Layoff Tracker: Novo’s Cuts Leave Dozens of Manufacturing Workers Jobless

Below is a look at which companies have tightened their belts and cut staff during the second half of 2025. For first-half data, please visit the H1 2025 article.

To see which biopharmas laid off employees in the years prior to 2025, check out our 2023 and 2024 articles.

Know about a layoff happening in biopharma? Feel free to contact Angela Gabriel at angela.gabriel@biospace.com.

Novo Nordisk
Oct. 8

Novo Nordisk’s massive layoff campaign appears to be heavily affecting its manufacturing operations, according to a recent analysis by Reuters, which involved a review of more than 70 LinkedIn posts.

The publication identified 47 former employees who were let go from the pharma’s plant in Clayton, North Carolina, where its blockbuster obesity drug semaglutide is produced. It remains unclear how many exactly were affected at this plant, and a spokesperson for Novo declined to provide Reuters with additional details.

One terminated employee told Reuters they were under a non-disclosure agreement that prevented them from speaking to reporters.

Novo last month unveiled a sweeping restructuring initiative, set to begin “immediately,” that will leave some 9,000 employees across its global workforce jobless. The goal, the pharma said at the time, was to generate around $1.25 billion in annualized savings through 2026. This effort is the first major move of new CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar, who during the pharma’s Q2 call highlighted the “need to reallocate” its spending and “look at our cost base and really put the money where the growth is.”

Pharming
Oct. 7

In a bid to accelerate its growth, Netherlands-based Pharming has implemented an organization restructuring initiative that will involve a 20% reduction in headcount, according to an Oct. 6 announcement.

At the end of 2024, Pharming had 404 full-time equivalent employees across its global operations, including 148 people in the U.S., according to its annual report. These latest layoffs, therefore, could impact some 81 workers. It is unclear how many of the affected employees will be in the U.S., but Pharming has indicated that the terminations will focus on its non-commercial and non-medical staff.

The company anticipates around $7 million in one-time costs in connection with the layoffs. Savings from this initiative are expected to hit $10 million annually.

In the second quarter, Pharming brought in $93.2 million in revenues, up 26% year-on-year. The vast bulk of its topline was driven by its hereditary angioedema drug Ruconest and the activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome therapy Joenja, which brought in $80.4 million and $12.8 million, respectively. Cash position at the end of Q2 was at $130.8 million.

Mythic Therapeutics
Oct. 6

As part of refocusing its business to prioritize lead program MYTX-011, oncology biotech Mythic Therapeutics has cut an unspecified number of employees, according to a company statement provided to BioSpace. The Waltham, Massachusetts–based business did not disclose which departments the layoffs affected.

“Our focus remains on advancing MYTX-011, a therapy that we believe could profoundly impact the lives of patients, and this reprioritization enables us to continue delivering on that commitment,” the statement noted.

Mythic, which launched in 2021 with a $103 million oversubscribed series B financing round, is working to develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapies to treat a wide range of cancers. MYTX-011 is a cMET-targeting ADC designed to boost cMET-dependent uptake and increase delivery of chemotherapy inside cancer cells while reducing uptake in healthy cells.

The biotech last month posted on LinkedIn about the staff cuts. “These past two weeks have been some of the most difficult in Mythic’s 8-year journey to bring the transformative impact of ADCs to more patients. We said goodbye to colleagues and friends who contributed greatly to our mission and more.”

CSL Vifor
Oct. 3

CSL Vifor will part ways with 55 employees, according to a Pennsylvania Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice. The layoffs will take effect on Dec. 1.

The affected employees belong to Vifor Pharma, which in December 2021 was acquired by CSL in an $11.7 billion agreement. The takeover was formally completed in August 2022, after which Vifor assumed the name CSL Vifor.

Fierce Pharma has reported that according to a Vifor spokesperson, the 55 employees being let go are spread out across the country but report up through the company’s headquarters in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, which is what triggered the WARN notice.

CSL enacted a sweeping business overhaul in August this year, spinning out its vaccines unit into its own separate and independent unit, now called CSL Sequirus. Meanwhile, CSL Vifor and another business unit, CSL Behring, each integrated their medical and commercial operations to improve synergy between these functions.

The strategic overhaul involved a 15% workforce reduction, affecting around 4,350 employees.

Editor’s note (Oct. 8): This tracker entry was updated to clarify the location of the affected employees based on newly available details from Fierce Pharma.

Bolt Biotherapeutics
Oct. 3

In an effort to extend its runway into 2027, California’s Bolt Biotherapeutics will let go of 50% of its employees, the company announced on Oct. 2. Around 20 workers will be affected, according to an SEC document, with the layoffs expected to be complete by the end of the year. Bolt expects to absorb around $1.5 million to $2 million in one-time costs, primarily due to severance payments and benefits.

The layoffs come amid a delay in Phase I dose escalation data for Bolt’s antibody conjugate BDC-4812. The company had previously expected to deliver data from this study in the “first half of 2026,” CEO Willie Quinn said in an Aug. 15 news release. The readout will now come in the third quarter of next year, according to the Oct. 2 announcement.

In May last year, Bolt was also forced to enact a “strategic prioritization” initiative, including a 50% workforce reduction, after the disappointing performance of the now-scrapped cancer drug trastuzumab imbotolimod, which Quinn at the time said “did not meet our high bar for advancement.”

Takeda
Oct. 3

Takeda will no longer invest in cell therapies moving forward as the pharma reassesses its pipeline priorities and works to boost the efficiency and productivity of its business.

The Japanese multinational has no active cell therapy clinical trials, according to an announcement on Oct. 3. In conjunction with the move away from cell therapy, Takeda is looking to offload its cell therapy platform to an external partner, where the company expects the clinic-ready programs will continue to advance. As part of its cell therapy exit, pharma will absorb 58 billion Japanese Yen ($394 million) in impairment charges.

The company is also laying off 137 employees as part of the move, according to reporting from the Boston Business Journal. According to an Oct. 1 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice, those staffers, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, are being let go effective Jan. 1 through July 31, 2026.

For more details, read the story.

Editor’s note (Oct. 5): This tracker entry was updated to add newly available details about the location and effective dates for the laid-off employees.

GSK
Oct. 2

Pharma giant GSK continues to shed employees, this time with an 8-person round of layoffs at its San Francisco, California site, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification posting. The terminations were effective Sept. 29.

GSK has enacted a couple of other workforce reductions this year. There were two rounds in July, for instance: The first affected a “very limited number” of employees across its global R&D workforce, while the second involved 150 people at its Cambridge, Massachusetts campus, following the relocation of its vaccine manufacturing operations to a Pennsylvania site.

Also on Sept. 29, GSK announced that its CEO Emma Walmsley, the first woman to lead a big pharma company, will leave her post and hand over the reins to Luke Miels, currently the company’s chief commercial officer.

IO Biotech
Oct. 1

After being told by the FDA that it had insufficient data to submit an application for its cancer vaccine, New York-based IO Biotech was forced to kick off a cash conservation initiative that will involve downsizing by “approximately” 50%, according to a Sept. 29 company press release.

According to IO Biotech’s second-quarter report, it had 78 full-time employees as of June 30, meaning the layoffs will affect around 39 people. At the time, the company said it had $28.1 million in cash and cash equivalents, enough to keep it going “for at least 12 months.” In its news release on Sept. 29, however, IO Biotech said its runway will keep going into the first quarter of 2026.

The restructuring effort will cost the company $1 million to $1.5 million in one-time charges, which it expected to record in the third quarter.

IO Biotech is developing the cancer vaccine Cylembio. According to the company, the FDA in a pre-BLA meeting recommended against submitting a regulatory application for the asset, citing a failed Phase III trial. Data released in August this year showed that Cylembio, when combined with Merck’s Keytruda, failed to significantly improve progression-free survival in patients with advanced melanoma.

KALA BIO
Oct. 1

Massachusetts’ KALA BIO will part ways with 19 employees, corresponding to around 51% of its workforce, after the disappointing mid-stage performance of its eye therapy KPI-012. In an SEC filing on Sept. 29, KALA noted that it is looking at its strategic options moving forward, and that the layoffs will help it conserve cash while it does so. The terminations will be “substantially complete” in the fourth quarter.

KPI-012, a topical ophthalmic solution, was being developed for persistent corneal epithelial defect (PCED), an eye disease characterized by a non-healing wound of the cornea that doesn’t close within 2 weeks of the injury, despite standard care.

