Gilead Sciences is once again reducing its workforce at its Oceanside, California facility, with plans to lay off 34 employees, as indicated in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act filing. The layoffs are scheduled to take effect on March 27, according to the notice.
The Oceanside site is responsible for Gilead’s clinical manufacturing and process development activities, as stated on the company’s official website. Last year, the campus experienced two separate rounds of job cuts. The first, in June 2025, saw 36 employees let go, with their terminations becoming effective in August. Later in November, another round of reductions impacted 17 employees, with their positions terminated earlier this month.
In addition to the cuts in Oceanside, Gilead also enacted a major restructuring in 2025, laying off 149 employees at its headquarters in Foster City, California, primarily affecting scientific and technical staff. This round of layoffs occurred in April of that year.
Vedanta Biosciences has carried out a major workforce reduction as it seeks to concentrate funding and personnel on the Phase III development of its oral therapy VE303 for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI), the company told BioSpace. While Vedanta did not disclose the exact number of affected employees, a former staff member, speaking anonymously, said roughly half of the workforce was laid off and another 45% was placed on furlough.
The move follows an earlier round of job cuts in August, when the company trimmed about 20% of its staff, leaving an estimated 92 employees, according to BioSpace’s analysis. Based on that figure, the most recent restructuring could have impacted approximately 46 additional workers.
Takeda Pharmaceutical is cutting more than 243 positions in the United States, primarily within its neuroscience sales organization, as the company prepares for the loss of market exclusivity of its major depression drug Trintellix (vortioxetine), according to the Boston Business Journal. The antidepressant, long a cornerstone of Takeda’s neuroscience franchise, is approaching patent expiration, raising the prospect of generic competition and declining revenue.
A company spokesperson described the layoffs as a “strategic decision” aimed at reallocating resources ahead of the patent cliff rather than a simple cost-cutting exercise. The move follows a broader shift in the Trintellix commercial strategy after partner Lundbeck exited U.S. promotion of the drug in July 2024 and, under a revised agreement, transferred full U.S. commercialization rights to Takeda as of Jan. 1, 2025. The two companies ended their co-promotion and profit-sharing model and moved to a royalty-only arrangement, under which Lundbeck will receive a fixed percentage of U.S. net sales through the remaining exclusivity period in 2025 and 2026.
While reducing headcount tied to a mature product, Takeda emphasized that it is simultaneously investing in future growth. The company plans to create more than 400 new commercial roles in the U.S. to support upcoming launches from its late-stage pipeline, which includes eight high-value assets expected to reach the market between 2026 and 2030. These include the narcolepsy drug ovecporexton (TAK-861), the polycythemia vera therapy rusfertide (TAK-121), and the TYK2 inhibitor zasocitinib (TAK-279) for psoriasis, alongside several other Phase III programs across hematology, immunology and oncology.
Following a turbulent late-stage development path for its chronic rhinosinusitis therapy, Lyra Therapeutics has decided to wind down operations and dismiss all 28 remaining staff members.
In a Jan. 12 statement, the Massachusetts-based company said it will discontinue development of LYR-210, a long-acting sinonasal implant designed to deliver an anti-inflammatory agent over a six-month period. The candidate was being evaluated for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) but failed to meet key endpoints in the Phase III ENLIGHTEN 1 trial in May 2024, showing no meaningful improvement over placebo in nasal blockage, discharge, or facial pain and pressure.
The program later rebounded in June with positive results from the Phase III ENLIGHTEN 2 study, in which patients experienced statistically significant relief across the same three hallmark CRS symptoms.
Despite that success, Lyra said its financial position does not allow it to advance LYR-210 further. As of Sept. 30, 2025, the company reported $22.1 million in cash and short-term investments—sufficient to fund operations only into the third quarter of 2026. After the workforce reduction, only the CEO and CFO will remain on a consulting basis to explore strategic options.
