Amgen, And German Merck: Two Major Pharmas Announce January 2023 Layoffs…

To be sure, layoffs are roiling several vertical industry groups, both in the US -- and globally. But in general, only the smaller pharma concerns have (at least during 2022) shown larger layoff figures, as a percentage of total workforces -- and usually due to a specific clinical trial failure, at that.

So these two back-to-back layoff announcements, in US based teams, that cover research and development, and commercial operations teams more broadly at German Merck, and Amgen, respectively. . . ought to be of deeper concern -- for the industry in 2023. This would suggest that pharma in the US sees a diminished return on general commercial team hiring, and on R&D more broadly -- and certainly at Amgen -- and Merck KGaA.

To be clear, this is not "our" Merck, but the German one -- which does business in the US under the additional name EMD Serono. In any event, here's a bit from the Merck KGaA one, via Fierce Biotech:

. . .A spokesperson for the German pharma confirmed to Fierce Biotech that 133 employees were leaving the company’s Billerica, Massachusetts outpost.

“We will keep our strong research unit footprints for neuroscience and immunology and oncology, focusing on selected biological areas and scientific capabilities,” according to a statement. The cuts represent a 26% reduction to the Billerica staff, which has roughly 500 employees, and a 11% reduction in the entire U.S. wing of the company, EMD Serono. . . .

And for the record, here is the Endpoints News item of Sunday, on Amgen's cuts. We feel for all the workers -- and families -- and communities. . . affected. Onward, into the snow-squalls, indeed.

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