Without providing specific data, KALA on Sept. 29 revealed that KPI-012 did not meet its primary efficacy endpoint in a Phase IIb study, unable to elicit complete healing of PCED. The asset also missed its key secondary endpoints, according to the biotech. KALA will discontinue the development of KPI-012 and stop work on its mesenchymal stem cell secretome platform, which uses the factors and various compounds secreted by these stem cells.

Sutro
Oct. 1

Sutro Biopharma is letting go of one third of its workforce in a bid to save money and keep the lights on. The San Francisco–based company will use the money saved to focus on three antibody-drug conjugate programs, as well as its research and development collaborations.

“After continued review of our business and pipeline priorities, we have identified and are implementing further operational efficiencies to focus our resources where they will have the greatest impact,” Sutro CEO Jane Chung said in a statement on Sept. 29.

This is the second large-scale layoff for Sutro this year. In March, the company terminated 50% of its employees and closed a manufacturing-support facility in San Mateo, California. That series of maneuvers is expected to finish by the end of 2025.

Because of that still-in-progress round of layoffs, it’s unclear how many more employees will be affected by this new workforce reduction. In a June SEC filing, Sutro said that after the first round of firings, the company would have 182 full-time staffers. If one third of that figure were let go in this new round, that would equal about 60 employees lost, bringing Sutro’s headcount down to around 120.

According to Sept. 29 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices, effective Sept. 30, 45 employees were let go in San Francisco; eight in San Carlos, California; and one who worked remotely.

For more details, read the article.

Editor’s note (Oct. 5): This tracker entry was updated to add newly available details about the number of employees let go who worked in San Francisco, in San Carlos and remotely.

Biogen
Sept. 30

Biogen has completely discontinued work on adeno-associated virus-based gene therapies, setting off a staff reshuffle within the unit.

All told, around 20 employees were affected by this restructuring effort, a spokesperson told Endpoints News, which broke the news on Sept. 25. “A majority” of these, however, were “reassigned to other roles within Biogen,” the spokesperson added. It is unclear how many were left without jobs.

At the end of 2024, Biogen had more than 7,600 employees worldwide, though the company in January let go of an undisclosed number of research staff in an effort to “reinvigorate” its drug discovery efforts, a spokesperson said at the time.

“We are taking a disciplined approach to capital allocation,” Jane Grogan, head of research at Biogen, said, according to a Sept. 26 report from Fierce Biotech, adding that moving forward, the company will focus its resources into “pioneer modalities” and therapies that are most likely to deliver “better outcomes for patients.”

For more details, read the article.

Heidelberg Pharma
Sept. 29

Ladenburg, Germany–based Heidelberg Pharma is laying off 75% of its staff after the company failed to meet the conditions for a royalty payment. Without the $70 million that royalty would have netted, Heidelberg is downsizing to extend its runway and focus its pipeline.

The company has 122 employees, according to a May press release, so up to 92 employees will be affected. Heidelberg did not specify what conditions it missed, but in a financing agreement with HealthCare Royalty, Royalty would pay $70 million upon FDA approval of TLX250-CDx, Heidelberg’s radiolabeled version of the antibody girentuximab for clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

The layoffs are expected to push Heidelberg’s runway into mid-2026. Going forward, the company is using its remaining cash reserves to advance the development of HDP-101, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) currently in a Phase I/IIa trial for multiple myeloma.

For more details, read the article.

Rising Pharmaceuticals
Sept. 25

New Jersey’s Rising Pharmaceuticals is shutting down two facilities in Decatur, Illinois, according to reporting from local news outlet WAND News on Sept. 16. In connection with the closures, around 95 employees were informed they were being laid off, according to WAND. However, a WARN posting on Sept. 15 puts the total number of affected employees at 86.

The headcount reduction will begin on Nov. 15, according to the WARN notice.

Rising Pharma arrived at Decatur in July 2023, when it bought the two facilities from Akorn Pharmaceuticals, which had declared bankruptcy in February of that year, according to reporting from WAND at the time.

According to its website, Rising Pharma is focused on prescription generic drugs, with more than 250 products in its catalog.

Rome Therapeutics
Sept. 24

Rome’s 14-person team is getting even smaller as the biotech is forced to assess its strategic options to stay afloat amid “challenging market conditions,” a company spokesperson told Fierce Biotech.

“Rome’s leadership and our board of directors are actively exploring strategic options to enable the continued advancement of our novel science and programs, all of which aim to address significant unmet patient needs,” the spokesperson said. The biotech has yet to specify how many people will be laid off, only revealing that the workforce reduction will be effective at the end of this quarter.

Alongside the cost-cutting efforts, Rome will also give up its physical office and switch to completely virtual operations, according to the spokesperson.

Launched in 2020 with $50 million in series A funds, Rome entered the industry with a mission to mine the “uncharted territory” of the genome for novel therapies for cancer, immune-mediated diseases and infectious diseases, according to a press announcement at the time. Three years later, the biotech’s series B brought in more than $70 million with the support of many high-profile backers, including Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb.

Seres Therapeutics
Sept. 23

As part of cost-cutting measures to support its lead program, Seres Therapeutics is laying off about 25% of its workforce, which includes people let go effective in August, the company announced today. The Cambridge, Massachusetts–based biotech had 103 employees as of Dec. 31, according to its annual report, meaning the workforce reduction could affect around 26 staffers. Seres expects the cuts will help extend its cash runway into the second quarter of 2026.

The biotech also noted in the announcement that it has received additional “constructive feedback” from the FDA that will help finalize the Phase II study protocol for lead program SER-155. The investigational live biotherapeutic is intended to prevent bacterial bloodstream infections and other pathogen-associated negative clinical outcomes in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants.

Seres is looking to secure capital and other resources to support advancement of the Phase II study as well as further development of additional live biotherapeutic candidates, according to the announcement. The company hopes to have interim clinical results within 12 months of study initiation.

Arvinas
Sept. 19

After letting go of its Pfizer-partnered vepdegestrant, Arvinas is enacting a “cost optimization” program that will include a workforce reduction of 15%.

The Connecticut company had 430 full-time employees at the end of 2024, as per its annual report. In May, the biotech let go of 131 people, likewise in a restructuring initiative, leaving less than 300 staff working at the company. This means that this latest round of layoffs could affect some 45 people. This retrenchment effort will heavily focus on departments involved with the commercialization of vepdegestrant, according to its Sept. 18 announcement.

In the same press release, Arvinas and Pfizer said they had “jointly agreed” to farm out the commercialization rights to vepdegestrant, a PROTAC degrader, to a third-party company. It is not immediately clear why the companies are moving away from the asset, with the announcement noting only that they believe “a third-party commercial partner is the best path forward to unlock the full value of vepdegestrant and ensure vepdegestrant is available promptly if approved.”

Arvinas and Pfizer were proposing vepdegestrant for the treatment of ER-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer with ESR1 mutations. The FDA accepted the drug application last month with a target action date of June 5, 2026.

Bristol Myers Squibb
Sept. 19

Bristol Myers Squibb is letting go of 282 employees in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with effective dates in December 2025 and February and March of next year, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notice.

It’s been a difficult year for BMS’ presence in New Jersey. In February, the company, via two different WARN disclosures, revealed that it would lay off a total 290 employees from its Lawrenceville campus. Then, in May, BMS added 516 more employees to the count. In July, it disclosed it would let go of 68 staffers.

BMS is in the midst of an aggressive cost-cutting campaign. Last year, the pharma aimed to save $1.5 billion through 2025. In February this year, BMS raised its savings goal by $2 billion, which it expects to fulfill through 2027.

For more details, read the article.

Novo Nordisk
Sept. 19

Novo Nordisk will let go of 263 employees at its U.S. headquarters in Plainsboro, New Jersey, effective Dec. 31, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notice.

Novo Nordisk revealed last week that it is downsizing its global headcount by 9,000 people, aiming to generate $1.25 billion in annualized savings through 2026. The layoffs correspond to 11% of the pharma’s workforce, most of whom are based in Denmark. The pharma said at the time that the cuts will help it “simplify” its business and “improve the speed of decision-making.”

A BioSpace analysis following these layoffs showed that over the last five years, Novo’s employee count surged 81%, growing in step with its revenue.

For more details, read the article.

Arsenal Biosciences
Sept. 18

Arsenal Biosciences is downsizing by 50% as it pushes its investigational cell therapies into the clinic, a company spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Biotech on Wednesday.

