Autolus Therapeutics

April 30

Autolus Therapeutics is reducing its workforce by approximately 13% as part of a broader effort to streamline operations and lower expenses, the company announced on April 29. The London-based biotech, which specializes in autologous CAR T-cell therapies, said the restructuring will affect employees across all areas of the organization, though it did not specify which sites will see the cuts. Autolus also maintains operations in the U.S. through its office in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

The company noted that the workforce reduction figure includes employee-related actions that began in the second half of 2025. According to a company spokesperson, some layoffs had already occurred last year but were not publicly disclosed because they were not considered financially material. Those earlier cuts are now being counted as part of the overall 13% reduction.

Autolus did not reveal the exact number of employees affected. The biotech reported a total workforce of 752 employees as of Dec. 31, according to its 2025 annual report.

The company expects most of the restructuring to be completed by the third quarter and projects annualized savings of roughly $15 million beginning in 2027. Autolus also stated that its existing cash reserves and marketable securities should provide sufficient funding to support operations into the fourth quarter of 2027.

Novartis

April 28

For the second consecutive month, Novartis is reducing its workforce in East Hanover, New Jersey. The Swiss pharmaceutical company is laying off 60 employees, with the terminations scheduled to occur between July 24 and Nov. 20, according to a WARN notice.

This follows an earlier round of cuts in East Hanover, where 114 employees were notified of layoffs that will take place from June 26 to Nov. 27, as detailed in a March WARN filing.

In 2025, Novartis also implemented workforce reductions, eliminating a total of 1,069 positions across the company, including 485 at the East Hanover site, over a multiyear period. The largest group of layoffs came in Switzerland, where 550 employees are set to be laid off by the end of 2027.

Tempero Bio

April 24

Tempero Bio is ceasing operations after a serious adverse event emerged in a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating its lead candidate, TMP-301, for alcohol use disorder, according to reports from Endpoints News. CEO Paul Johnson stated that he could not disclose specific details about the incident, though the therapy was designed to target the neurological mechanisms underlying addiction.

Based in Oakland, California, the biotech is a small organization with an estimated workforce of fewer than 10 employees, according to its LinkedIn profile. The company was launched in 2020 through a collaboration between investment firm Aditum Bio and drug discovery company Soshei Heptares, now known as Nxera.

Tempero had secured $70 million in Series B financing in March 2025 to advance treatments for substance use disorders. At the time, the company planned to use the funds to support two Phase 2 trials of TMP-301 targeting alcohol and cocaine addiction.

Replimune

April 22

Replimune has expanded its workforce reduction efforts following the FDA’s second rejection of its melanoma therapy RP1, with new WARN filings indicating that 224 employees in Massachusetts will be affected. The majority of these layoffs are centered at the company’s headquarters in Woburn.

The initial round involved 63 employees in Woburn, with terminations taking place between April 13 and April 24. Additional notices filed on April 17 outlined further cuts, including 81 more positions in Woburn and 80 roles at the company’s manufacturing facility in Framingham. These layoffs are also scheduled within the April 17–24 timeframe.

According to company leadership, once these reductions are complete, Replimune will retain approximately 40% of its remaining workforce in Massachusetts.

Bristol Myers Squibb

April 20

Bristol Myers Squibb is carrying out another round of layoffs at its Lawrenceville, New Jersey site, with 206 employees set to be affected, according to a WARN filing. The job cuts are scheduled to take place between July 16 and Dec. 31.

This marks the second wave of layoffs at the Lawrenceville location this year. In February, the company already eliminated 247 positions in the area. The site houses both BMS’ corporate headquarters and research and development operations, though it has not been clarified which functions are impacted in the current round.

Lawrenceville has been a focal point of the company’s broader restructuring efforts. Throughout 2025, a series of layoffs affected a total of 1,266 employees at the site, with multiple rounds occurring across the year and some effective dates extending into 2026.

Astellas Pharma/Universal Cells

April 15

Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma is set to close the Seattle office of Universal Cells, its fully owned subsidiary focused on developing engineered, allogeneic stem cells. This closure will impact 50 employees, with some roles being relocated to other Astellas research facilities in South San Francisco, California, and Westborough, Massachusetts, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice.

While the 50 employees are expected to be laid off, those who secure internal transfers or take positions with other Astellas affiliates before their official layoff date will avoid termination, the notice specified. The reduction will occur in multiple phases, with layoffs starting on July 1, 2026, and continuing until April 1, 2028.

