Foreign pharmaceutical companies are laying off workers en masse. Review

Some of the "peak" months for layoff announcements in 2025 were May (29 companies), March and August (26 companies each). On average, almost 20 operators announce upcoming reorganization every month. In January 2025, mainly small companies and startups announced their plans. The reasons were different. For example, Cargo Therapeutics, focused on CAR-T development, laid off 50% of its staff due to the results of a phase II clinical trial: the drug firicabtagene autoleucel showed low efficiency and caused toxic side effects. Similar reasons with the failure of the clinical trial led to the dismissal of 75% of the employees of Allakos. There were other reasons. For example, Philadelphia-based Passage Bio laid off 55% of its staff due to the transition to an outsourced research model.

One of the biggest decisions was the reduction of the workforce at Novo Nordisk. The company will part with about 9,000 employees, of which 5,000 are located in Denmark. The new CEO Maziar Mike Dustdar (Lars Jørgens, who led the company since 2017, left the post in May 2025) expects to save about 8 billion Danish kroner ($1.3 billion) annually by the end of 2026 due to this decision. These funds are planned to be used for the development and promotion of new drugs, primarily in the field of diabetes and obesity.

Pharmaceutical giant MSD (known as Merck & Co outside the US and Canada) is also implementing a large-scale cost-cutting initiative. The company announced an 8% layoff, or about 6,000 employees. By 2027, Merck & Co plans to save $3 billion annually. The operator previously faced a sharp drop in sales of the human papillomavirus vaccine (from $2.48 billion to $1.1 billion). The company's restructuring is part of its strategic plans to prepare for the expiration of the patent on its best-selling cancer treatment product, Keytruda.

Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceuticals will lay off about 2,400 workers in an effort to save about $700 million by 2027. The company warned that US President Donald Trump's import tariffs would have a "negligible impact" in 2025, but the company's new forecast does not take into account the threat of specific tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

In July, US-based Moderna announced plans to cut its global workforce by about 10%. The company aims to save about $1.5 billion over the next two years. By the end of 2025, it plans to hire fewer than 5,000 people. Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said the restructuring was difficult but necessary to ensure the company’s costs align with its changing interests.

Another reason for layoffs in the industry is asset consolidation. Australia's CSL, which derives most of its profits from the production of plasma-based drugs for the treatment of rare diseases, plans to cut up to 15% of its staff (3,000 employees) in order to optimize R&D costs and spin off its vaccine production division into a separate structure. CSL is consolidating its research and engineering capabilities across six biotech sites, relying on expanding external partnerships.

British GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is laying off 150 employees at its US unit in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This was due to the costs of the plant located there. To reduce the budget, GSK is moving production to a new site in Marietta, Pennsylvania. The old plant will be converted into a research and development site, creating 200 new jobs.

Pfizer is also making targeted optimizations, cutting 100 jobs in Bothell, Washington, a campus formerly home to Seagen, which Pfizer will acquire in 2023 for $43 billion.

In September 2025, the American Novartis laid off 58 employees in the medical affairs division at its headquarters in East Hanover, New Jersey. A company representative emphasized that this was a matter of “optimizing business processes,” rather than a complete revision of strategy.

More localized layoffs affected Gilead, which cut about 40 jobs. In June 2025, the company announced it would lay off 35 people, and later announced plans to cut staff at its Oceanside, California, facility, where five R&D employees would be laid off. The company said the cuts were related to a review of plans to expand production in the region.

Analysts note that the cuts affect companies of different sizes and geographies, but the unifying factor remains the desire to optimize costs and adapt to changing market conditions.

However, not all companies are cutting staff due to business optimization. For example, Germany's BioNTech is laying off 90 employees due to the end of research and development. These specialists were involved in research and development, and also worked in the corporate department. Previously, 63 employees were laid off, then the layoffs were related to the closure of cell therapy production at a plant in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is downsizing its Rhode Island presence, laying off 125 employees. The company's Providence cell and gene therapy R&D center will be consolidated as it abandons VX-264, a promising treatment for type 1 diabetes.

The desire of American pharmaceutical companies for internal changes has been significantly influenced by the policies of the Donald Trump administration. According to media reports, pharmaceutical companies are under pressure from the administration, which is seeking to transfer investments to the United States. Other pharmaceutical manufacturers are affected by Trump's introduction of tariffs on foreign-made pharmaceuticals.