“We have undergone a restructuring to extend our cash runway and position the organization for our next phase of development,” the spokesperson told Fierce, adding that these strategic changes will allow the biotech to “execute on our clinical programs and advance them through critical milestones.” Arsenal is now down to 127 employees, according to the spokesperson.

Arsenal closed its series C round in September last year, bringing in $325 million that the biotech at the time said will go toward advancing its lead program AB-2100, a CAR T therapy being tested for renal cell carcinoma. Some big names backed the financing push, including ARCH Venture Partners, NVIDIA’s NVenture and Bristol Myers Squibb, which itself is partnered with the biotech under a 2021 multi-program contract. According to the spokesperson, the layoffs will not affect the BMS partnership.

X4 Pharmaceuticals
Sept. 18

For the second time this year, X4 Pharmaceuticals is enacting a “strategic restructuring” initiative, in which it will let go of half of its employees in a bid to “sharpen operational focus and align resources” with its long-term strategy, according to an SEC filing on Wednesday.

The company had 143 full-time employees at the end of 2024, according to its annual report, but was left with around 100 employees worldwide after a previous round of layoffs in February. These most recent staffing cuts are expected to affect some 50 employees. The strategic push will cost the company $3.3 million in one-time expenses for severance and other termination-related payments. Annualized savings are expected to hit $13 million, according to the SEC filing.

X4 is also trimming its masthead. The biotech’s Board has terminated Chief Operating Officer Mary DiBiase, Chief Commercial Officer Mark Baldry and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Natasha Thoren, all effective Sept. 15. A day later, Chief Medical Officer Christophe Arbet-Engels stepped down from his post.

X4 in April 2024 won the FDA’s approval for its oral drug Xolremdi, indicated for a condition known as WHIM (warts, hypogammaglobulinemia, infections and myelokathexis) syndrome. The drug made $2.6 million last year.

Innate Pharma
Sept. 18

Innate Pharma is laying off 30% of its workforce while putting its efforts and resources behind three of the company’s pipeline assets with the “highest potential” of delivering value both to patients and the biotech’s shareholders.

The streamlining initiative was spurred by what CEO Jonathan Dickinson called a “challenging funding environment” in an Aug. 15 statement. For its efforts, the Marseille-based Innate expects to usher its three “most promising and highest-value clinical assets” through key milestones over the next 12 months, Dickinson added. As of June 30, 2025, Innate had €70.4 million (roughly $83.4 million) in cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and financial assets, a runway long enough to carry the company through the third quarter of 2026.

Innate had 181 full-time employees by the end of 2024, meaning around 54 people will be affected by the staffing cuts. The biotech expects to complete the layoffs during the first half of 2026.

Merck
Sept. 12

Merck will terminate research and discovery efforts in the U.K., a move that includes pulling out of the Francis Crick Institute and the London BioScience Innovation Center, which will leave 125 employees jobless. The pharma giant is also pulling the plug on a roughly $1.3 billion construction project that was expected to open 120 posts for researchers and technicians.

In a statement to Endpoints News and Fierce Biotech, a company spokesperson said the moves reflect “the challenges of the U.K. not making meaningful progress towards addressing the lack of investment in the life science industry.” Successive U.K. governments, the spokesperson continued, have also demonstrated an “overall undervaluation of innovative medicines and vaccines.”

For more details, read the article.

Novo Nordisk
Sept. 11

Novo Nordisk is cutting some 9,000 staff across its global operations, including around 5,000 in Denmark, in a bid to generate around $1.25 billion in annualized savings through 2026.

The layoffs, which amount to an 11% headcount reduction, will begin “immediately,” and Novo expects to incur 9 billion Danish Kroner ($1.41 billion) in one-off costs, which will reflect in third-quarter 2025 results, according to the pharma’s Sept. 10 news release.

In a note to investors, BMO Capital Markets analysts wrote, “With shares down ~37% YTD . . . a significant shift was the only option. From underinvestment in manufacturing, over promising on clinical data (CagriSema), being slow-to-act in launching [direct-to-consumer], and a tepid initial response to compounders—Novo did not seem to get it right.”

For more details, read the article.

Lundbeck
Sept. 11

As Lundbeck enacts a major business overhaul across its European and international operations, more than 600 employees of the Danish company will be left without jobs. Lundbeck has around 5,700 employees total worldwide, meaning that the restructuring could represent a more than 10% reduction in headcount.

In a Sept. 9 news release, the company announced it would pull out of 27 markets and switch to what it called a “partnership model” in these areas. It will farm out its commercial assets in these markets to three regional partners.

Lundbeck has 602 employees across these 27 territories. The pharma expects that “the majority” of these affected staff could “get a new job with the local partners,” as per its announcement.

For more details, read the article.

AC Immune
Sept. 5

AC Immune is letting go of 30% of its workforce to help extend its cash runway to the end of Q3 2027, the Swiss biotech announced Sept. 4. As of Dec. 31, 2024, the company had 172 employees, all based in Switzerland, meaning that about 52 people could be affected by the headcount reduction. AC Immune expects to complete the cuts by the end of this year.

Alongside the layoffs, the biotech will sharpen its pipeline focus and concentrate its investments into its “most important assets.” These include three clinical-stage programs, two of which are in collaboration with Big Pharma partners. AC Immune will also move ahead with its “most promising” small-molecule assets targeting tau proteins and the NLRP3 inflammasome.

In a prepared statement Sept. 4, CEO Andrea Pfeifer highlighted that the company is “approaching multiple potentially transformational milestones over the next two years” but did not specify what those milestones are.

For more details, read the article.

Novartis
Sept. 3

Novartis is parting ways with 58 employees from its U.S. headquarters in East Hanover, New Jersey, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification posting. The layoffs will take place from Nov. 26 this year through June 26 next year.

A spokesperson for the pharma confirmed the news to Fierce Pharma on Tuesday, noting that the terminations will affect staff at Novartis’ medical affairs organization. The headcount reduction comes as the company is “evaluating opportunities to enhance processes, increase efficiencies, and ensure we are investing our time and resources into the areas where we can have the greatest impact,” the spokesperson added.

Novartis has implemented a couple of streamlining efforts this year, including letting go of 34 employees from its production plant in San Diego, California, effective this June. In March, the pharma likewise announced that it would axe 427 roles from its East Hanover location, layoffs that are scheduled to continue through Oct. 24. In December 2024, Novartis also laid off 330 employees after shutting down facilities in Munich and Boston.

Exelixis
Aug. 29

Exelixis will shutter its facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and is laying off 130 employees companywide as the cancer specialist rightsizes its operations after a pandemic-era boom in hiring. While a company statement provided to BioSpace did not give an exact breakdown of where affected staffers are located, 71 people at the biotech’s Alameda, California, headquarters are being let go effective Oct. 27, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice. In addition, Fierce Biotech has reported that 33 remote employees who report to California-based managers are being cut.

According to the statement, Exelixis hired a significant number of employees—including many remote workers—during the pandemic and post-pandemic period to meet business needs. The biotech is now reorganizing its structure to focus largely on its Alameda operations. It expects to reopen many of the affected positions as new roles at its headquarters.

For more details, read the article.

Editor’s note (Aug. 29): This tracker entry was updated to correct the total number of employees let go companywide. BioSpace regrets the error.

Indivior
Aug. 28

Indivior is letting go of an undisclosed number of employees as it sets in motion its “Indivior Action Agenda,” a sweeping and multi-year strategic initiative to “maximize the potential” of its business. The layoffs, announced in an SEC filing on Tuesday, are expected to cost Indivior some $16 million to $19 million in one-time severance payments.

Aside from the workforce reduction, Indivior will also consolidate and reduce its real estate assets, for which it expects to incur $15 million to $22 million in one-time costs. The company is also looking for “strategic alternatives” for its opioid use disorder therapy Opvee, though it did not specify what options it is currently exploring.

Indivior’s strategic push will continue through the end of the year. This first stage, according to the SEC document, is meant to “generate momentum” for this effort by “eliminating all non-essential activities” and looking for investment avenues that will help the company improve the penetration of its long-acting injectables in the U.S. market.

At the end of the second quarter, Indivior had $538 million in cash and investments, according to its most recent earnings report. The company had 1,094 employees at the end of 2024.

Pfizer
Aug. 28

A hundred jobs at Pfizer’s Bothell, Washington site are on the chopping block amid the Big Pharma’s aggressive cost-cutting measures. The layoffs were noted in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice and began Aug. 25.

In a statement to Fierce Pharma on Tuesday, a Pfizer spokesperson said the retrenchment effort is part of the company’s push to improve “R&D productivity and efficiency with a sharpened focus on opportunities.” The pharma is also “simplifying the way it works through digital enablement and automation, which we believe will deliver the greatest impact for patients,” the spokesperson added.

