With layoffs hitting employees on both sides of the Atlantic, Pfizer’s $3.5 billion cost-cutting spree has kicked it into high gear this month. Now, the company’s Groton, Connecticut, site is the latest to face cuts.
It’s unclear how many positions will be affected at the research site, which currently employs over 2,600 people, but the expected cuts fall under the company’s “enterprise-wide cost realignment program,” a Pfizer spokesperson confirmed over email.
“Various areas of Pfizer’s global enterprise are making changes to operate more efficiently and effectively," the spokesperson said. "Part of the effort will result in some job loss across a number of our locations, including Groton."
The cost-cutting campaign is a result of plunging demand for the company’s COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty and antiviral Paxlovid. During this year’s third quarter, Pfizer logged $5.6 billion in COVID-related inventory write-offs and other charges, along with a $4.2 billion revenue reversal tied to the planned return of millions of Paxlovid doses from the U.S. government.
Pfizer's overall revenue sank 42% from the same period last year, leading the company to kick off a mission to cut $3.5 billion in annual costs by the end of 2024, including $1 billion this year.
Late last month, Pfizer disclosed plans to close its facility in Peapack, New Jersey, site. According to the company, a “vast majority” of the workers affected by the decision will be transferred to Pfizer’s New York headquarters.
Pfizer is also cutting nearly 200 positions at the company’s Kalamazoo, Michigan, manufacturing plant. Staffers in Illinois, Colorado and North Carolina have also faced layoffs at different times this year.
The layoffs have also reached overseas to employees in England and Ireland.
In Ireland, the company recently trimmed its Newbridge, Kildare, manufacturing plant's headcount by 100. However, Pfizer expects overall growth in its Irish manufacturing operations through 2024, a spokesperson noted at the time. For one, 230 new roles will be added between the company’s Grange Castle, Dublin, and Ringaskiddy, Cork, sites.
Meanwhile, in Sandwich, England, the company plans to axe its Pharmaceutical Sciences Small Molecule (PSSM) capabilities and approximately 500 roles.