Last month, biopharmas cutting or planning to cut their workforces included Amgen, GSK and Novartis, with Novartis’ layoffs affecting the most people.
July brought a sharp year-over-year decrease in biopharma layoffs. The number of biotechs and pharmas making or projecting workforce cuts dropped 74% to six, while affected employees fell 94% to 466, based on BioSpace tallies.
Fewer people were impacted year over year because in July 2025, Merck disclosed layoff plans that will eventually impact about 6,000 as part of a $3 billion cost-cutting initiative. In comparison, the deepest workforce reduction last month, at Novartis, affected 322 employees.
July cuts: from Amgen to Novartis
The six companies making or projecting layoffs last month include one business that decided to shut down, one asking remote workers to work on site regularly and one that announced a significant restructuring.
- Amgen: The Thousand Oaks, California–based pharma is letting go of about 40 employees as part of its ongoing efforts to align operations with strategic objectives, a company spokesperson told BioSpace. They declined to say which positions or locations are affected.
- Arpeggio Biosciences: The Boulder, Colorado, biotech decided last month to wind down, CEO Joey Azofeifa announced on LinkedIn. Arpeggio had around 13 employees, based on LinkedIn profiles listing the company as an employer. In his post, Azofeifa noted that the biotech’s lead drug program had begun unraveling over the past few months.
- CLINUVEL PHARMACEUTICALS: The Australia-based biopharma announced it will cut its global workforce by 10% to 20%, which could affect as many as 21 employees. The move is part of a strategic reorganization aimed at focusing operational resources on the U.S. market. CLINUVEL is moving its headquarters to New York at the start of 2027.
- EMD Serono: The U.S. healthcare unit of Germany’s Merck KGaA could part with up to 70 employees who report to the EMD Serono Research & Development Institute in Billerica, Massachusetts. Starting in early September, that site’s research and development staffers must work in office at least three days per week. Remote employees living more than 50 miles away who don’t wish to do so can resign and receive severance offers, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice.
- GSK: The U.K. pharma’s $2.5 billion restructuring over the next three years will include global job cuts, the company announced. GSK is not specifying how many employees the layoffs will affect. The company plans to use the expected savings in part to support its late-stage portfolio and pipeline.
- Novartis: The Swiss pharma’s layoffs of 322 people in East Hanover, New Jersey, is the business’ largest round of cuts this year. It’s also the fourth time in 2026 that Novartis has had workforce reductions in East Hanover, bringing the tally of affected employees there to 572 for the year, according to WARN notices.
Given July’s made or projected layoffs affect under 500 people, it seems unlikely that 2026 cuts will match 2025’s employee total. The number of people impacted in the second half of this year must reach 28,815. The 466 employees in July represent just 2% of that number.
As to how August cuts are looking, through Aug. 11, BioSpace reported that eight biopharmas were making or projecting workforce reductions that would affect 161 employees. The numbers were higher in August 2025. From Aug. 1 to Aug. 11 last year, 11 biopharmas made or projected workforce cuts affecting 562 employees.
Layoff numbers exclude contract development and manufacturing organizations, contract research organizations, tools and services businesses and medical device firms. To tally the cuts, BioSpace compiles data for known workforce reductions. The number of employees affected is identified or estimated through confirmation from company officials as well as information in company press releases, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices, SEC filings and other media outlets’ reports.
Not all companies disclose downsizing, and some share only the percentage of staff affected. Some biopharmas provide total numbers retrospectively rather than disclosing individual workforce reductions as they happen.