This latest round of workforce reductions at Pfizer comes just over two years after it acquired Seagen for $43 billion in May 2023. The antibody-drug conjugate specialist was previously headquartered at the Bothell site, which also housed a manufacturing facility for its biologics products and leased spaces for R&D and general administrative spaces, according to a 2022 annual report.

Appia Bio
Aug. 27

After just four years in business, cell therapy company Appia Bio is shutting down its operations, joining the growing list of startups that have thrown in the towel this year.

“I am saddened to share that we decided to wind down Appia Bio,” CEO JeenJoo Kang wrote in an Aug. 25 LinkedIn post. “Without further funding available to test in patients, heartbreakingly, we had reached the end of our road.”

Before reaching the end of its financial line, Appia “got to the cusp of filing our IND [investigational new drug] for clinical testing,” she added.

At the core of Appia’s business is a drug development engine that generates CAR-engineered natural killer T cells, which can then be frozen until they need to be used to treat a patient, according to the company’s website. Kite in August 2021 partnered with Appia to advance stem cell-derived cell therapies for hematologic cancers. The collaboration covered two candidates and carried a potential $875 million value, including an upfront consideration and milestone payments. That partnership ended in 2024.

LB Pharmaceuticals
Aug. 26

New York–based LB Pharmaceuticals announced the sector’s first IPO in six months on Monday. On Aug. 22, the company said in an SEC filing that it had undergone a reduction in force (RIF) in May to extend the company’s cash runway.

The company did not say how many employees were affected by the RIF, only that it involved letting go the company’s chief financial and science officers. The move will also cost the company about $700,000 related to severance and termination charges. “This initiative is intended to enhance our ability to allocate resources efficiently as we focus on advancing LB-102 and other high-priority development programs,” the company wrote, referring to its lead molecule aimed at treating schizophrenia.

For more information on LB’s IPO, read the story.

CSL
Aug. 21

Australian multinational CSL is parting ways with 15% of its workforce as part of a sweeping restructuring push, with an eye toward streamlining its operations and boosting its clinical and commercial performance.

As part of this strategic initiative, CSL will also spin off its vaccines business, CSL Seqirus, into its own independent entity, effective before its 2026 financial year ends in June next year. The pharma will also cut back on its overall expenditure, “including consolidation of R&D footprint,” according to its full fiscal year earnings report on Tuesday.

For the 12 months ending June 30, 2025, CSL had more than 29,000 full-time employees, as per its annual report. This means that around 4,350 people could be affected by this latest round of layoffs.

For more details, read the article.

Opthea
Aug. 20

In April, Opthea revealed that it would be reducing its headcount by 65% as it reels from two discontinued Phase III studies, but on Aug. 18, the Australian biotech revealed that the cuts would be steeper, affecting more than 80% of its employees. The company had 49 full-time employees as of the end of last year, as per an SEC filing in February. After these cuts, it is likely that Opthea has at most 10 staffers left.

As part of this restructuring effort, CEO Fred Guerard will step down effective Sept. 1. Chief financial officer Tom Reilly and director Sujal Shah will also Leave Opthea, effective Sept. 15. The biotech will also downsize its board of directors by more than 50%.

Directors who will stay onboard after the purge will conduct a full strategic review of Opthea’s business over the next six months, including looking at its internal development, strategic partners and the return of capital to shareholders. Opthea will also be renegotiating contracts related to its clinical trials.

Bausch Health
Aug. 15

Bausch Health has laid off 49 employees in Petaluma, California, and is closing that location, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice. The cuts, effective Aug. 13, represent a small part of the Canada-based company’s workforce. Bausch employed about 20,700 employees—including 8,100 in the U.S. and Canada—as of Dec. 31, according to the pharma’s annual report.

The company, which manufactures branded and generic pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter products, made headlines in April when it adopted a “poison pill” defense strategy. The shareholder rights plan kicks in when any one entity acquires at least 20% of an organization’s voting shares. Well-known activist investor Carl Icahn triggered the plan when he grabbed a 34% stake in Bausch.

Vedanta Biosciences
Aug. 15

Wednesday was a day of “difficult news” for Vedanta Biosciences, CEO Bernat Olle wrote in a LinkedIn post. He noted the company’s failed Phase II study for its investigational bacterial consortium candidate VE202 in ulcerative colitis and telling 20% of the employees their roles are being cut. In an interview with Endpoints News, Olle clarified that the layoffs will affect 23 staffers.

Cambridge, Massachusetts–based Vedanta did not provide specific data in a press announcement, only noting that the mid-stage COLLECTiVE202 study did not detect significant improvements in endoscopic and clinical response after VE202 treatment. The biotech continues to evaluate bacterial colonization outcomes, histological findings and immune responses, which will be shared at upcoming scientific meetings.

For more details, read the article.

Abata Therapeutics
Aug. 14

Abata Therapeutics is winding down its operations, a spokesperson from Third Rock Ventures confirmed to BioSpace on Aug. 13. The decision was driven by the “the current fundraising environment,” according to the spokesperson, who said that he could not reveal specific details regarding the matter.

Abata, which made it to BioSpace’s 2025 Best Places to Work list, launched in 2021 with backing from Third Rock and $95 million in initial funding. The startup was leveraging regulatory T cells as a potential treatment for autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. In July 2024, the FDA signed off on an investigational new drug (IND) application for Abata’s ABA-101 for multiple sclerosis. A few weeks later, the start-up received an equity investment from Bristol Myers Squibb to support ABA-101.

Generation Bio
Aug. 14

Generation Bio will shed 90% of its workforce amid a cash crunch that could render the biotech unable to support clinical development for its lipid nanoparticle platform.

The strategic restructuring is set to happen in phases from mid-August through the end of October, according to the Cambridge, Massachusetts–based company’s second-quarter earnings release. Generation Bio will initially retain its core R&D unit while it reviews its strategic alternatives—though this team will eventually be let go.

At the end of 2024, the company had 115 full-time employees, as per its annual report. Generation Bio then terminated 20% in January this year, potentially leaving it with 92 staff. These latest layoffs, therefore, could affect some 83 people.

For more details, read the article.

Absci
Aug. 13

Amid a push to improve the efficiency of its business, Absci is laying off an undisclosed number of employees, Fierce Biotech reported on Aug. 11, citing a company spokesperson, who added that the layoffs will impact only “a small number of roles.” At the end of 2024, Absci had 157 employees, as per its annual report.

Absci did not provide additional details regarding the layoffs in its Q2 report on Aug. 12, noting only that the company is implementing “platform improvements and operational efficiencies.” As of June 30, the biotech had $117.5 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Last month, Absci raised $64 million in gross proceeds primarily through a public offering of its common stock. Taken together, these funds will help keep the company afloat into the first half of 2028.

Absci in May made the leap to become a clinical company, according to an internal memo seen by Fierce. The company’s pipeline is anchored by ABS-101, an anti-TL1A monoclonal antibody being trialed for inflammatory bowel diseases. The asset is currently in a Phase I study with an interim readout expected within the year, according to the company’s Q2 report. The biotech is also advancing ABS-201, an anti-PRLR antibody for androgenic alopecia. A Phase I/IIa study is slated for early 2026.

Fate Therapeutics
Aug. 13

Some 12% of employees at Fate Therapeutics are on the chopping block as the California-based biotech seeks to extend its cash runway through the end of 2027, according to its second-quarter earnings report on Aug. 12. Fate had 181 full-time employees as of Dec. 31, indicating that this latest round of cuts could affect some 22 people.

Fate expects the layoffs to be completed during the third quarter, as per an SEC filing. The workforce reduction will cost the biotech between $900,000 to $1.2 million in severance and other termination-related payments. At the end of the second quarter, Fate had cash, cash equivalents and investments worth $248.9 million.

Fate has two clinical-stage assets, both of which are CAR T candidates in Phase I development. The first, FT819, targets CD19 and is being tested for systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis, among other immune-mediated indications. The second is FT825, which binds to HER2/EGFR and is being tested for solid tumors.

ORIC Pharmaceuticals
Aug. 13

South San Francisco–based ORIC Pharmaceuticals is trimming its headcount by 20% in an attempt to optimize its “operational and financial resources,” the company announced in its second-quarter earnings report on Aug. 12. These employees were working in the company’s discovery research group. ORIC had 128 full-time employees as of June 30, according to an SEC filing, suggesting that around 26 people could be affected by the layoffs.

