With an approval for Leqembi under its belt, Eisai is doubling down in Alzheimer’s disease. And that means cuts elsewhere.
Eisai is laying off 91 U.S. employees effective April 30, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) alert (PDF) from New Jersey. The public disclosure lists the location of the layoffs as Nutley, New Jersey, where Eisai recently relocated its U.S. headquarters.
An Eisai spokesperson confirmed over email that “91 employees may be impacted” by the move. However, only three of those employees are based in Nutley, with another 88 situated elsewhere, the spokesperson explained.
Instead, the job cuts appear to be a result of Eisai’s recent sale of its epilepsy med Fycompa to Catalyst Pharmaceuticals.
Late last month, Catalyst picked up U.S. rights to the drug—first approved back in 2012—to complement its flagship therapy Firdapse.
Catalyst has expressed interest in keeping up to 40 Eisai employees from the Fycompa team on board, Eisai’s spokesperson said. Employees who qualify for the positions will “have the opportunity to interview with Catalyst,” he said.
Further, Eisai is encouraging displaced employees to explore other opportunities within the Japanese company. And Eisai will provide transition assistance to staffers who aren’t picked up by Catalyst, the spokesperson explained.
The job cuts come less than a month after Eisai’s accelerated approval for lecanemab—its second near-term shot at Alzheimer’s disease following Aduhelm—which now bears the commercial moniker Leqembi. The company immediately filed for a full, traditional approval for Leqembi following the drug’s accelerated nod. The move is a bid to navigate a strict CMS coverage decision around anti-amyloid antibodies like Aduhelm and Leqembi.
As for Eisai and Catalyst’s Fycompa deal, Eisai received $160 million upfront, plus the promise of milestone and royalty payments tied to the epilepsy med’s future success. The agreement also includes an option by Catalyst to acquire another unnamed epilepsy asset in Eisai’s pipeline.
In December, when the companies revealed the transaction, Catalsyt said it would work closely with Eisai to ensure a smooth transition of “certain employees,” though layoffs were not explicitly mentioned.
Eisai’s employee purge marks the latest in a succession of layoffs around the industry. While the problem has been especially pronounced at smaller biotechs, the trend has trickled up to Big Pharmas as well.
Over the last week, Sanofi and Amgen announced layoffs in India and the U.S., respectively, putting hundreds of jobs on the chopping block. Late last year, meanwhile, Novartis—in the midst of a wide-ranging downsizing initiative—pruned nearly 300 jobs across three New Jersey sites.
All told, Novartis plans to cut around 8,000 positions worldwide.