In the last couple of weeks, there has been a flurry of news articles surrounding job layoffs at a series of pharma and biotech organizations taking drastic cost cutting measures in response to financial pressures.

This was exemplified by Catalent, who in 2023 announced plans to reduce costs, consolidate facilities and optimize its infrastructure in cost-cutting and cost-saving measures across their organisation. Further measures were taken in the last quarter of 2023, as a series of job cuts across its Biologics and Pharma and Consumer Health segments were announced.

Other pharma companies that have announced varying levels of job cuts include Arrakis Therapeutics, Moderna and Pfizer. Similarly, Thermo Fisher announced a reduction in 8,000 overall staff across 2023, through employment of less staff rather than due to layoffs.

The following article originally appeared in BioSpace.

2023 was a tough year for the biopharma industry, with several companies downsizing and restructuring their workforces to try to stay afloat. There are signs of recovery, however, with PwC predicting that mergers and acquisitions across the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry will reach a “healthy” level in 2024. Will the job market follow suit?

BioSpace will continue to be your source of news on job cuts and restructuring initiatives throughout 2024. Follow along as we keep you up to date on which companies are tightening their belts and cutting staff.

March 12:

Innovent Biologics eliminated its entire research team at its U.S. headquarters and wet lab in Rockville, Md., near the end of February and will close the facility in the near future, BioSpace first reported. The Suzhou, China–based biotech conducted mostly ADC research at the Washington, D.C.–area lab.

Feb 29:

Kineta announced a corporate restructuring that has resulted in the elimination of seven jobs, or 64% of its current workforce. Among those losing their jobs is CEO Shawn Iadonato, though he has been retained as a consultant through the end of the year as the firm considers a sale, acquisition, liquidation or other alternative. Kineta has also stopped enrolling patients in its VISTA-101 Phase I/II trial for its KVA12123 compound for advanced solid tumors.

Jan 31:

After struggling as a pandemic player, Novavax last year embarked on a company transformation. Part of that overhaul will involve a global workforce reduction of approximately 12%, the company announced on Wednesday. The move follows Novavax’s May 2023 decision to cut 25% of its workforce. Once the layoffs are complete, the company expects to have 30% fewer employees than it did at the end of the first quarter in 2023, according to the press release.

According to Novavax, the transition will allow the company to bring its COVID-19-influenza combination vaccine into Phase III. President and CEO John C. Jacobs said Novavax is “purposefully focusing only on the critical activities needed to achieve our objectives and strengthen the financial performance of the Company.”

Dec 19:

Following the Phase II failure of its lead asset last month, Aclaris Therapeutics is laying off 46% of its workforce, the company announced Tuesday. The company will cease development of zunsemetinib (ATI-450) for immuno-inflammatory disease indications after the failure but will explore its use in some cancers, according to the announcement, along with continuing to develop other candidates in its pipeline.

The Pennsylvania-based Aclaris had 100 employees as of the end of 2022, according to an SEC filing.

Nov 30:

Pfizer will lay off some staff at its Groton, Connecticut, facility, Fierce Pharma reported Thursday. A company spokesperson confirmed the move in an email to the outlet but did not specify how many people would be affected. According to a slide deck posted to Pfizer’s website, the Groton facility employs 2,600 scientists and R&D professionals.

The Groton cuts are part of a $3.5 billion cost-cutting program Pfizer announced in October, citing falling sales of its COVID-19 products. Since then, the company has reportedly culled staff in Kent, U.K.; Kildare, Ireland; Michigan; North Carolina and Colorado.

For more, please find the original story source here.