At the end of the second quarter, ORIC had $436.4 million in cash, equivalents and investments, including proceeds from a $125 million placement in May and $119 million in issuances from an at-the-market facility. Combined with savings from its strategic restructuring, the company now expects to be able to keep going into the second half of 2028.

This runway will allow ORIC to hit and go far beyond some of its key upcoming data milestones. In the first quarter of 2026, for instance, the company expects a readout for its PRC2 blocker ORIC-944, for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Later that year, ORIC anticipates first-line data for the brain-penetrant drug candidate enozertinib in non-small cell lung cancer.

Merck
Aug. 12

Merck will let go of 58 people at its Rahway, New Jersey, headquarters effective Nov. 14, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice. The layoffs come on the heels of the pharma confirming that its $3 billion cost-cutting move could affect about 6,000 employees—roughly 8% of its global workforce—as part of a multiyear process.

Merck is paring back its workforce to help support the launches of 20 products nearing the market, according to a July 29 announcement. The cuts include eliminating administrative, sales and research and development roles.

NextRNA Therapeutics
Aug. 11

NextRNA Therapeutics is winding down operations, the biotech’s co-founder and CEO announced on LinkedIn. Dominique Verhelle did not state a specific reason for the Boston-based company’s closure. According to its LinkedIn About page, the business has between 11 and 50 employees.

Founded in 2021 and launched in 2022 with $56 million in funding, NextRNA was working to develop medicines that target long noncoding RNA (IncRNA)–driven diseases, with a primary focus on oncology and neuroscience. Nearly a year ago, the biotech announced it had entered into a collaboration and license agreement with Bayer to develop small molecule therapeutics targeting IncRNAs in oncology.

“As a nascent area of biology, we knew this would not be an easy journey,” Verhelle wrote in her LinkedIn post. “But we persisted nonetheless because we believed that tackling unsolved scientific challenges and unmet patient needs requires pioneers who are willing to blaze new paths regardless (and unknowing) of the ultimate outcome.”

“As our company’s journey draws to a close,” Verhelle added later, “I believe our efforts will help pave the way for others to explore this exciting space and its potential for patients.”

Bicycle Therapeutics
Aug. 8

In a bid to reduce operating costs by around 30%, Bicycle Therapeutics is downsizing by approximately 25%, the U.K.-based biotech announced Friday alongside its second quarter business report. The layoffs, together with other strategic realignment initiatives, will keep Bicycle going into 2028 and enable the biotech to “weather continued market uncertainty,” according to a company news release.

At the end of 2024, Bicycle had 305 full-time employees, most of whom work at its site in the U.K., while around 120 report to its location in Cambridge, Massachusetts. None of its staff are represented by unions or are part of collective bargaining agreements, according to its 2024 annual report. Severance and other benefits-related payments associated with the layoffs will cost Bicycle $5.3 million.

Also on Friday, Bicycle reported that Roche subsidiary Genentech turned its back on a 2020 immuno-oncology partnership that involved a $30 million upfront payment from the pharma powerhouse, plus the promise of up to $1.7 billion in milestones. Genentech has exercised its option for various programs under this collaboration, including one in 2022 that triggered a $10 million payment to Bicycle.

Tune Therapeutics
Aug. 8

Even after securing more than $175 million in series B proceeds in January, Tune Therapeutics is parting ways with 17 employees, or approximately a quarter of its staff, according to STAT News, which shared the story in its The Readout newsletter on Friday.

STAT confirmed the layoffs with a company spokesperson, who explained that the workforce reduction came after a strategic review of the business initiated by new CEO John McHutchison. McHutchison was named Tune’s chief executive and chairman of the board in March.

Tune is advancing a therapeutic approach called epigenome editing, in which it makes “targeted changes” to the way DNA is packaged, tweaking the accessibility of certain genes and thus controlling their expression, according to the biotech’s website. Its pipeline is anchored by TUNE-401, an epigenetic silencer being tested for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. Tune announced in November last year that it had initiated a Phase Ib trial for TUNE-401.

Iovance Biotherapeutics
Aug. 8

Months after lowering its full-year guidance, Iovance Biotherapeutics has slashed its headcount by fewer than 20%, according to an Aug. 6 report from Endpoints News, which confirmed the layoffs with a company spokesperson.

“This restructuring will extend our cash runway,” the spokesperson told Endpoints, adding that the layoffs will “support [its] mission to innovate, develop and deliver” its pipeline of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte cell therapies for patients who need them. Iovance had 878 employees at the end of 2024, as per its annual report.

In the first quarter, Iovance’s product revenue sat at $49.3 million, mostly brought in by its skin cancer drug Amtagvi. The biotech also lowered its full-year 2025 sales guidance to $250 million to $300 million, down from its prior forecast of $450 million to $475 million. As of March 31, Iovance had $366 million in cash and equivalents.

Precision BioSciences
Aug. 8

North Carolina-based Precision BioSciences has terminated an undisclosed number of employees in order to extend its cash runway into the second half of 2027.

The layoffs, which were initiated in July but only announced Aug. 6, will lower annual operating expenses by roughly $25 million in 2026 and 2027, which in turn will help the biotech advance its hepatitis B and Duchenne muscular dystrophy programs. As of March 31, Precision had around $100 million in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash. Prior to this recent strategic initiative, the biotech expected its runway to keep it going into the second half of 2026.

Also on Aug. 6, Precision reported mixed data for its HBV asset, with Phase I data showing that one of three treated patients achieved durable reduction in hepatitis B surface antigen levels, a key measure of infection. The two other patients responded to the treatment, though antibody levels eventually rebounded to baseline concentrations.

Poseida Therapeutics
Aug. 7

After being swallowed by pharma giant Roche, California-based Poseida Therapeutics is letting go of 52 employees from its San Diego location, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice. The layoffs will take effect Oct. 1. It is unclear if the workforce reduction is in connection with the Roche acquisition.

Roche moved to buy Poseida in November last year, paying $1 billion upfront and offering some $500 million in a contingent value right offer, dependent on certain milestones. The deal closed in the first quarter of this year. The centerpiece of the acquisition is P-BCMA-ALLO1, a CAR T therapy being tested for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. In a Phase I study, the asset hit an 82% overall response rate.

Even before the acquisition, Roche and Poseida had a years-long relationship. The companies partnered in August 2022 over P-BCMA-ALLO1. For $110 million upfront and $6 billion in milestones, the pharma gained exclusive rights or options to advance the asset and other allogeneic CAR T therapies for hematologic malignancies.

Alltrna
Aug. 7

Another Flagship Pioneering startup is slashing its headcount: Alltrna, based in Massachusetts, which is working on tRNA-based therapies. According to reporting from Fierce Biotech, which confirmed the layoffs with a spokesperson, Alltrna will let go of eight employees—corresponding to 12% of its workforce—as it gears up to enter the clinic; 58 people will remain at the company.

Alltrna debuted in November 2021 with a $50 million injection from Flagship. Two years later, in August 2023, the startup raised $109 million more in a series B round to help advance its pipeline for Stop Codon Disease, a group of thousands of genetic diseases caused by a premature stop codon mutation.

Alltrna’s most mature asset targets an arginine mutation resulting in a premature stop codon that, in turn, leads to genetic disease of the liver, such as phenylketonuria and urea cycle disorders. This asset is currently in IND-enabling studies.

BioNTech
Aug. 7

BioNTech is laying off 90 employees across its U.S. footprint as the company plots its future in a post-COVID market.

The layoffs, confirmed to Fierce Biotech by a company spokesperson on Aug. 5, will affect 58 employees at BioNTech’s Cambridge, Massachusetts office. The remaining 32 terminations—which BioSpace had already documented in a July 21 entry in our layoff tracker—will occur at the company’s site in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The Maryland layoffs will take effect Sept. 16.

In a statement to Fierce, the spokesperson explained that BioNTech assesses its needs in a variety of ways, including “strategic alignment, operational efficiency and sustainable value creation.” The company is also reviewing its German operations and is in negotiations with the employee council there. More information regarding layoffs in Germany are expected “later this year,” as per the spokesperson.

For more details, read the article.

Bayer
Aug. 7

Workforce cuts continue at Bayer, with CEO Bill Anderson announcing on the company’s second-quarter earnings call on Aug. 6 that it expects more layoffs to come. These would follow the 2,000 employees it said it was letting go during first-quarter earnings and around 11,000 total since Bayer initiated a sweeping reorganization initiative in July 2023.

