Layoffs

George Tidmarsh takes over temporarily at CBER following Vinay Prasad’s abrupt departure; Replimmune trial leaders protest rejection reportedly driven by FDA’s top cancer regulator Richard Pazdur; Merck’s $3 billion savings push claims 6,000 jobs; and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla addresses President Donald Trump’s new threats around Most Favored Nation drug pricing.

The number of biopharma professionals let go has increased year over year for three straight months. In July, as many as 8,000 people lost or were projected to lose their jobs, due largely to news that Merck projects to cut roughly 6,000 employees as part of a multiyear process.

Merck has characterized its cost-cutting initiative as more of a reallocation of resources to support other, higher-growth areas of its business.

The announced reduction of hundreds of staff came a day ahead of Moderna’s Q2 earnings report.

Employed biopharma professionals are highly likely to look for new jobs in the next 12 months, although not quite as likely as their unemployed counterparts, according to a BioSpace LinkedIn poll. Three recruitment experts discuss the findings and what’s driving job searches.

CEO Rob Davis referred to the cost reduction program as a ‘reallocation’ rather than a cut, with the savings to be reinvested to support up to 20 new product launches.

The strategic reprioritization comes after the company hit two major hurdles in the past year, including a clinical hold for an investigational gene therapy and an FDA rejection for its lead asset.

Companies sometimes miss the mark when it comes to telling employees they’re out of a job. From accidental goodbyes to surprise meetings, there are many strange ways biopharma professionals have learned about layoffs.

The latest round of terminations, which will take effect Sept. 15, comes after Genentech fired more than 500 employees in the last 15 months.

Sarepta Therapeutics appears to have right-sized itself after laying off over a third of its staff, announcing a significant pipeline shift and adding a black box warning to its Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys.