24 pharmaceutical companies announced downsizing plans, an increase of 71% over the same period last year; A group of biotech layoffs of early research personnel and put funds into clinical practice.
24 pharmaceutical companies reduced their staff
The volume increased by 71% compared to the previous year
On January 30, Regeneron announced the acquisition of all the development rights and commercialization rights of the immune cell ** product pipeline of 2seventy bio, a cancer cell ** company, and 160 original 2seventy bio employees will join Regeneron, and at the same time, 2seventy bio will also reduce its workforce by 55 people, accounting for about 45% of the remaining employees.
For 2seventy Bio, this is another spin-off since its independence from Bluebird Bio in 2018, and after the transfer of the related R&D project to Regeneron, 2seventy BIO will fully invest in ABECMA, a CAR-T product in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb, and through this strategic adjustment, 27 Bio expects to save about 1$500 million and about $200 million.
According to incomplete statistics,In January this year, 24 pharmaceutical companies already had personnel and pipeline downsizing plans(A complete list is attached at the end of the article, which is accumulated after monthly statistics and is not deduplicated, the same below), and the number is 71% more than that of the same period last yearThis is comparable to the number of monthly highs last year.
Judging from the changes in the number of pharmaceutical companies that announced downsizing in each month of 2023, the first quarter is the most intensive period for personnel layoffs, and the related actions in the second quarter will be relatively reducedIf this is used as a reference, the personnel adjustment in the pharmaceutical industry may continue in the next two months.
In the January list, large companies have announced more than a batch of downsizing plans, including Pfizer, the "world's largest pharmaceutical company", and Lonza (Lonza), the "world's largest pharmaceutical CDMO".
At the beginning of this year, Pfizer announced that it would lay off 285 employees at its New York vaccine research and development center, one of its nine main R&D sites, starting in February, which is expected to be completed on March 25; Recently, Pfizer announced its second batch of downsizing plans, involving 52 employees at its San Francisco R&D center.
Lonza also announced two downsizing plans, including the closure of its macromolecule plant in Guangzhou and the reduction of about 300 employees, and the reduction of 218 employees at its California clinical manufacturing site.
Cooperation with large pharmaceutical companies has failed
A group of biotech personnel were laid off and put into clinical practice
From the perspective of the types of companies involved in the list of attrition plans, biotech still accounts for the vast majority. In the January list of this year,A number of biotechs have had the experience of terminating their partnerships with large pharmaceutical companies before announcing their workforce and pipeline downsizing plans.
In late January, HookIPA announced a 30% reduction in its workforce after Roche terminated its partnership, and HookIPA remains eligible for partial payments, which are expected to include $20 million in deferred upfront and milestone payments, but other expected funding will come to naught.
It is reported that the cooperation between the two revolves around the most common KRAS mutations in pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer and lung cancer, and in addition to the cooperation, Roche is also advancing its own G12C inhibitors. Now, Roche believes its G12C inhibitor is better suited to Amgen and BMS-related competitors and has decided not to include the collaboration in the program.
In mid-January, Ikena announced a 35% reduction in its workforce, andShift its resources from drug development to clinical trials in two cancers.
In 2019, IKENA (formerly known as KYN) entered into a partnership with Celgene, a leading company in the oncology field, and Celgene bought options for two drug candidates for $95 million. After that, Bristol-Myers Squibb acquired Celgene for $74 billion, and its partnership with Ikena continues.
In January, the option expired and BMS opted to forgo two drugs, a decision that also affected the inflow of funds into Ikena, which announced its downsizing plan while disclosing the details of BMS's decision.
There is also a pharmaceutical company in the list of attrition plans, Dewpoint, which has previously terminated cooperation with Pfizer and Merck, but its CEO said that the restructuring has nothing to do with the two big pharmaceutical company partners lost in half a year.
According to the CEO of Dewpoint, the planMany of the positions that have been eliminated are research positions related to early-stage drug development, which will save money to "hire clinical development experts."
It is reported that Dewpoint has previously launched 12 projects in the field of oncology alone, and now, Dewpoint has decided to make a trade-off and focus manpower and funds on a few projects, including stepping up its colorectal cancer project to be put into clinical trials in the first half of next year.
According to incomplete statistics, about 192 pharmaceutical companies announced plans to reduce staff and streamline pipelines in 2023, much higher than 119 in 2022, and it remains to be seen whether this trend can be reversed in 2024.