Vaccine biotech Inventprise is conducting a “mass layoff” at sites in Washington and Nebraska, plus remote workers, according to a WARN notice dated Oct. 30. The first round of layoffs will be effective December 31, with additional rounds in February and March. In total, the cuts will impact 76 employees. A company spokesperson told Fierce Biotech that the layoffs are being conducted to extend resources and improve long-term sustainability. Inventprise has been around since 2012 and has developed a pipeline of vaccines, including the Phase II pneumococcal shot IVT PCV-25. The vaccine is being developed for adults and infants.
About a year after nearly halving its workforce, Sensei Biotherapeutics has announced it expects to lay off employees to preserve cash as it reviews strategic alternatives such as a sale, merger or wind-down. The Rockville, Maryland–based biotech, which develops therapeutics for cancer patients, is also discontinuing development of solnerstotug, which had been moving through a Phase I/II clinical trial.
Sensei had 15 employees, one of whom was part time, as of March 24, according to its annual report. The company noted in its announcement that it plans to retain a small team to help strategize, comply with regulatory and financial reporting requirements and manage winding down development activities.
The expected layoffs follow significant cuts last year. In November, Sensei announced it was letting go of 46% of its employees and closing its Rockville research site. The company, which has office and lab space in Boston in addition to its Rockville executive offices, had expected those moves to extend its cash runway into the second quarter of 2026.
For the third time this year, Roche subsidiary Genentech is laying off employees at its South San Francisco headquarters. According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice, 118 staffers will lose their jobs effective Nov. 28.
Genentech disclosed layoffs of 87 employees in July and 143 in May. The total number of its staff let go in South San Francisco this year is now 348.
The latest layoff news comes about two months after the biotech ended its partnership with Adaptive Biotechnologies. Genentech has now let go of over 800 employees since April 2024.
Ferring Pharmaceuticals, which earlier this month announced it will cut up to 500 employees globally, is letting go of 64 people in Parsippany, New Jersey, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice. The New Jersey workforce reduction is effective starting Jan. 23. It will wrap up July 31.
Switzerland-based Ferring is cutting its global workforce to sharpen its strategic focus, improve cost efficiencies, gain flexibility and free up resources for reinvestment in innovation, according to its Oct. 7 announcement. The pharma noted that it had informed affected employees about the layoffs. Ferring has 7,500 employees across its headquarters and subsidiaries in more than 50 countries.
GSK-partnered Alector will pull the plug on its investigational antibody latozinemab, which it had been developing for a genetic form of frontotemporal dementia, and cut 49% of its workforce, the company announced Oct. 21. The layoffs will affect about 75 employees at the San Francisco–based biotech, according to an SEC filing. Alector expects to complete the cuts during the first half of 2026.
This is the second round of layoffs the company has divulged in 2025. In March, Alector disclosed it was letting go of about 13% of its workforce, which was about 25 people. That news came a little over three months after the biotech announced a plan to cut around 17% of its staff in the first half of 2025.
Galapagos intends to shutter its cell therapy business, which would affect about 365 employees across Europe, the United States and China and include site closures in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the biotech announced Oct. 21.
In the press release, Belgium-based Galapagos CEO Henry Gosebruch revealed that the company had undertaken a “thorough” process of searching for potential buyers for its cell therapy unit. “Ultimately no viable proposals were received,” he added, with none of the offers providing financial terms that would “reasonably support the business’ future.”
Still, Galapagos will consider viable proposals to acquire all or part of its cell therapy business during the wind-down process, according to the press release.
Unable to align with the FDA on a potential registrational clinical trial of immunoproteasome inhibitor zetomipzomib in patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), Kezar Life Sciences will lay off employees, the company announced Oct. 16. It did not state how many staff it will cut. Kezar had 55 full-time employees as of Dec. 31, according to its 2024 annual report.
The San Francisco–based biotech, which develops small molecule therapeutics to treat unmet needs in immune-mediated diseases, is also exploring strategic alternatives.
The FDA canceled a fourth-quarter meeting to discuss the proposed study of zetomipzomib in patients with relapsed and refractory AIH, according to Kezar. The move came a few months after the agency lifted a partial clinical hold it had placed on zetomipzomib in November. That hold had barred four trial participants with AIH from continuing treatment in the open-label portion of the trial. Earlier this year, in March, Kezar reported positive safety and efficacy data from a Phase IIa clinical trial of zetomipzomib in patients with AIH.
In its Oct. 16 announcement, Kezar noted that its workforce reduction is part of restructuring that will include other cost-containment and cash conservation measures. As of Sept. 30, the company had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaling approximately $90.2 million.
As part of its restructuring that includes cutting about 9,000 employees globally, Novo Nordisk is laying off U.S. employees this week and continuing into next week, Reuters reported Oct. 15. The media outlet was unable to confirm how many people are being let go.
Reuters noted that based on an email it received, affected departments include HR, clinical development, rare diseases, medical and regulatory, legal, ethics and compliance, marketing and sales, finance and public affairs.
