The drugmaker announced a big round of cuts—5,500—back in 2009. RELATED: Eli Lilly slashes 485 jobs, with ax falling heavily on faltering Alzheimer's unit Like its peers Sanofi and Novo Nordisk, Lilly has been under increasing pressure in diabetes as payers play the drugmakers against each other to secure better pricing. Back in March, the drugmaker released a transparency report showing that an average 14% list price hike in 2016 for its medicines amounted to a net 2.4% increase after discounts.