Bristol Myers Squibb will cut 6% of its workforce in a restructuring meant to save $1.5 billion in costs by the end of next year.
The layoffs will affect some 2,200 employees, the company said Thursday. It’s also trimming its pipeline of experimental medicines, consolidating its array of offices and laboratories and reducing “third party” spending…
Bristol Myers’ growth in the near term will be hampered by looming patent expirations for its two top-selling drugs: the blood thinner Eliquis, which it sells with Pfizer, and the cancer immunotherapy Opdivo. Its third highest-grossing product, the multiple myeloma treatment Revlimid, already faces limited generic competition.
Eliquis is also one of the first 10 drugs the U.S. government has targeted for price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA…
“While the IRA has an impact in the middle of the decade, we feel very good about being able to more than compensate for that with a very young and attractive growth profile coming from our … portfolio and the pipeline,” said Boerner, on a conference call with analysts.
The restructuring announced Thursday is another step, designed to prioritize products that Bristol Myers sees as having the highest potential. The company said it plans to reinvest the targeted $1.5 billion in savings in those opportunities.
Two-thirds of the savings is expected to come out of Bristol Myers’ spending on research and development. The company has discontinued 12 programs, including a successor version of its immunotherapy Yervoy, and will continue to review its pipeline through the rest of the year, Samit Hirawat, Bristol Myers’ chief medical officer, said on Thursday’s call.”
1 Discontinued Drug: Yervoy (biologic)
12 Discontinued Research Programs: Yervoy, unnamed research programs
