Bristol Myers Squibb, while working its way through a major restructuring, has unveiled another round of layoffs in New Jersey.
In Lawrenceville, BMS plans to cut 117 jobs, the company disclosed (PDF) in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice. The Big Pharma firm operates two neighboring campuses in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. One site houses BMS’ corporate headquarters and early discovery functions, while the other hosts the company’s commercial and late-stage development teams.
The trims are expected to start in October this year and stretch into December 2025. BMS didn’t specify the exact functions and location of the jobs affected.
In response to a Fierce Pharma inquiry, a BMS spokesperson pointed to a restructuring unveiled in April. The latest cuts come as part of BMS’ plan to reduce its workforce by 6%, or 2,200 people. The goal is to save $1.5 billion in costs by the end of next year and redirect some of the resources to growth products as the company’s business comes under pressure from patent expirations.
Under that initiative, BMS has already telegraphed two rounds of layoffs in Lawrenceville this year before the latest disclosure.
Among the biggest concerns around BMS’ business, Pfizer-partnered blood thinner Eliquis and PD-1 inhibitor Opdivo are expected to lose patent protection later this decade while Eliquis is subject to a Medicare price adjustment under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) starting in 2026.
But at least the IRA impact appears manageable for Eliquis, according to the drugmaker.
“Now that we’ve seen the final price, we’re increasingly confident in our ability to navigate the impact of IRA on Eliquis.” BMS’ CEO Chris Boerner said on the company’s second-quarter earnings call on July 26.
BMS will share more insights into its evaluation of the Eliquis business once the IRA price is published on or before Sept. 1, he said.
Boerner offered the sunny outlook as BMS delivered a surprisingly strong quarter, as its revenues of $12.2 billion beat analysts’ consensus estimate by 6%. Several products came in above expectations, with the declining off-patent blockbuster Revlimid and the new obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy med Camzyos contributing sales that were more than 20% above expectations.
There were weak spots in the Q2 performance, though. BMS’ multiple myeloma CAR-T Abecma continued to struggle amid tough competition from Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech’s rival offering Carvykti. And although BMS’ CD19-targeted CAR-T Breyanzi is growing, questions are circling around its eventual market potential as part of a larger concern over the capacity of CAR-T infrastructure.
Well aware of these business challenges, BMS recently embarked on a dealmaking streak, striking three acquisitions worth about $23 billion in aggregate. And with these takeovers came consolidations. In March, BMS said it would lay off 252 former Mirati Therapeutics staffers at the biotech’s headquarters in San Diego.
The cost-cutting campaign apparently doesn’t affect BMS’ dealmaking appetite.
“We continue to prioritize business development,” Boerner said on the second-quarter call, later labeling “bolt-on deals and partnerships as being the priority for us in the immediate term.”
The reorganization at BMS follows a trend as biopharma companies brace for patent cliffs, reel from pipeline setbacks and rethink their positions on older products. Fierce Biotech tallied 125 layoff announcements in the first half of 2024 affecting more than 10,000 employees.
Meanwhile, in a new WARN report filed in Massachusetts, Sumitomo Pharma said it will lay off 53 employees by Sept. 30. The company is cutting its sales force for the off-patent anticonvulsant Aptiom, a Sumitomo spokesperson told Fierce Pharma. Most of the positions are not Massachusetts-based but are remote roles that functionally report to the company’s U.S. headquarters in Marlborough, according to the spokesperson.
The Japanese pharma combined its various subsidiaries into one U.S. entity last year and disclosed nearly 600 workers across those units in 2023.