Layoffs in Biotech and Pharma: A March 2025 Snapshot by Therapeutic and Technology Focus

In early 2025, a wave of layoffs is sweeping through the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, driven by shifting priorities, financial pressures, and strategic pivots. Companies across various therapeutic areas and technological specialties—from infectious disease vaccines to oncology and gene therapies—are resizing their workforces. Briefly, the moves by key focus areas, spotlighting the companies, their assets, and the reasons behind these staff reductions as reported in March 2025 are reported.

Looking at the most recent activity, BioAtla is reducing its headcount by 30% to cut costs and streamline operations. According to an SEC filing, the layoffs will cost the company between $500,000 to $600,000, with most expenses recorded in Q2. The restructuring aims to extend BioAtla’s runway into the first half of 2026 and support its prioritized programs, including BA3182 and mecbotamab vedotin. As of the end of 2024, BioAtla reported a cash balance of $49 million.Similar cost-cutting and restructuring measures by other biotech companies in the industry should also be monitored for potential trends and shifts.

Infectious Disease and Vaccine Development

Several companies tackling infectious diseases, particularly those tied to COVID-19 and hepatitis C, are scaling back staff as projects hit roadblocks or shift gears. Vaxart, a South San Francisco-based biotech, reduces its workforce by 10%—around 11 employees from its 105-strong team—following a U.S. government order in February to halt its Phase IIb trial for an oral COVID-19 vaccine. With $51.7 million in cash as of December 2024, Vaxart awaits a decision within 90 days on whether the stop-work order lifts or ends the program entirely, prompting this restructuring to conserve resources.

Meanwhile, Atea Pharmaceuticals in Boston trims 25% of its 56 employees, saving $15 million through 2027. This leaner team now focuses on a Phase III trial combining nucleotide analog polymerase inhibitor bemnifosbuvir and NS5A inhibitor ruzasvir for hepatitis C, with enrollment starting in April. Atea holds $454.7 million in cash, buoying operations into 2028 despite past COVID setbacks. Apriori Bio, a Flagship Pioneering-backed firm working on “variant-resilient” vaccines, cuts 15 staffers, leaving 21, as it shifts from platform-building to advancing its pipeline, though specific assets remain under wraps.

Oncology: Antibody-Drug Conjugates and Targeted Therapies

Oncology-focused biotechs are resizing as they refine pipelines or face disappointing data. Elevation Oncology slashes 70% of its staff after underwhelming Phase I results for its claudin 18.2 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) EO-3021, costing $3 million in severance through June 2025. With $93.2 million in cash, the company pivots to EO-1022, targeting HER3-positive solid tumors, aiming to stretch funds into mid-2026. Pyxis Oncology drops 20% of its 44 employees, hitting preclinical and administrative roles hardest, to focus on its lead ADC, micvotabart pelidotin, for cancer, after shelving its Siglec-15-targeting antibody PYX-106 in late 2024.

Sutro Biopharma halves its 310-person workforce and shutters its San Carlos facility by year-end, deprioritizing its ADC luveltamab tazevibulin—once aimed at ovarian and lung cancers—to spotlight next-gen ADCs. ALX Oncology cuts 30% of its 89 staff, mostly in preclinical research, to extend its cash runway into Q4 2026, prioritizing its CD47-blocker evorpacept for breast and colorectal cancers and its EGFR-targeted ADC ALX2004.

Cell and Gene Therapies

Firms in cell and gene therapy are streamlining amid strategic shifts or financial strain. TC BioPharm, a Scotland-based biotech, lays off 20 of its roughly 40 employees—half its production and quality teams—as it transitions to a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) model. This move, targeting $4.2 billion in annualized savings, supports larger-scale production for gamma-delta T-cell therapy trials and explores advanced manufacturing tech.

Cargo Therapeutics slashes 90% of its staff, leaving fewer than 10 after a prior 50% cut in January, halting its trispecific CAR T candidate CRG-023 and allogeneic platform to preserve cash for strategic options like a reverse merger. Atara Biotherapeutics, based in Thousand Oaks, reduces its workforce by 50%—potentially leaving 40 of its 159 employees—after pausing its CAR T programs ATA3219 (for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and lupus) and ATA3431, alongside fallout from an FDA trial hold on its T-cell immunotherapy Ebvallo. Novartis axes 34 jobs at its San Diego gene therapy manufacturing site, set to close by June 27 as part of a broader wind-down announced in 2024, while also cutting 427 at its East Hanover HQ and 330 across German and Boston sites from its MorphoSys acquisition.

Synthetic Biology and Stem Cell Technologies

Companies leveraging synthetic biology and stem cells are adjusting headcounts to align with market demands. GRO Biosciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts, lays off an unspecified number of research staff after raising $60.3 million in July 2024 for its ProGly-Uricase enzyme therapy for severe gout, now seeking strategic alternatives to push it toward Phase I. Bit.bio, a U.K.-based stem cell specialist, downsizes by 25%, leaving about 150 employees to supply wildtype, disease model, and CRISPR-ready human cell lines for research and drug discovery, shifting focus from therapeutics after a $30 million raise in December 2024.

Small-Molecule and RNA-Based Therapeutics

Biotechs in small-molecule and RNA therapeutics are trimming staff to optimize pipelines or shutter entirely. Empress Therapeutics, another Flagship Pioneering outfit, cuts 23 employees—half its team—to streamline as its first small-molecule program nears the clinic, building on genetic insights but yet to file an IND since its 2023 launch. HC Bioscience closes shop, ending its 30-person operation after preclinical studies on a tRNA therapy for hemophilia A faltered due to delivery challenges, opting to wind down rather than pivot. Kiromic BioPharma furloughs 31 staff—nearly all its workers—halting its Deltacel T-cell therapy for non-small cell lung cancer until fresh funding arrives, with just $1.14 million in cash by late 2024.

Large Pharma: Manufacturing and Portfolio Realignment

Big pharma players are shedding jobs as they close facilities or refocus portfolios. Merck terminates 163 employees at its Pennsylvania Cherokee plant in phases through 2026, part of a 2022 plan to end operations there by late 2024, while investing $1.5 billion in vaccine production sites in Ireland and North Carolina. Novartis, alongside its gene therapy site closure, cuts 427 at its East Hanover HQ from June to October, reflecting a cardiovascular commercialization overhaul, and follows a 330-job reduction tied to MorphoSys site closures. Bristol Myers Squibb lays off 57 at its Redwood City R&D site—focused on the tumor microenvironment—in April, part of a broader $1 billion-plus cost-cutting effort that axed over 2,000 jobs in 2024. Eisai trims 121 U.S. employees (6.8%), including 57 in Nutley, New Jersey, through May, to boost efficiency while targeting cancer, Alzheimer’s, and neurological diseases.

Emerging and Specialty Technologies

Other biotechs with unique platforms are resizing amid uncertainty. CRISPR Therapeutics, known for its gene-editing therapy Casgevy (with Vertex), lays off an undisclosed number from its Boston, San Francisco, and Framingham sites, despite $1.9 billion in cash and strong Casgevy demand. Cytiva, a U.K.-based life sciences tech firm, cuts 85 in Westborough, Massachusetts, through March, possibly tied to its new robotic cell therapy manufacturing partnership with Cellular Origins.

This roundup captures a dynamic moment in biotech and pharma as companies adapt to clinical setbacks, funding needs, and market shifts, reshaping their teams to match their evolving goals in 2025.

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Author

Bernice Lottering