At the end of the second quarter in 2024, the company had 96,567 employees worldwide. At the end of the second quarter 2025, according to the company’s earnings report Wednesday, it now has 89,556 employees, a 7.3% drop.

“I would expect that there will be additional reductions in headcount number, certainly over the coming 18 months or so,” Anderson said on the earnings call.

For more details, read the article.

Sirona Biochem
Aug. 4

With two financing deals failing and a license agreement with AbbVie’s Allergan Aesthetics halted, Sirona Biochem will liquidate TFChem, its wholly owned subsidiary in France. The company announced the decision Aug. 1, noting that operations at its lab location have stopped and the facility is permanently closed. Vancouver-based Sirona did not say how many people are affected, but TFChem’s LinkedIn page lists its size as two to 10 employees, suggesting a small staff.

Sirona, a cosmetic ingredient and drug discovery company, noted in its announcement that its convertible debenture financing announced April 22 did not attract sufficient investor participation to proceed. In addition, Sirona said, although it had an investment agreement with Promura GmbH, it never received promised funds and doesn’t expect to in the future. Furthermore, AbbVie’s Allergan Aesthetics won’t move forward with a 2022 license agreement to commercialize Sirona’s TFC-1067, a skin care compound created to treat dark spots.

Underscoring its financial struggles, Sirona stated in the announcement that for the past two years, its Vancouver-based management team has operated without salaries and personally contributed funds to cover essential operations. Moving forward, the company noted, it’s evaluating structural and financial options to potentially support future development of its proprietary technologies.

Merck
Aug. 4

Merck projected it could let go of about 6,000 employees as part of a multiyear process, affecting around 8% of its global workforce, as part of its recently announced cost-cutting initiative.

It is unclear whether the layoffs, reported by Fierce Pharma and Endpoints News July 31, will come with site closures. BioSpace has reached out to Merck for independent confirmation of the news.

These layoffs came just days after Merck announced a sweeping $3 billion cost-cutting push during its second-quarter earnings report July 29. The savings generated, CEO Rob Davis told investors at the time, will be channeled into R&D and used to support the launch of up to 20 new products.

For more details, read the article.

Editor’s note (Aug. 7): This story was updated to clarify that Merck’s cuts are projected cuts that are part of a multiyear process.

Moderna
Aug. 1

Moderna is downsizing its workforce by 10% globally to bring headcount to under 5,000 in “a difficult moment for the company,” CEO Stéphane Bancel told employees in a note July 31.

In the letter, Bancel detailed the decision to cut employees as part of Moderna’s overall cost-cutting efforts that began earlier this year. The famed Cambridge, Massachusetts–based mRNA biotech is looking to reduce annual operating expenses by about $1.5 billion by 2027. While progress has been made in scaling down R&D, renegotiating supply agreements and reducing manufacturing costs, Bancel said ultimately the cuts turn to staffing.

“Every effort was made to avoid affecting jobs,” the CEO wrote. “But today, reshaping our operating structure and aligning our cost structure to the realities of our business are essential to remain focused and financially disciplined, while continuing to invest in our science on the path to 2027.”

For more details, read the article.

Merck
July 30

During the company’s second quarter earnings report, Merck CEO Rob Davis said that the company was undergoing a $3 billion cut in spending, spread across administrative, sales and research and development roles. The savings amount to about $1.7 billion annually, hoping to hit the $3 billion mark by 2027.

While the number of roles affected was not revealed, Davis stressed that the company saw the cuts as more of a “reallocation” of funds, as the company will also add investments in research and development and other areas, including new hires.

For more details, read the article.

Hookipa Pharma
July 30

On July 29, Hookipa shareholders approved a plan to delist from the Nasdaq, sell some of its assets, including immunotherapies for hepatitis B and HIV to partner Gilead and liquidate the rest of the company. The news of the shareholder approval came through an SEC filing.

Gilead paid Hookipa $10 million for the assets. The companies’ partnership dates back to 2018 when Gilead also paid Hookipa $10 million upfront for the same hepatitis and HIV assets, with a potential $400 million in milestone payments. In 2023 Hookipa got a $5 million milestone payment for development of a hepatitis B vaccine.

In November 2024, the company said in its annual report that it would cut about 80% of its workforce and close or consolidate operations in Vienna, Austria. As of Jan. 31, 2025, the company has 82 full-time employees.

Adaptimmune Therapeutics
July 29

U.K.-based Adaptimmune Therapeutics plans to cut 62% of its workforce once its deal to sell four cell therapy assets to US WorldMeds closes, according to an SEC filing. US WorldMeds, a specialty pharma based in Louisville, Kentucky, intends to offer employment to about half of the biotech’s workforce as part of the transaction, the filing noted.

Adaptimmune expects to cut about 100 staffers across its U.S. and U.K. sites, Endpoints News reported. The company has two U.S. locations: one in Philadelphia and the other in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Adaptimmune also downsized its workforce earlier this year, letting go of 29% of its employees in the first quarter, slightly less than the 33% reduction it had planned to make, according to a November announcement.

Under the asset purchase agreement, US WorldMeds will pay $55 million in cash to Adaptimmune for the assets and rights related to the biotech’s Tecelra, lete-cel, afami-cel and uza-cel cell therapies. Tecelra is the first FDA-approved engineered T cell therapy for solid tumors. US WorldMeds also agreed to pay up to $30 million in cash upon achievement of certain regulatory and commercial milestones.

Adaptimmune in March noted concern about its ability to continue as a business and said it would continue implementing cost-reduction measures. During an investor call, the biotech said it was exploring “all strategic options” for the business and its programs.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals
July 28

Rocket Pharmaceuticals is laying off 30% of its workforce in a strategic realignment initiative that also involves focusing resources on its late-stage heart disease programs, the company announced July 24.

A total of 80 employees at Rocket’s Cranbury, New Jersey, site will be affected, according to a Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice. The layoffs will start Oct. 23 and continue through the end of the year, as per the WARN posting, and will allow Rocket to reduce its 12-month cash burn by almost 25%.

Alongside the layoffs, Rocket is also narrowing its pipeline priorities to focus resources on its cardiovascular gene therapies, including programs for Danon disease, PKP2-associated arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy and BAG3-associated dilated cardiomyopathy.

For more details, read the article.

Adicet Bio
July 25

As part of its pipeline prioritization initiative, announced on Tuesday, Adicet Bio is slimming down by 30%. The biotech, which has offices in Boston and California, had 152 employees as of Dec. 31, 2024, according to its annual report, meaning that the layoffs could involve roughly 46 staff. It is unclear which sites will be affected.

According to an SEC filing on Wednesday, Adicet expects the workforce reduction to be “substantially complete” by the end of the third quarter. In conjunction with the layoffs, the biotech will incur around $2.3 million in one-time termination costs, associated largely with severance and other payments.

Adicet’s strategic effort is “intended to optimize the development of assets with the greatest potential for clinical and commercial success,” as per its SEC filing. In particular, the company, which is working on allogeneic gamma delta T cell therapies, will focus its manpower and resources on ADI-001 that is in Phase I development for autoimmune diseases. The biotech will also take forward ADI-212 for prostate cancer. Meanwhile, the company will discontinue ADI-270, which it had been proposing for clear renal cell carcinoma.

As of March 31, Adicet had $150.4 million in cash and cash equivalents. With its strategic prioritization push, the biotech expects its runway to last into the fourth quarter of 2026.

Genentech
July 25

Genentech is letting go of 87 employees at its South San Francisco headquarters, the second round of layoffs at the Roche subsidiary this year.

The workforce reduction, announced in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice that was processed last week, will take effect Sept. 15. BioSpace has reached out to the company for further comment.

Genentech also trimmed its headcount in late May, parting ways with 143 employees who were working at its headquarters. “Periodically, adjustments and decisions are necessary regarding the right makeup of our workforce within our company’s various functions,” a spokesperson told BioSpace at the time, saying that such staffing shifts are needed to ensure that the company can better address patient needs and deliver novel medicines. Those layoffs took effect July 14.

For more details, read the article.

Tessera Therapeutics
July 24

Tessera Therapeutics will reduce its workforce by 17%, according to reporting from Fierce Biotech, which confirmed the layoffs with a company spokesperson. The move will help support Tessera’s transition into clinical work later this year.

It is unclear when the layoffs will take effect or how many exactly will be affected.

