More Job Layoffs Announced
2023 proved a tough year for biotech and pharmaceutical companies, and it seems that some companies are still having to make big decisions to stay in business.
In March alone, companies including Spruce Biosciences, Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Innovent Biologics announced a wide range of job cutting measures. Industry leaders are not immune from job cuts either, with Moderna and Pfizer both announcing cuts too.
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 stay afloat. There are signs of recovery, as mergers and acquisitions picked up across the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry in the latter part of 2023 and have continued their upswing into 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 22
Theratechnologies is eliminating an unspecified number of jobs as it phases out preclinical oncology research activities in favor of an in-progress Phase I trial of its peptide-drug conjugate sudocetaxel zendusortide (TH1902) for advanced ovarian cancer. The company said that it will absorb $625,000 in cash charges to cover severance and related expenses, as well as $770,000 in non-cash charges as part of the restructuring. Last month, the FDA refused to review Theratechnologies’ supplemental Biologics License Application for a new formulation of the HIV therapy Trogarzo.
March 21
Catalent will lay off 130 workers at one of its manufacturing sites in Bloomington, Ind. According to The Herald-Times, the manufacturer said it will cut jobs to “increase efficiencies” and “lower costs” but provided no details on what positions will be axed or further explanations on the move. This is not the first time Catalent has undertaken layoffs at its Bloomington facility, as the CDMO laid off hundreds of employees in 2022 and 2023. Just last month, Novo Nordisk agreed to acquire Catalent for $16.5 billion, and the Bloomington facility will soon be sold to Novo Nordisk to boost GLP-1 manufacturing capabilities.
March 13
Spruce Biosciences has cut 21% of its workforce as part of a round of cost reductions that includes the shutdown of its CAHmelia-203 clinical trial, the company announced in its 2023 fourth quarter financial report. In a separate press release Thursday, Spruce revealed that the trial of its oral CRF1 antagonist tildacerfont failed in the treatment of adult classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia.
March 12
Takeda Pharmaceuticals is shutting down R&D and manufacturing operations at a facility in Orth an der Donau, Austria, cutting 190 jobs in the process, Endpoints News reported, citing Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung. About 140 people will remain at the site in quality control as Takeda seeks to sell the property, which it picked up when it acquired Shire in 2019.
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.
For more, please find the original story source here.
