On September 10, Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk announced that it will lay off 9,000 employees in a new round of global restructuring, accounting for about 11.5% of the company’s total employees. Such large-scale layoffs are extremely rare in the century-old history of this insulin and weight-loss drug giant. This is also the first major measure announced by Novo Nordisk after replacing CEO.

“Novo Nordisk today announced a company-wide restructuring plan aimed at streamlining organizational structures, increasing decision-making speeds and reallocating resources to seize the company’s growth opportunities in the areas of diabetes and obesity,” Novo Nordisk said in a statement.

Novo Nordisk currently has approximately 78,400 positions worldwide. The company said that about 5,000 of the layoffs were located in the company’s local Danish market. Novo Nordisk China has not yet responded to the First Financial reporter on whether the layoffs involve the Chinese market.

Through the new restructuring plan, Novo Nordisk expects to save 8 billion Danish kroner (about US$1.26 billion) annually. The company announced a global recruitment freeze last month covering positions in non-critical business units.