Global Pharma Layoffs Hit 17 Companies in October; mRNA Star Siweimi Enters Bankruptcy
Johnson & Johnson
Medical Device R&D and Manufacturer
The wave of layoffs in the pharmaceuticals industry continues.
According to monitoring, in October this year, at least 17 pharmaceutical companies worldwide announced personnel and pipeline streamlining situations or plans.
At the same time,Multinational pharmaceutical companies' cost-cutting plans continue without pause.Faced with declining performance, they have all resorted to the ultimate measures of shutting down factories and laying off employees.
Under a cost-cutting plan amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars,Pfizer, Astellas, BayerAlmost every month, it ranks on the list, continuously shutting down its factories and R&D bases around the world.
Another company that has experienced ups and downs due to the COVID-19 pandemic is the former mRNA star company.Stemirna TherapeuticsAt its peak, the company was valued at over 10 billion yuan, raising more than 1.4 billion yuan in funding, with investment shares "being highly sought after."
However, in mid-October, Stemirna Therapeutics Co., Ltd. officially entered bankruptcy proceedings, with its valuation falling below 100 million yuan.
Many companies still have to lay off employees due to pipeline failures, which is also a common issue causing instability in biotech operations.
The following is the list of global pharmaceutical companies' layoffs in October:
October 1
As part of a $4 billion cost-cutting plan, Pfizer announced intentions to cut up to 210 jobs in Ireland. In 2022, Pfizer also announced an investment of over €1.2 billion in Grange Castle, Dublin, Ireland, only to initiate layoffs two years later.
In the past year, Pfizer has laid off employees in multiple states in the U.S., as well as in the UK and Switzerland, among other places.
October 1
Johnson & Johnson Plans to Cut 231 Jobs in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Effective December 27, 2024.
A spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson noted in a statement that the company must adapt and evolve within a "complex and rapidly changing external environment," but did not specify which departments were affected by the layoffs.
October 1
Bayer Announces New Round of Layoffs in Whippany, New Jersey, Cutting 57 Jobs
Bayer said that the layoffs will continue until 2025, aiming to save the company $541 million in operating expenses this year and $2.16 billion by 2026.
October 1
Due to the failure of the CD47 drug, Shattuck Labs, a tumor biotechnology company, announced a 40% reduction in staff and shifted focus to preclinical drugs. Recently, the company announced the development of the DR3 antagonist antibody SL-325.
October 3
AI Drug Company Relay Therapeutics Announces 10% Layoffs, Affecting Approximately 30 People. This round of layoffs is Relay's second this year, following a roughly 5% reduction in July.
Relay's R&D path this year has been fraught with challenges: the preclinical oral small molecule drug for CDK2 was suspended, the development priority for PI3Kα inhibitor RLY-5836 was downgraded, and more importantly, Roche returned the rights to SHP2 inhibitor RLY-1971.
October 7
Biotech company Kaléo to cut 58 jobs nationwide. The layoffs, set to take effect in late November, will also include cuts in states such as Iowa, Michigan, and Massachusetts.
October 8
It is reported that Black Diamond Therapeutic has canceled the R&D priorities of two pipelines targeting lung cancer, laid off two senior executives, and hinted at further layoffs.
October 9
Danish dermatological biopharmaceutical company Leo Pharm is cutting or relocating up to 250 positions. Most of the jobs are located in Denmark, covering all business areas.
October 9
After Astellas acquired the U.S. biotechnology company Universal Cells for $102 million, Astellas will open a second office in Japan for the subsidiary, which will result in the elimination of 24 positions in the United States.
October 11
After transitioning to TIL therapy, Turnstone Biologics announced a 60% layoff and executive restructuring to ensure cash flow towards its TIL therapy TIDAL-01.
October 11
According to the notice, Medtronic will lay off 237 employees at its plant in Santa Ana, California, but Medtronic has not officially announced the layoffs or the reasons for them. The layoffs will continue until December.
October 12
Stemirna Therapeutics Co., Ltd., once a star company in the mRNA vaccine field, has been ruled to enter bankruptcy proceedings. It is currently unclear whether Stemirna will restructure its operations.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic brought mRNA into the public eye, making Stemirna Therapeutics Co., Ltd., founded in 2016, highly sought after, with cumulative financing exceeding 1.4 billion RMB. However, due to blind expansion and setbacks in vaccine development, Stemirna quickly declined. Currently, founder Li Hangwen is in the United States.
October 17
Biopharmaceutical company Sage Therapeutics announced a restructuring, which includes laying off about one-third of its employees, affecting approximately 165 employees.Five Senior Executives to Step DownThe main trigger was in April this year, when a drug for treating Parkinson's disease failed.
October 21
According to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN), Takeda Pharmaceutical will cut dozens of employees in Massachusetts. State government records show that the layoffs will begin in late September and continue until March next year.
Due to poor performance, Takeda has initiated large-scale layoffs worldwide since the beginning of this year. At the end of May, Takeda Pharmaceutical announced that it would lay off 495 employees at its Cambridge plant in Massachusetts, USA, and 146 employees at its Lexington plant.
October 22
After Pfizer's Phase 3 trial failure of its gene therapy candidate for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the company announced a layoff of 75 people in Sanford, North Carolina, following a previous layoff of 150 employees at the facility.
October 25
It is reported that Elucida Oncology, a clinical-stage biotechnology company led by former Pfizer executive Geno Germano, has shut down.
Elucida Oncology, founded in 2014, had a core platform of ultra-small nanoparticle drug delivery systems called C'Dot, which was used for developing ADC drugs. It was reported that the company went bankrupt due to a broken cash flow.
October 29
Due to the poor efficacy of its core antibiotic therapy, biotech company Spero Therapeutics announced a 39% layoff to extend its cash runway until mid-2026. Reportedly, SPR720 not only failed to outperform in the Phase 2a trial but also showed liver toxicity.
October 31
Due to the excessively long duration of the Phase 3 trials for treatment-resistant depression, Compass announced a 30% reduction in staff, including some senior executives, to ensure the smooth progress of the drug's clinical trials.
