Layoffs

Follow along as BioSpace tracks job cuts and restructuring initiatives throughout 2025.

With layoffs happening at biopharma companies of all sizes, some may wonder which jobs are safest. Talent acquisition experts spoke to BioSpace about the areas and roles they recommend to biotech and pharma professionals hoping to avoid staff cuts.

Novo Nordisk and Heartseed first partnered in 2021 to develop an investigational cell therapy for heart failure.

After parting with 50% of its employees earlier this year, Sutro Biopharma will lay another third of its staff in a restructuring effort geared toward reaching key inflection points.

The AAV pullback comes amid Biogen’s aggressive cost-cutting campaign, which put some 1,000 jobs on the chopping block with the goal of generating $1 billion in savings by 2025.

The company was awaiting $70 million from HealthCare Royalty but missed an agreed-upon payment condition.

The FDA is hoping to repurpose GSK’s Wellcovorin for cerebral folate deficiency; Pfizer acquired fast-moving weight-loss startup Metsera for nearly $5 billion after suffering a hat trick of R&D failures; psychedelics are primed for M&A action and Eli Lilly may be next in line; RFK Jr.’s revamped CDC advisory committee met last week with confounding results; and Stealth secured its Barth approval.

This year, Novo Nordisk and Merck announced significant layoffs, with Novo planning to axe about 9,000 employees and Merck projecting it could let go of roughly 6,000. Meanwhile, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis and Pfizer have also made noteworthy cuts.

Both BMS and Novo Nordisk have, in recent months, announced steep layoffs as they strive to cut back on costs.

Moving forward, Innate will focus on the clinical development of its antibody-drug conjugate IPH4502, the lymphoma candidate lacutamab and the AstraZeneca-partnered monalizumab.