In the past two months, there have been reports of harsh layoffs in the Bay Area’s biotechnology and health technology companies, affecting more than 800 people.
Despite a slight slowdown in layoffs in the tech industry this spring, four health-related companies in the Bay Area have announced significant workforce reductions. According to SFGATE, Genentech and Hinge Health have cut some of their Bay Area employees, while Sanofi and Abbott Laboratories have announced the closure of primary facilities. A total of 807 people will lose their jobs.
Based on a WARN notice dated April 3rd, the cancer drug manufacturer Genentech plans to lay off 436 employees at its South San Francisco headquarters, with layoffs effective from June 5th to August 7th. The notice includes dozens of senior-level employees and will also impact scientists, administrative assistants, and engineers. The layoffs represent about 3% of the total workforce.
Genentech is a subsidiary of the Swiss enterprise group Roche, and this round of layoffs accounts for approximately 3% of its total workforce.
As reported by CBS earlier, Lonza, a Swiss company, acquired the Vacaville production base of Genentech’s Vacaville facility.
Genentech spokesperson Nadine Pinell stated in a press release, “This change supports our strategic goal of delivering transformative medicines to patients faster, allowing us to focus more on the most promising drugs in our product portfolio.”
French pharmaceutical company Sanofi has also taken a similar strategic approach for different reasons.
According to a WARN notice dated April 3rd, the company will close a factory operated by its subsidiary Amunix in South San Francisco. This cancer drug manufacturer acquired Amunix in 2022.
Spokesperson Evan Berland told SFGATE that the company will lay off 100 employees and plans to sell the facility and assets of its Amunix operations in the Bay Area.
Berland added in a statement that Sanofi is “reallocating and focusing resources” to prioritize immunology research and will make efforts to rehire laid-off employees in other departments within the company.
Layoffs in other health-related companies in the Bay Area will also affect hundreds of employees.
According to a WARN notice dated April 11th, Hinge Health will lay off 76 employees working at or remotely reporting to its San Francisco headquarters starting from June 11th. The digital health startup, which has raised hundreds of millions of dollars, provides physical therapy services through an application.
The notice includes several director-level employees, engineers, and designers among those being laid off. Spokesperson Josh Gunter stated in a press release that the layoffs are aimed at “accelerating our path to profitability, speeding up decision-making, and better focusing investments.”
Abbott Laboratories plans to close its nutrition product factory in Fairfield in an effort to reduce costs, as mentioned in a WARN notice dated March 19th.
The company’s nutrition division produces popular products such as Pedialyte, protein drinks, and Similac infant formula.
According to the WARN document, 195 people will be laid off, including a significant number of technical staff, packaging personnel, production workers, and forklift operators.