Editor's note: Originally published on July 2, this story was corrected on July 3 to reflect that Merck KGaA's WARN notice relates to an office move rather than layoffs. Fierce Pharma regrets the error.
Just two months after telegraphing plans to lay off 641 staffers at two of its Massachusetts sites, Takeda is parting ways with another group of workers. Elsewhere in Massachusetts, Merck KGaA’s biopharma subsidiary EMD Serono is set to move its local workforce to a new spot near Boston.
The companies' moves were spotlighted in Massachusetts' Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (WARN) report. Takeda’s job cuts will affect 189 employees at its Cambridge headquarters and 31 at its Lexington site and are set to start in August.
Takeda’s previous round of layoffs, which included 495 staffers at its Cambridge site and 146 at the Lexington campus, were scheduled to begin in early July. Those job cuts were attributed to a recently announced 140 billion Japanese yen ($899 million) restructuring campaign meant to save costs after generic competition bit sales of the company’s top seller Vyvanse.
The overhaul is meant to bring the company’s total profit to 225 billion yen ($1.4 billion) by the end of its fiscal year in March 2025 and drive its core operating profit margin toward the low- to mid-30% range. To meet that bar, Takeda plans to prioritize "organizational agility," procurement savings and tech efficiencies, the company said in its full-year earnings presentation.
As Takeda moves forward with its restructuring efforts, "difficult choices will be required," a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
"We are working to diligently to limit the amount of impact for our employees as much as possible as we evolve to meet the organization's needs moving forward, which will include adding new roles with specific skillsets to best address these needs," the representative said.
Takeda is Massachusetts’ largest life science employer, but far from the only one. Elsewhere, EMD Serono is plotting a move to a new office.
The Merck KGaA subsidiary is currently headquartered in Rockland but last year announced a move to Boston’s Seaport district.
The new digs, occupying more than 60,000 square feet, can fit about 200 of the Rockland site’s 400 staffers, EMD Serono said at the time. Given the open seating office and a "flexible working arrangement," the new space "will accommodate all employees on relevant days in the office," a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
"This office setting will bring EMD Serono into the center of a globally leading healthcare innovation hub to support our future growth," the spokesperson added. The company will not restructure any of its departments or individual roles due to the move.