Gilead is laying off Arcellx employees in California and Maryland, with some cuts effective this year and the remainder happening in 2027.
In the wake of closing its $7.8 billion Arcellx acquisition last week, Gilead Sciences is gutting the biotech’s workforce in California and Maryland, laying off 192 employees total. Given Arcellx had 220 employees as of March 1, according to an SEC filing last month, the cuts are likely wiping out 87% of the staff.
The largest cuts are happening at the biotech’s headquarters in Redwood City, California. Gilead is letting go of 108 employees at that site effective June 30, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice. The pharma is also laying off 84 people in Rockville, Maryland. Those cuts are taking place over a longer period, from June 30, 2026, to April 30, 2027, according to a WARN notice.
Both notices were dated April 30, two days after Gilead announced it had completed its acquisition of Arcellx, making the biotech a wholly owned subsidiary. The deal’s centerpiece was Arcellx’s investigational CAR T therapy anitocabtagene autoleucel, also called anito-cel, which targets the BCMA protein to treat relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The FDA has granted anito-cel fast track, orphan drug and regenerative medicine advanced therapy designations, according to Gilead. The drug is under review with the agency with a target action date of Dec. 23, the pharma noted when it announced the acquisition in February.
Gilead and Arcellx’s ties date back to December 2022, when Gilead subsidiary Kite Pharma paid $225 million upfront alongside a $100 million equity investment in the biotech in a deal focused on the late-stage candidate that would become known as anito-cel.
In the April 28 announcement about the acquisition closing, Cindy Perettie, executive vice president and global head of Kite, acknowledged Arcellx’s role in developing anito-cel and Kite’s part in working toward commercialization of the drug.
“I want to thank the Arcellx team for their scientific leadership, close collaboration to date and deep expertise they bring as we advance anito‑cel,” she said. “With this acquisition, anito‑cel and the differentiated D‑Domain BCMA binder will advance within Kite, combining this science with our global manufacturing, regulatory and commercial capabilities to unlock the full value of this potentially transformative therapy for people living with multiple myeloma.”
