Ferring trims US workforce by 134 with layoffs in New Jersey, Minnesota

As waves of layoffs continue to hit the biopharma industry, Ferring Pharmaceuticals is trimming its headcount by 134 across its two U.S. locations.

Ferring’s U.S. headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey, will see 79 job cuts by March 5, 2024, according to a recent Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice. In addition, 55 employees at the company’s Roseville, Minnesota, microbiome hub will be laid off by February 5.

The company has "optimized resources to align with its revised business strategy," a Ferring spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "Following redeployments, this has resulted in a limited number of job reductions."

Ferring's 25-acre facility in New Jersey currently employs 500 workers across manufacturing, commercial, clinical development, management and administration functions.

Meanwhile, Ferring’s Roseville location is the home of Ferring’s Rebiotix subsidiary and its microbiome team. The center houses a pipeline of investigational meds made through its microbiota restoration therapy (MRT) drug platform.

The 55 staffers impacted at that site make up about a quarter of the location's total staff, Minnesota broadcaster KSTP-TV reports.

Ferring took Rebiotix under its wing in 2018. Years later, the company's Clostridium difficile treatment Rebyoa won approval in late 2022 as a one-time, enema-delivered therapy that restores proper bacterial balance in the digestive system.

Rebyota put Ferring’s microbiome expertise on the map as the first FDA-approved fecal microbiota product, a development that could pave the way for similar products.

More recently, the drugmaker linked up with microbiome translation company PharmaBiome in a research and development partnership that gives Ferring exclusive rights to “next generation microbiome-based therapeutics within the field of gastroenterology arising out of the collaboration,” Ferring said in a recent press release.

The company is also continuing to roll out its bladder cancer gene therapy Adstiladrin, which is the first to target high-risk and non-muscle invasive bladder cancer in patients who no longer respond to standard therapy. Ferring dosed the first patient in September through its early experience program, which is meant to ensure patients can complete their entire treatment regimen during a manufacturing scale-up.