Genentech’s latest layoffs are the second round of workforce reductions this year, following the company’s announcement in April that it was letting go around 3% of employees.
Biotech firm Genentech will lay off 93 employees at its South San Francisco headquarters, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice and SFGate. SFGATE reported that scientist roles will be the hardest hit, although engineers, managers, analysts and one vice president are also being let go. The layoffs are effective Oct. 8, according to the WARN notice.
In a statement to SFGATE on Aug. 27, a Genentech spokesperson wrote that the company periodically has to “make adjustments in our organization, including decisions around the right make-up of our workforce within the many functions in our company.” The spokesperson further stated that as a result of those ongoing evaluations, the organization “identified certain positions across Genentech that are no longer needed in support of our future work.”
This is the second round of layoffs at Genentech in 2024. In April, a company representative confirmed to BioSpace it would reduce its workforce by about 3% across multiple departments, with more than 400 jobs estimated to be affected. The Genentech spokesperson told BioSpace there were no reductions at parent company Roche.
The latest layoffs follow news earlier this month that Genentech was closing its cancer immunology group as the company reprioritized investments in cancer research. Department head Ira Mellman is among those leaving the company. He’d been with the company for 17 years.
In a statement at the time to Endpoints News, a Genentech spokesperson said the decision to wind down its cancer immunology operations was driven by “shifts in the science of immuno-oncology.” Moving forward, the company will merge R&D activities in this space with its molecular oncology programs, creating a single but broader cancer effort.
Genentech is also expected to adjust its department of human pathobiology and OMNI reverse translation group, according to Fierce Biotech, which reported the shuffle would affect a limited number of employees. It’s unclear if this move is connected with the latest layoffs.