A spokesperson for Astellas confirmed that the company is consolidating its cell and gene therapy and oncology research activities from Seattle to its South San Francisco and Westborough locations.

Replimune

April 14

Replimune is facing a challenging road ahead after the FDA’s second rejection of its melanoma drug RP1, leading the company to implement cost-saving measures that include job cuts, site closures, and the exploration of strategic alternatives.

“We have no choice but to eliminate jobs, including significantly scaling back our U.S.-based manufacturing operations,” said CEO Sushil Patel in a statement released on April 10. While it remains unclear exactly how many employees will be impacted or when the layoffs will occur, Replimune has confirmed that it is taking these actions to help navigate the difficult period following the drug’s rejection.

The company did not specify which locations would be affected by the layoffs, but it operates facilities in Woburn, Massachusetts, Framingham, Massachusetts, and the U.K. According to a subsequent WARN notice, Replimune is laying off 63 employees at its Woburn site, with layoffs taking place from April 13 to April 24.

BioNTech

April 6

BioNTech plans to shut down its mRNA production facility in Singapore, less than four years after acquiring the site from Novartis to support vaccine and therapeutics manufacturing in the Asia-Pacific region. The Germany-based company said the closure is expected by February 2027 and currently affects around 85 employees.

The decision is part of a broader effort to better align manufacturing capacity with the company’s evolving pipeline and long-term strategic priorities. BioNTech has also undertaken workforce reductions in the past year.

In August 2025, the company cut 63 roles tied to the closure of its cell therapy facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Around the same time, it eliminated an additional 90 positions across its U.S. operations, including jobs in both Gaithersburg and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Gilead Sciences

April 3

Gilead Sciences is once again reducing staff at its Foster City, California headquarters, with 51 employees set to be laid off effective May 29, according to a WARN filing. This follows a similar move in May 2025, when the company cut 149 positions at the same location.

The biotech has carried out multiple workforce adjustments over the past year. In addition to the Foster City reductions, Gilead previously announced layoffs affecting 53 employees at its Oceanside, California facility, which supports clinical manufacturing and process development for both the company and its Kite Pharma subsidiary.

Those Oceanside cuts were implemented in two phases, with 36 employees let go in August and another 17 in January 2026. The company said earlier that the restructuring was tied to consolidating biologics development and manufacturing teams closer to research and development operations, prompting a shift of roles to Foster City.

The latest layoffs come amid significant deal activity. Earlier this year, Gilead acquired Arcellx for $7.8 billion to gain access to a CAR T therapy candidate, and more recently struck a deal for Ouro Medicines that could exceed $2 billion in value.

Biovectra

April 3

Biovectra, a contract development and manufacturing organization owned by Agilent Technologies, is making targeted workforce reductions at its facilities in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, Canada, according to media reports.

Agilent indicated that fewer than 45 employees will be affected by the changes, which are intended to better align operations with current market conditions while simplifying the company’s structure and improving decision-making efficiency.

The adjustments follow Agilent’s $925 million acquisition of Biovectra in 2024, a move aimed at strengthening its capabilities in biologics and oligonucleotide manufacturing.

IO Biotech

April 2

Danish biotech IO Biotech has ceased operations after failing to recover from a regulatory setback that blocked progress for its lead cancer vaccine candidate. The company officially shut down on March 31, filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and terminating its entire workforce, according to an SEC filing.

The closure follows an FDA decision in September that determined there was insufficient evidence to support a biologics license application for the company’s investigational therapy, Cylembio.

In response to the setback, IO Biotech had already begun downsizing, initially cutting its workforce to around 39 employees. A further round of layoffs in January significantly reduced staffing levels, though the company did not disclose exact figures at the time.

Novo Nordisk

April 1

Novo Nordisk is set to eliminate approximately 400 jobs at its manufacturing facility in Bloomington, Indiana, as part of an ongoing restructuring effort. The layoffs are expected to take effect in early May, after which the site’s workforce will be reduced to about 1,400 employees.

The Bloomington plant became part of Novo’s network following Novo Holdings’ $16.5 billion acquisition of contract manufacturer Catalent in 2024. However, the facility has faced operational challenges, including regulatory scrutiny from the FDA over contamination and sanitation issues, which have impacted drug approvals for several companies.

This move is part of a broader restructuring initiative announced in September 2025, which included plans to cut 9,000 jobs globally. Subsequent reductions in the U.S. have affected hundreds of employees across multiple sites, including New Jersey and North Carolina.