Layoffs
Competition for biotech and pharma employment picked up year over year and remains strong, according to BioSpace data. A survey late last year showed that 64% of employed/contract and 96% of unemployed respondents will actively look for work in 2026.
In this bonus episode, BioSpace’s Vice President of Marketing Chantal Dresner and Careers Editor Angela Gabriel take a look at Q4 job market performance and what it signals for 2026.
Follow along as BioSpace tracks job cuts and restructuring initiatives.
Less than six months after cutting 20% of its employees, Vedanta Biosciences has again laid off staff. According to one affected staffer, half of the Cambridge, Massachusetts–based biotech’s workforce is being cut while most of the rest are furloughed.
Rampart Bioscience was working on a platform to deliver gene therapies without the need for viral vectors.
Aside from the layoffs, InflaRx will deprioritize Gohibic, a COVID-19 antibody that was granted emergency use authorization in 2023. The therapy failed a late-stage trial in a rare skin disease last year.
In 2025, made or projected biopharma workforce cuts affected about 42,700 employees, according to BioSpace tallies. BioSpace takes a deep dive into which companies and locations were impacted and speaks to experts about what to expect ahead—and why.
Novartis has discontinued two undisclosed programs under its current partership with Voyager, the biotech announced last month. Projects under the deal for spinal muscular atrophy and Huntington’s disease continue to advance.
Pfizer is in the midst of an aggressive, multi-year cost-cutting effort, which so far has left nearly 2,000 people jobless.
Biopharma professionals will probably find decreasing employment opportunities this month and next even as layoffs continue, based on BioSpace data. However, hundreds of open roles are expected this year in Massachusetts, and a job market turnaround could start late next year.
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