Layoffs Continue to Reshape Biopharma Landscape in 2025

The biopharmaceutical industry continues to face significant headwinds in 2025, with numerous companies announcing workforce reductions and strategic restructuring efforts in recent months. These moves come as firms grapple with pipeline setbacks, shifting market dynamics, and ongoing pressure to reduce costs.

Major Players Trim Headcount Amid Strategic Shifts

Several large pharmaceutical companies have recently disclosed plans for substantial layoffs as part of broader restructuring initiatives. Bristol Myers Squibb announced it will cut an additional $2 billion in costs through 2027, on top of an ongoing $1.5 billion cost reduction program. The dramatic upheaval has involved multiple rounds of layoffs throughout 2024 and into 2025, with over 1,300 jobs eliminated so far this year.

Novartis is also continuing a years-long restructuring effort, with plans to lay off nearly 140 more employees at its New Jersey site between February and August 2025. This follows previous cuts of hundreds of development jobs worldwide in 2024. The company cited efforts to "build future capabilities and access global talent pools" as driving the changes.

Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson disclosed it will eliminate 231 positions at its New Brunswick, New Jersey headquarters by late December. A company spokesperson noted the need to adapt and evolve "in the midst of a complex and rapidly changing environment."

Biotech Firms Face Difficult Decisions After Trial Failures

Clinical setbacks have forced several smaller biotech companies to make drastic cuts in recent months. FibroGen announced it will slash 75% of its U.S.-based workforce after two late-stage trials of its experimental drug pamrevlumab failed to meet survival endpoints in pancreatic cancer. The restructuring will affect about 127 employees at its San Francisco location.

Athira Pharma revealed plans to reduce its staff by approximately 70% following disappointing Phase II/III results for its Alzheimer's candidate fosgonimeton. The cuts will impact about 49 positions as the company refocuses on earlier-stage pipeline assets.

And Aerovate Therapeutics disclosed it will lay off "nearly all of its workforce" in the coming months after its pulmonary arterial hypertension drug candidate failed in a Phase IIb trial. The company has already notified 39 people, representing 78% of its staff, of their terminations.

Strategic Realignments Drive Workforce Changes

Beyond responding to specific pipeline setbacks, many biopharma firms are undertaking broader strategic shifts that are resulting in job losses. Pfizer continues to implement a $3.5 billion cost-cutting program announced in late 2024, with recent disclosures of 150 layoffs at its Sanford, North Carolina facility and 60 at its Rocky Mount site.

Gilead Sciences confirmed it is reducing headcount across multiple departments, including 104 positions at its Foster City, California headquarters, as it realigns resources with long-term goals. The cuts extend to Gilead's cell therapy subsidiary Kite Pharma, which will close its Philadelphia facility by mid-2025.

And bluebird bio announced a 25% workforce reduction impacting about 94 employees as it sharpens focus on the commercial launches of its approved gene therapies. The restructuring aims to extend the company's cash runway into mid-2025.

As the biopharmaceutical industry continues to evolve in response to scientific, regulatory, and market pressures, further workforce changes appear likely through the remainder of 2025 and beyond. Companies will need to carefully balance cost control measures with investments in innovation to navigate this challenging landscape.