.
“We are in the process of identifying partners with the right capabilities and manufacturing capacity to further develop our innovations” in cell therapy, according to a Novo spokesperson, who confirmed the news to Fierce Biotech on Friday. Citing privacy and “respect for the employees involved,” the spokesperson declined to provide details about the affected offices or areas.
Almost all of Novo’s 250 cell therapy employees will be laid off, Fierce reported, citing the Danish outlet Borsen.
As part of its cell therapy exit, Novo will pull the plug on its type 1 diabetes program, which aimed to develop glucose-responsive insulin, delivery devices and potentially curative stem cell therapies. On its pipeline page, Novo lists a glucose-sensitive insulin candidate in Phase I development. The pharma will also terminate cell therapy work in Parkinson’s disease and chronic heart failure.
Aside from cell therapies, the Novo spokesperson confirmed to Fierce that the pharma is also looking at “all business areas and regions,” with the goal to “simplify structures, reduce duplication and sharpen focus.”
During Novo’s Q2 earnings call in August, Doustdar told investors that as the new CEO, he will prioritize the pharma’s strengths: “We’re going to focus more on diabetes and obesity as this is our main core and always has been,” he said.
To support the company’s operations, Doustdar also said that he planned to reassess Novo’s spending and look for areas where he could generate savings. “We need to reallocate and look at our cost base and really put the money where the growth is,” he said during the investor call. A month later, Novo announced that it would cut 9,000 employees across its worldwide operations in order to generate about $1.25 billion in annualized savings through 2026.
Also as part of Doustdar’s realignment push, Novo earlier this month terminated a partnership with Tokyo-based cell therapy specialist Heartseed. The biotech received $55 million upfront from Novo in 2021 to develop a cell therapy-based treatment for heart failure.
Like Novo, Takeda also recently left the cell therapy space, announcing earlier this month that it is looking to offload its assets and platforms to an external partner who could take them forward.