The company pulled a similar move in August last year, terminating 13% to 14% of its workforce—fewer than 50 employees—following positive preclinical data. The layoffs at the time were because Tessera had “reached an inflection point,” a spokesperson told BioSpace, pointing to the “need to rebalance the resources of our organization to prioritize and grow our clinical development efforts in anticipation of advancing multiple candidates into the clinic.”

Since its launch in July 2020, Tessera has built its business around its gene writing platform, a genome engineering approach that “writes therapeutic messages into the genome to treat diseases at their source,” as per its website. With this technology, Tessera claims that it can potentially address pathogenic mutations and can even “write an entire gene.”

According to data from PitchBook, Tessera is valued at $1.7 billion, making it a unicorn—an exceedingly rare breed of biotech worth at least $1 billion.

Correction (July 25): This section was updated to more accurately state that the August 2024 layoffs included fewer than 50 employees, and to remove references to the company’s LinkedIn member count. BioSpace regrets the error.

Generate:Biomedicines
July 24

Tessera’s fellow Flagship-founded unicorn Generate:Biomedicines is also slimming its operations, letting go of 10% of its workforce, according to reporting from Fierce Biotech, which cited a company spokesperson.

Generate:Biomedicines, according to the spokesperson, is “purposefully balancing” its human resources to make sure that it stays at the “forefront of technology” and remains capable of supporting “the evolving needs of our advancing portfolio.” It is unclear when the layoffs will take effect. Generate:Biomedicines has sites in both Somerville and Andover Massachusetts; it’s not clear if both locations will be affected.

Like Tessera, Generate:Biomedicines is currently valued at above $1 billion—PitchBook has the biotech at $2 billion—making it a unicorn.

After three years in stealth, Generate:Biomedicines debuted in 2020 with a mission to leverage artificial intelligence to infer “generalizable principles of biology,” as per its website, allowing it to produce novel protein therapeutics. Such an approach has attracted several high-profile backers, including Amgen, which in January 2022 bet nearly $2 billion to use the biotech’s platform for five clinical targets. Novartis has also bought into Generate:Biomedicine’s technology, with a potential $1 billion deal in September 2024.

Correction (July 25): This section was updated to remove references to the company’s LinkedIn member count. BioSpace regrets the error.

GSK
July 21

GSK cuts continue, with the pharma letting go of 150 employees in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice. Endpoints News reported that the London-based company plans to move manufacturing of its pneumococcal vaccine asset that uses its multiple antigen presenting system (MAPS) technology from Cambridge to Marietta, Pennsylvania.

In October, GSK announced it was investing up to $800 million to add research and development and commercial facilities to the Marietta site. The upgrades included building a vaccines drug substance facility to manufacture products based on MAPS, whose purpose is to generate a stronger immune response against multiple types of a particular bacterium. GSK secured the technology through its 2022 acquisition of Affinivax.

The Cambridge layoffs, effective Oct. 4 through March 31, are the second set of GSK staff cuts noted this month. GSK is also paring down its global research and development team by an unspecified number of people, Fierce Biotech reported last week. A spokesperson told Fierce the cuts will affect a “very limited” number of positions across the pharma’s R&D workforce of more than 12,000 people.

BioNTech
July 21

Germany-based BioNTech is again cutting staff in Gaithersburg, Maryland, this time affecting 32 employees, according to a July 18 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice. The layoffs at the biotech’s office and lab space at 25 West Watkins Mill Road are effective Sept. 16.

In June, BioNTech let go of 63 employees at its Clopper Road facility in Gaithersburg. The company, which develops immunotherapies and mRNA vaccines, will end its cell therapy manufacturing activities at that site by year’s end, Fierce Pharma reported at the time. A BioNTech spokesperson told Fierce in June that in the coming months, the business would realign its Gaithersburg capabilities to support the biotech’s pipeline, potentially hinting at the layoffs disclosed July 18.

The July cuts were disclosed the day after the company announced that Ryan Richardson will step down as chief strategy officer “by mutual agreement to pursue new professional opportunities.” Richardson joined BioNTech in 2018 and had served in his C-suite role since January 2020. His responsibilities are being transitioned to other management board members, the announcement noted.

Sail Biomedicines
July 21

To “align resources with the company’s next phase of growth” as it focuses on its immunology pipeline, Sail Biomedicines is letting go of 36 employees, a company spokesperson told BioSpace via email. That pipeline includes the Cambridge, Massachusetts–based biotech’s endless RNA-targeted nanoparticle in vivo CAR T program.

“This decision will enable Sail to concentrate resources on progressing this vanguard program, which has shown strong early promise and is on a path toward the clinic, along with its partnered programs and broader programmable eRNA platform,” the statement noted.

This is Sail’s second round of layoffs in 2025. In April, Fierce Biotech reported that the company cut 12 employees as part of a strategic reorganization, leaving it with 125 people on staff. With the latest workforce reduction, the Flagship Pioneering-backed startup likely has just under 90 employees.

Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics
July 21

As part of a restructuring aimed at more efficiently deploying its resources, Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics has cut 30 positions at its Madison, Wisconsin, operations, a company spokesperson confirmed to BioSpace via email.

The company’s statement noted that the cell therapy contract development and manufacturing market has been impacted by the short-term challenge of reduced venture capital investment in early-stage therapies. Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics develops and manufactures human cells for use in drug discovery, toxicity testing, stem cell banking and cell therapy development.

Sarepta Therapeutics
July 18

After a difficult season that has seen two deaths linked to Sarepta Therapeutics’ Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment Elevidys, the Cambridge, Massachusetts–based biotech is letting go of more than a third of its workforce and adding a black box warning for acute liver injury and acute liver failure to the gene therapy.

In a July 16 announcement, Sarepta revealed it will part with around 500 employees after a strategic review and focus its pipeline on “high-impact programs, prioritizing potentially best-in-class siRNA platform assets.” These include programs for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and Huntington’s disease.

Sarepta’s cuts took place in three states and were effective July 18, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices. A Massachusetts notice listed the total number of cuts as 493, which a company spokesperson confirmed to BioSpace via email. Most affected employees were in Massachusetts at Sarepta’s Andover, Bedford and Cambridge locations, while 80 were at the Columbus, Ohio, site and 21 were in Durham, North Carolina.

For more details, read the article.

Editor’s note (July 21): This tracker entry was updated to specify where the cuts are taking place based on WARN notices published after the entry’s publication.

GSK
July 17

London-based GSK is cutting its global research and development team by an unspecified number of people, Fierce Biotech reported July 15. A spokesperson told Fierce a “very limited number of positions will be impacted” across the company’s R&D workforce of more than 12,000 people.

The news about the global cuts broke on the same day the FDA released a briefing document noting concerns about GSK’s data for antibody-drug conjugate Blenrep. The agency contended that the pharma hasn’t established the drug’s efficacy and safety for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. An advisory committee is scheduled for July 17 to discuss Blenrep’s application.

Ventus Therapeutics
July 16

Ventus Therapeutics is parting ways with an undisclosed number of employees, according to reporting from Fierce Biotech on Tuesday. The Waltham, Massachussetts–based biotech has 97 associated members on its LinkedIn page.

The decision to reduce its headcount is part of a “recalibration” initiative, a company spokesperson told Fierce, which will allow the biotech to focus on near-term growth and support “multiple” mid-stage trials. The layoffs will also allow Ventus to invest in its ReSOLVE drug discovery engine to deepen its machine learning capabilities, as per the spokesperson.

Ventus is advancing a pipeline of therapies that act on the immune system to address a variety of diseases. Its most mature product is VENT-02, an orally available and brain-penetrant blocker of the NLRP3 protein that is currently in Phase II studies for Parkinson’s disease and in early trials for osteoarthritis in patients with obesity. The biotech is also working on VENT-03, an oral inhibitor of cGAS, for lupus and treatment-refractory rheumatoid arthritis.

Ventus also has a Novo Nordisk–partnered program, dubbed VENT-01, which it is testing for a broad range of systemic conditions.

Karyopharm Therapeutics
July 14

As it continues exploring options to extend its cash runway, which could include a merger or sale, Karyopharm Therapeutics is cutting about 20% of its workforce, according to a July 11 SEC filing. The Newton, Massachusetts–based commercial-stage pharma did not specify which locations the layoffs affect. According to its annual report, the company has office space in Munich.

Karyopharm had 279 employees as of Feb. 14, according to that report. A May SEC filing noted that the company had reduced its headcount by an unspecified number in the first quarter, leaving the number of employees affected by the latest cuts unclear.

