Major Layoffs Across Multiple Companies

Numerous pharmaceutical and biotech companies have recently announced substantial workforce reductions:

Illumina's Grail subsidiary is cutting approximately 350 employees, representing about 25% of its workforce as of June 30. This reduction is part of a restructuring plan aimed at focusing resources on Grail's core multicancer early detection business and extending its cash runway into 2028.

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals plans to lay off about half of its field force—more than 75 people—by the end of the third quarter. The company is refocusing resources across its portfolio, optimizing promotional efforts for sotagliflozin in heart failure and reallocating resources to support the drug's potential commercial launch for adults with type 1 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.

FibroGen announced it will eliminate 75% of its U.S.-based workforce after two late-stage trials failed to meet primary endpoints. The company is implementing an "immediate and significant" cost reduction plan to terminate its pamrevlumab program and halt related obligations.

uniQure is laying off 65% of its employees, totaling 300 people, including Chief Operating Officer Pierre Caloz. This move follows the company's sale of its Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturing facility to Genezen.

Strategic Shifts and Pipeline Reprioritizations

Several companies are making significant changes to their research and development priorities:

Vir Biotechnology will lay off 25% of its workforce, eliminating approximately 140 roles across its operations. The company is abandoning its work on COVID-19 and influenza, as well as its T-cell-based viral vector platform, to focus on hepatitis B and D programs and move into the cancer space via a deal with Sanofi.

Arbutus Biopharma will cut 40% of its staff to concentrate resources on its Phase II treatment for chronic hepatitis B infection. The company is discontinuing its HBV research efforts to extend its cash runway into the fourth quarter of 2026.

Relay Therapeutics has laid off less than 5% of its 300-person workforce as part of a streamlining process aimed at saving the biotech about $50 million a year. The company recently saw the termination of an agreement with Genentech around development and commercialization of a small molecule cancer drug.