BioNTech plans to shut down its mRNA production facility in Singapore, less than four years after acquiring the site from Novartis to support vaccine and therapeutics manufacturing in the Asia-Pacific region. The Germany-based company said the closure is expected by February 2027 and currently affects around 85 employees.
The decision is part of a broader effort to better align manufacturing capacity with the company’s evolving pipeline and long-term strategic priorities. BioNTech has also undertaken workforce reductions in the past year.
In August 2025, the company cut 63 roles tied to the closure of its cell therapy facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Around the same time, it eliminated an additional 90 positions across its U.S. operations, including jobs in both Gaithersburg and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Gilead Sciences is once again reducing staff at its Foster City, California headquarters, with 51 employees set to be laid off effective May 29, according to a WARN filing. This follows a similar move in May 2025, when the company cut 149 positions at the same location.
The biotech has carried out multiple workforce adjustments over the past year. In addition to the Foster City reductions, Gilead previously announced layoffs affecting 53 employees at its Oceanside, California facility, which supports clinical manufacturing and process development for both the company and its Kite Pharma subsidiary.
Those Oceanside cuts were implemented in two phases, with 36 employees let go in August and another 17 in January 2026. The company said earlier that the restructuring was tied to consolidating biologics development and manufacturing teams closer to research and development operations, prompting a shift of roles to Foster City.
The latest layoffs come amid significant deal activity. Earlier this year, Gilead acquired Arcellx for $7.8 billion to gain access to a CAR T therapy candidate, and more recently struck a deal for Ouro Medicines that could exceed $2 billion in value.
Biovectra, a contract development and manufacturing organization owned by Agilent Technologies, is making targeted workforce reductions at its facilities in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, Canada, according to media reports.
Agilent indicated that fewer than 45 employees will be affected by the changes, which are intended to better align operations with current market conditions while simplifying the company’s structure and improving decision-making efficiency.
The adjustments follow Agilent’s $925 million acquisition of Biovectra in 2024, a move aimed at strengthening its capabilities in biologics and oligonucleotide manufacturing.
Danish biotech IO Biotech has ceased operations after failing to recover from a regulatory setback that blocked progress for its lead cancer vaccine candidate. The company officially shut down on March 31, filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and terminating its entire workforce, according to an SEC filing.
The closure follows an FDA decision in September that determined there was insufficient evidence to support a biologics license application for the company’s investigational therapy, Cylembio.
In response to the setback, IO Biotech had already begun downsizing, initially cutting its workforce to around 39 employees. A further round of layoffs in January significantly reduced staffing levels, though the company did not disclose exact figures at the time.
Novo Nordisk is set to eliminate approximately 400 jobs at its manufacturing facility in Bloomington, Indiana, as part of an ongoing restructuring effort. The layoffs are expected to take effect in early May, after which the site’s workforce will be reduced to about 1,400 employees.
The Bloomington plant became part of Novo’s network following Novo Holdings’ $16.5 billion acquisition of contract manufacturer Catalent in 2024. However, the facility has faced operational challenges, including regulatory scrutiny from the FDA over contamination and sanitation issues, which have impacted drug approvals for several companies.
This move is part of a broader restructuring initiative announced in September 2025, which included plans to cut 9,000 jobs globally. Subsequent reductions in the U.S. have affected hundreds of employees across multiple sites, including New Jersey and North Carolina.
