Fierce Biotech began collecting company layoffs in March with our Layoff Tracker, because the pace and number of people affected in such a short period of time was unprecedented. But even news stories every other day—which is a crazy amount of layoff news compared with previous years—didn’t capture the full impact of the challenges facing biotech companies and the sheer number of people involved in the job cuts.
The layoff pace has slowed slightly from the height of March and April, when 17 companies cut jobs each month, but we still see the trend continuing. So, the Layoff Tracker will live on.
But at this halfway point for the year, we thought it would be a good time to go back and look at some of the most game-changing events. The job cuts that seemed to flag deeper trouble for the industry. Those that hit the bigger companies or perhaps spelled the end of a biotech’s journey. Then there are the companies that had to make difficult decisions but now seem to be making a turnaround.
While layoffs are reported in numbers—and companies avoid the human element when possible by using phrases like "workforce reduction" and "reducing head count"—these are real people whose lives are disrupted by these difficult corporate decisions. While some of the layoff stories point to a grim time for biotech, we've been heartened by an industry network that has sprung up at the same time with individuals posting job links, sharing news about companies that are hiring and offering to network.
Here's hoping the trend tapers out toward the end of the year and good science, innovation and therapeutics prevail.
Novartis BridgeBio Genocea Nektar Therapeutics Kaleido Biosciences Finch Therapeutics Bluebird Bio and 2seventy Bio Orphazyme Yumanity Zymeworks
The layoff pace has slowed slightly from the height of March and April, when 17 companies cut jobs each month, but we still see the trend continuing. So, the Layoff Tracker will live on.
But at this halfway point for the year, we thought it would be a good time to go back and look at some of the most game-changing events. The job cuts that seemed to flag deeper trouble for the industry. Those that hit the bigger companies or perhaps spelled the end of a biotech’s journey. Then there are the companies that had to make difficult decisions but now seem to be making a turnaround.
While layoffs are reported in numbers—and companies avoid the human element when possible by using phrases like "workforce reduction" and "reducing head count"—these are real people whose lives are disrupted by these difficult corporate decisions. While some of the layoff stories point to a grim time for biotech, we've been heartened by an industry network that has sprung up at the same time with individuals posting job links, sharing news about companies that are hiring and offering to network.
Here's hoping the trend tapers out toward the end of the year and good science, innovation and therapeutics prevail.
Novartis
BridgeBio
Genocea
Nektar Therapeutics
Kaleido Biosciences
Finch Therapeutics
Bluebird Bio and 2seventy Bio
Orphazyme
Yumanity
Zymeworks
https://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-reports/most-impactful-layoffs-biotech-h1