EMD Serono, the U.S. biopharma arm of Merck KGaA, is implementing job cuts affecting an unspecified number of employees, Fierce Biotech reported Jan. 13 after confirmation from a company spokesperson. The reductions will impact research personnel at the firm's Durham, North Carolina, site.
The move comes in the wake of Merck KGaA's $3.4 billion acquisition of SpringWorks Therapeutics, completed in July last year. The deal added the desmoid tumor drug Ogsiveo to Merck's portfolio; the therapy generated $172 million in revenue in 2024 and is being explored for potential use in additional rare cancers, including ovarian granulosa cell tumors and relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
According to the company, the current restructuring is part of a broader effort to rationalize operations following the integration of SpringWorks.
SonomaBio is reducing its workforce in an effort to extend its financial runway into 2027 and potentially 2028, a company spokesperson told BioSpace via email.
While the number of affected employees was not disclosed, the cuts will involve staff at the company's San Francisco headquarters, its Seattle presence, and remote workers. All impacted employees have been notified, with some positions ending immediately and others transitioning out over short periods, depending on operational needs.
The restructuring is intended to lower cash burn and support the expansion of the Phase I clinical program for SonomaBio's lead candidate, SBT-77-7101, in rheumatoid arthritis. Interim first-in-human data released in October showed that four of six treated patients achieved at least a 50% reduction in swollen and tender joint counts, results the company described as encouraging.
Rampart Bioscience has reportedly shut down, ending its efforts to develop non-viral, DNA-based therapeutic delivery technologies.
Endpoints News broke the story on Jan. 8, citing two former employees who said the company had effectively closed the previous week without issuing a public statement. One source added that Rampart had already undergone two rounds of quiet downsizing last year. The company's website is no longer accessible, and its LinkedIn presence has been removed.
For additional information, see the full Endpoints report.
InflaRx plans to eliminate roughly 30% of its workforce as part of a strategy to tighten spending and concentrate resources on its lead immunology program, izicopan.
In conjunction with the layoffs, the company will also scale back investment in its monoclonal antibody Gohibic, according to a Jan. 8 press release. Gohibic previously received emergency use authorization from the FDA for treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
The asset has since encountered setbacks in other indications. In March of last year, InflaRx terminated a late-stage trial of Gohibic in pyoderma gangrenosum, a rare inflammatory skin disorder, after the study failed to deliver the desired results.
About a month after unveiling a collaboration with Regeneron to push forward its lead gene-editing program, Tessera Therapeutics has confirmed plans to cut 90 jobs, a move first reported by Endpoints News.
A company representative told Endpoints that the restructuring is part of a strategic refocusing of its pipeline, aimed at accelerating the Somerville, Massachusetts–based biotech's top programs for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) and sickle cell disease into clinical development.
According to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act filings, the reductions will include one position in Colorado and one in Washington state. Tessera said the layoffs are scheduled to begin on March 8 and will not involve the closure of any facilities.
Employees told Endpoints that the cuts are expected to impact roughly 35% of the company's staff. The latest round follows earlier workforce reductions of 17% in 2025 and 13% in 2024.
On Dec. 1, Tessera announced a $275 million deal with Regeneron centered on TSRA-196, its in vivo gene-editing therapy for AATD. The one-time treatment is designed to reestablish normal production of the AAT protein, which in healthy individuals helps protect lung tissue from immune-mediated damage.
Nido Biosciences is set to wind down operations early this year, according to Endpoints News, citing a company announcement shared on LinkedIn. While the Massachusetts-based biotech did not disclose the number of roles impacted, a company spokesperson said the workforce consisted of only a small number of employees.
The decision follows disappointing results from a Phase II study of NIDO-361, Nido's lead investigational therapy for spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy. After the trial failed to meet expectations, the company said the program would not advance further, leaving it without an active clinical candidate.
Established in 2020, Nido formally launched in 2023 after raising a combined $109 million across seed, Series A and Series B financings to pursue small-molecule treatments for neurological disorders. Eli Lilly was among the investors backing the company.