Novo announced its reorganization Sept. 10, sharing that cuts would begin immediately. At least two U.S. layoffs followed shortly after. The company is letting go of 263 people in New Jersey effective Dec. 31, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice published a week after the announcement. On Oct. 7, Reuters reported that Novo’s layoff campaign appeared to be heavily affecting its manufacturing operations, as the media outlet had identified 47 former employees at the pharma’s plant in Clayton, North Carolina, who had posted on LinkedIn that they were looking for work or had been laid off. Those cuts likely took place in late September, based on a Reddit post.
Novo Nordisk will stop working on cell therapy, including a type 1 diabetes candidate, as new CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar seeks to chart a new direction for the Danish drugmaker.
“We are in the process of identifying partners with the right capabilities and manufacturing capacity to further develop our innovations” in cell therapy, according to a Novo spokesperson, who confirmed the news to Fierce Biotech on Oct. 10. Citing privacy and “respect for the employees involved,” the spokesperson declined to provide details about the affected offices or areas.
Almost all of Novo’s 250 cell therapy employees will be laid off, Fierce reported, citing the Danish outlet Borsen.
Privately held Ferring Pharmaceuticals will part ways with up to 500 employees across its global operations in a bid to “sharpen” its strategic focus and gain “flexibility” as a company.
The layoffs, announced Oct. 7, will mean an approximately 7% headcount reduction. Ferring said that it employed 7,500 staffers across its headquarters in Switzerland and subsidiaries in more than 50 countries. Aside from the terminations, the strategic initiative could also lead to the “geographic relocations” of certain roles “to better reflect strategic priorities.”
Boston-based Ascidian Therapeutics had a modest reduction in force over the summer affecting an undisclosed number of employees, Fierce Biotech reported. Fierce noted that the layoffs came alongside the biotech’s renewed focus on ACDN-01, its leading clinical asset, as well as its most promising preclinical RNA exon editing programs.
Ascidian in June announced it had created an ophthalmology clinical advisory board to help advance ACDN-01 for treatment of Stargardt disease—a type of macular degeneration—and other retinal disorders. The lead candidate is being evaluated in a Phase I/II trial.
Novo Nordisk is implementing a global restructuring that is affecting its manufacturing operations. At its Clayton, North Carolina facility, a number of employees have been laid off.
The broader initiative will reduce approximately 9,000 positions across its global workforce, focusing resources on the company’s core diabetes and obesity programs.
The company is prioritizing investment in high-growth areas and streamlining operations to improve capital efficiency.
In the U.S., certain specialized teams have also been reduced as part of this cost-optimization effort.
Pharming has announced a reorganization that includes a 20% reduction in staff.
With 404 employees globally at the end of 2024, approximately 81 positions are expected to be impacted, with cuts focusing on non-commercial and non-medical functions.
The company estimates one-time costs of around $7 million, while annual savings from this initiative are expected to reach approximately $10 million.
Mythic Therapeutics has reduced staff to concentrate on its lead program, MYTX-011. The total number of affected employees has not been disclosed.
This adjustment allows the company to focus resources on advancing its cMET-targeting antibody-drug conjugate, designed to enhance delivery of chemotherapy to cancer cells.
The company acknowledged that the layoffs were a difficult decision reflecting the challenges of the business reprioritization.
CSL Vifor will lay off 55 employees, effective Dec. 1.
These employees report to the company’s headquarters in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
The layoffs are part of a broader organizational overhaul, including the spin-off of the vaccines unit and integration of commercial and medical operations to improve efficiency.
Overall, the restructuring includes a 15% reduction in global workforce.
Bolt Biotherapeutics is reducing its workforce by approximately 50%, affecting around 20 employees.
The decision follows delays in data from its antibody conjugate program, BDC-4812, and aims to extend the company’s financial runway.
One-time costs of the layoffs are expected to be between $1.5 million and $2 million.
Takeda is exiting its cell therapy business and laying off 137 employees, primarily in its U.S. operations, with cuts scheduled between Jan. 1 and July 31, 2026.
The company will divest its cell therapy platform and reallocate resources toward its core product lines.
These measures are intended to enhance operational efficiency and focus investment on areas with the highest strategic impact.
GSK has laid off 8 employees at its San Francisco site, effective Sept. 29.
Other workforce reductions this year have included 150 employees at its Cambridge, Massachusetts campus, reflecting broader organizational adjustments.
The company is also undergoing leadership changes with a new CEO assuming the role.
IO Biotech will cut approximately 50% of its workforce following regulatory setbacks with its cancer vaccine program.
With 78 full-time employees as of June 30, the reduction will affect about 39 positions.
One-time restructuring costs are estimated at $1–1.5 million, and the adjustments will extend the company’s financial runway into early 2026.
KALA BIO will eliminate 19 positions, representing around 51% of its workforce, following disappointing Phase IIb results for its eye therapy KPI-012.
The company will discontinue KPI-012 and scale down its mesenchymal stem cell secretome platform.
These layoffs are expected to be largely completed by the fourth quarter.
Sutro Biopharma is reducing about one-third of its workforce to prioritize its antibody-drug conjugate programs and ongoing research collaborations.
In March, the company previously cut 50% of staff and closed a manufacturing-support site. After the first round, 182 employees remained; the current reduction will remove roughly 60 additional positions.
A recent Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification indicates that 45 employees in San Francisco, 8 in San Carlos, and 1 remote employee were affected, effective Sept. 30.
