Specialty vaccine maker Valneva will trim its global workforce by 10% to 15% as it focuses resources on its base business and key strategic projects, the biotech announced May 13. The France-based company had 674 employees globally, including 22 in Bethesda, Maryland, as of Dec. 31, according to an SEC filing, meaning the layoffs could affect roughly 67 to 101 people.
Valneva expects the cuts will reduce 2026 operating expenses by 25% to 35% when compared to 2025.
The restructuring comes as the biotech reports a Q1 revenue decline. Total revenue was 30.9 million euros ($36.1 million), down from 49.2 million euros ($57.6 million) in the first quarter of 2025. Valneva attributed the dip in part to a planned winddown of third-party sales. The company also noted it is adjusting down its 2026 sales and revenue guidance in part because of “an emerging adverse trend in travel vaccine uptake across key markets, driven by geopolitical factors.” Valneva is revising the product sales guidance range from between 145 million euros and 160 million euros ($170 million to $187 million) to between 135 million euros and 150 million euros ($158 million to $174 million).
Valneva’s last known restructuring was in 2025. The biotech announced in November it would shutter its Nantes, France, site and consolidate operations in Lyon. That move left 30 employees jobless, a spokesperson told Fierce Biotech at the time.