In the July 11 filing, Karyopharm described the layoffs as part of its “ongoing careful management of operating expenses.” The company said it remains committed to leveraging its multiple myeloma commercial organization to reach more patients, delivering revenue in approved indications, and completing and advancing Phase III trials in myelofibrosis and endometrial cancer.

Karyopharm noted in the filing that it expects one-time costs in conjunction with the layoffs to be immaterial. The company incurred a $23.5 million loss for the first quarter. It reported $69.9 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments as of March 31.

Azurity Pharmaceuticals
July 14

Azurity Pharmaceuticals is cutting 75 employees effective Sept. 12 through Dec. 31 in Wilmington, Massachusetts, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice. The specialty pharma company’s website lists that location as a manufacturing and operating facility.

Based in Woburn, Massachusetts, Azurity has multiple locations worldwide and about 675 associated members on its LinkedIn People page. The company is developing medicines to serve overlooked patients, including those with orphan diseases. In its latest product announcement in June, Azurity shared that it had received FDA approval for XIFYRM, an IV nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) created to help adults manage moderate to severe pain.

Pacira BioSciences
July 11

After improving manufacturing efficiencies for local anesthetic Exparel, Pacira BioSciences is cutting 71 employees in San Diego, which is about 8% of its workforce, the non-opioid pain therapy company disclosed in an SEC filing. The layoffs are effective Sept. 7, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice.

The Tampa, Florida–based biotech invested in two large-scale 200+-liter manufacturing suites in the United Kingdom and San Diego that began commercial production in 2021 and 2024, respectively, according to the filing. Those suites can produce Exparel in higher volumes than Pacira’s first-generation 45-liter batch manufacturing process, the company noted. Given the larger suites are expected to meet growing demand and improve gross margins for the drug, the biotech decided to decommission the 45-liter suite in San Diego and reduce its workforce in the city.

Pacira noted in the filing that it believes the layoffs will reduce annual operating expenses by approximately $13 million. That amount does not reflect the expenses associated with implementing the layoffs. Pacira estimates it will incur about $2.4 million to $2.8 million in costs related to employee termination benefits, with most of those charges recognized in the third quarter.

Century Therapeutics
July 10

Century Therapeutics is laying off 51% of its employees in a bid to “right size” the company, according to a July 7 regulatory filing. According to a subsequent Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice, the Philadelphia-based biotech is letting go of 72 employees, 54 of whom were in Philadelphia. The company also has office space in Seattle and a cell therapy manufacturing facility in Branchburg, New Jersey. No WARN notices have been filed for those two locations.

Century expects the layoffs to be “substantially” complete by the third quarter, alongside which the company will incur around $3.7 million in one-time costs associated with employee severance and benefits. Some of the biotech’s executives are also departing, including chief financial officer Morgan Conn, effective July 11, and chief development officer Adrienne Farid, effective July 31.

This restructuring effort, according to the biotech, will allow it to focus its resources on “programs with the highest potential for transformational value,” though it did not specify which programs these are.

Century, focused on induced pluripotent stem cell-derived therapies, is currently advancing its lead asset CNTY-101 for B cell-mediated immune diseases. The asset is currently still in early development, with the Phase I CALiPSO-1 study launched in March 2025. Clinical data for CNTY-101 are expected by the end of the year.

In December 2024, Bristol Myers Squibb terminated its January 2022 partnership with Century, under which the partners were supposed to work on cell therapies for hematologic malignancies. Century at the time received an upfront payment of $100 million in cash and could have gotten more than $3 billion in milestones.

Editor’s note (July 29): This tracker entry was updated to specify the total number of employees being let go and where most of those cuts will take place based on a WARN notice released after the entry’s publication.

Jasper Therapeutics
July 9

After “issues” with a batch of its investigational antibody briquilimab “confounded” the readout of Jasper Therapeutics’ Phase Ib/IIa BEACON study in chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), the California-based biotech is laying off approximately half of its staff.

The reorganization—which includes the departure of Chief Medical Officer Edwin Tucker—is expected to extend Jasper’s cash runway through an unspecified date, according to the company’s July 9 press release. Daniel Adelman, a member of Jasper’s scientific advisory board, will assume the role of acting CMO on August 1.

Jasper finished the first quarter with 60 full-time employees, according to an SEC report, meaning that Wednesday’s layoffs will leave the company with around 30 remaining staff. These individuals will focus their attention on completing the BEACON trial in CSU and the SPOTLIGHT trial of briquilimab in chronic inducible urticaria, as well as open label extension studies, according to Jasper’s news release.

For the full story on Jasper’s recent briquilimab results, read the article.

CSL
July 8

The Australian multinational biotech CSL is consolidating its research and development team, according to reporting from Fierce Biotech.

The number of employees affected by the consolidation is unclear, though CSL said that more details would be shared at the company’s annual earnings call in August. According to comments made to Fierce, CSL will increasingly rely on external partnerships to bolster its pipeline.

The reorganziation comes just a month after the company got approval from the FDA for a preventive for attacks in patients with hereditary angioedema.

Last November, one of CSL’s subsidiaries, CSL Behring, shut down its cell and gene therapy center in Pasadena, CA, affecting about 60 employees.

4D Molecular Therapeutics
July 3

California-based 4D Molecular Therapeutics is downsizing by 25% its current and planned roles in an effort to better realign its resources, the company announced on Wednesday. The layoffs will primarily affect staff supporting early-stage R&D activities and will allow the company to “drive late-stage execution,” as per the announcement.

There has been no WARN notice as of writing and BioSpace is unable to determine the exact number of affected employees. According to its 2024 annual report, 4DMT had 227 full-time employees as of Feb. 11, 2025, 166 of whom were in R&D.

The workforce reduction will also help 4DMT minimize cash burn. The company expects to generate around $15 million annually in compensation savings, money that it will instead use to offset expenses associated with its late-stage and registrational activities. 4DMT expects its cash runway to last into 2028.

4DMT also announced on Wednesday that it is accelerating the Phase III development of its wet age-related macular degeneration therapy 4D-150 after enrollment in one study “exceeded initial expectations.” A second Phase III study launched last month, likewise ahead of schedule. Data from both trials are expected in 2027.

As of Mar. 31, the company had $458 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, which the biotech estimates will be enough to support it through these two late-stage readouts.

Oncternal Therapeutics
July 2

San Diego-based Oncternal Therapeutics is closing shop. To oversee the wind-down process, the company will retain only one employee: Craig Jalbert, a principal of the accounting firm Verdolino & Lowey, P.C. He will act as Oncternal’s president, CEO, treasurer, secretary and sole member of its board of directors.

All remaining executives, directors and employees of Oncternal have resigned, though it’s not immediately clear how many people will be directly affected by the company’s closure. In September 2024, the biotech downsized by 37%, corresponding to about 10 employees, including its Chief Medical Officer Salim Yazji.

Then, in November that same year, the company announced another round of layoffs affecting all of its remaining employees, except for four people who would stay on as part-time staff to explore strategic alternatives for the business. Oncternal at the time also announced that its CEO and CFO would be transitioned to part-time employees.

In connection with its closure, Oncternal also announced on Tuesday that it has offloaded its lead asset zilovertamab, alongside its CAR T therapy ONCT-808, to Ho’ola Therapeutics for $3 million upfront and $65 million in milestones.

Sage Therapeutics
July 1

Not two weeks after being acquired, Sage Therapeutics has let go of all of its remaining workforce—338 employees in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice.

The Cambridge-based biotech’s layoffs will take effect Aug. 22. As of April 22, the company had 338 full-time employees, including 98 members focused on research and development, according to its most recent quarterly report.

The workforce reduction comes a few weeks after Sage agreed to be acquired by Supernus Pharmaceuticals. The Maryland-based company offered to buy Sage for $591 million, with a contingent value right that could swell the overall deal value to $795 million based on certain milestones. Sage and Supernus expect to close the transaction in the third quarter.

For more details, read the article.

Bristol Myers Squibb
July 1

Bristol Myers Squibb continues to aim its cost-cutting measures at Lawrenceville, New Jersey, laying off 68 employees there, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice. The pharma has now let go of 1,223 people in Lawrenceville since April 2024, including 874 team members this year.

The latest cuts will occur in multiple waves starting Sept. 25 and end Jan. 15, 2026. BMS has its headquarters and a location housing its commercialization and late-stage development teams in Lawrenceville. It was not immediately clear if the latest layoffs affect both sites.

The Lawrenceville cuts are part of BMS’ strategic reorganization aimed at saving $3.5 billion through 2027.

For more details, read the article.

Looking for data from the first half of the year? Please visit the H1 2025 article.