Novo Nordisk will let go of 263 employees at its U.S. headquarters in Plainsboro, New Jersey, effective Dec. 31.
All entries for: Biologic
September 18, 2025
X4 Pharmaceuticals
Layoffs
Boston, MA
51-200 employees
For the second time this year, X4 Pharmaceuticals is enacting a “strategic restructuring” initiative, in which it will let go of half of its employees in a bid to “sharpen operational focus and align resources” with its long-term strategy, These most recent staffing cuts are expected to affect some 50 employees. The strategic push will cost the company $3.3 million in one-time expenses for severance and other termination-related payments. Annualized savings are expected to hit $13 million, according to the SEC filing. X4 is also trimming its masthead. The biotech’s Board has terminated Chief Operating Officer Mary DiBiase, Chief Commercial Officer Mark Baldry and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Natasha Thoren, all effective Sept. 15. A day later, Chief Medical Officer Christophe Arbet-Engels stepped down from his post.
Disease Area: Immune Diseases, Multiple, Neurological Diseases, Oncology, Rare Diseases
Drug Type: Biologic, Small Molecule
September 18, 2025
Innate Pharma
Layoffs
Rockville, MD
201-500 employees
Innate Pharma is laying off 30% of its workforce while putting its efforts and resources behind three of the company’s pipeline assets with the “highest potential” of delivering value both to patients and the biotech’s shareholders.
Disease Area: Immune Diseases, Oncology
Drug Type: Biologic
September 12, 2025
Merck
Layoffs
Rahway, NJ
10,000+ employees
Merck will terminate research and discovery efforts in the U.K., a move that includes pulling out of the Francis Crick Institute and the London BioScience Innovation Center, which will leave 125 employees jobless. The pharma giant is also pulling the plug on a roughly $1.3 billion construction project that was expected to open 120 posts for researchers and technicians. A company spokesperson said the moves reflect “the challenges of the U.K. not making meaningful progress towards addressing the lack of investment in the life science industry.” Successive U.K. governments, the spokesperson continued, have also demonstrated an “overall undervaluation of innovative medicines and vaccines.”
Disease Area: Antiviral, Cardiology, Immune Diseases, Multiple, Neurological Diseases, Oncology
Drug Type: Biologic, Small Molecule
September 11, 2025
Novo Nordisk
Layoffs
Bagsværd
10,000+ employees
Novo Nordisk is cutting some 9,000 staff across its global operations, including around 5,000 in Denmark, in a bid to generate around $1.25 billion in annualized savings through 2026. The layoffs, which amount to an 11% headcount reduction, will begin “immediately,” and Novo expects to incur 9 billion Danish Kroner ($1.41 billion) in one-off costs, which will reflect in third-quarter 2025 results.
Disease Area: Chronic Disease, Metabolic Diseases, Neurological Diseases, Rare Diseases
Drug Type: Biologic, Small Molecule
September 11, 2025
Lundbeck
Layoffs
Copenhagen, Denmark
5,001-10,000 employees
As Lundbeck enacts a major business overhaul across its European and international operations, more than 600 employees of the Danish company will be left without jobs. Lundbeck has around 5,700 employees total worldwide, meaning that the restructuring could represent a more than 10% reduction in headcount.
Disease Area: Neurological Diseases, Psychiatry
Drug Type: Biologic, Small Molecule
September 3, 2025
Novartis - East
Layoffs
East Hanover, NJ
10,000+ employees
Novartis is parting ways with 58 employees from its U.S. headquarters in East Hanover, New Jersey. The headcount reduction comes as the company is “evaluating opportunities to enhance processes, increase efficiencies, and ensure we are investing our time and resources into the areas where we can have the greatest impact,” the spokesperson added.
Disease Area: Oncology, Rare Diseases
Drug Type: Biologic, Small Molecule
August 29, 2025
Exelixis
Facility Closure, Layoffs
Alameda, CA
1,001-5,000 employees
Exelixis will shutter its facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and is laying off 130 employees companywide as the cancer specialist rightsizes its operations after a pandemic-era boom in hiring. While a company statement provided to BioSpace did not give an exact breakdown of where affected staffers are located, 71 people at the biotech’s Alameda, California, headquarters are being let go effective Oct. 27. In addition, Fierce Biotech has reported that 33 remote employees who report to California-based managers are being cut. According to the statement, Exelixis hired a significant number of employees—including many remote workers—during the pandemic and post-pandemic period to meet business needs. The biotech is now reorganizing its structure to focus largely on its Alameda operations. It expects to reopen many of the affected positions as new roles at its headquarters.
Disease Area: Oncology
Drug Type: Biologic, Small Molecule
August 28, 2025
Pfizer
Layoffs
New York, NY
10,000+ employees
A hundred jobs at Pfizer’s Bothell, Washington site are on the chopping block amid the Big Pharma’s aggressive cost-cutting measures. In a statement to Fierce Pharma on Tuesday, a Pfizer spokesperson said the retrenchment effort is part of the company’s push to improve “R&D productivity and efficiency with a sharpened focus on opportunities.” The pharma is also “simplifying the way it works through digital enablement and automation, which we believe will deliver the greatest impact for patients,” the spokesperson added.
Disease Area: Oncology
Drug Type: Biologic, Small Molecule
August 21, 2025
CSL
Layoffs
King of Prussia, PA
10,000+ employees
Australian multinational CSL is parting ways with 15% of its workforce as part of a sweeping restructuring push, with an eye toward streamlining its operations and boosting its clinical and commercial performance.
As part of this strategic initiative, CSL will also spin off its vaccines business, CSL Seqirus, into its own independent entity, effective before its 2026 financial year ends in June next year. The pharma will also cut back on its overall expenditure, “including consolidation of R&D footprint.”
Disease Area: Hematology, Immune Diseases, Neurological Diseases, Respiratory Diseases
Drug Type: Biologic, Small Molecule