Genentech to axe 223 staff from San Francisco HQ
pharmafile | August 17, 2018 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Medical Communications | Genentech, Roche, layoffs, pharma
Roche subsidiary Genentech has announced plans to axe 223 employees from its headquarters in San Francisco, California, beginning on 31 August and running on into November.
The company’s decision was confirmed in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letter posted by the State of California’s Employment Development Department.
“We have been evaluating some of our operations to ensure we remain well-positioned to meet the needs of patients today and deliver on our pipeline of new medicines in the future,” the company relayed in a statement. “As a result of this process, we have made the difficult decision to eliminate some positions.”
The move is thought to be in part a response to the incoming competition that its parent company Roche anticipates from biosimilars against its top-selling cancer drugs Rituxan (rituximab), Herceptin (trastuzumab) and Avastin (bevacizumab), which together generated over $20 billion for the company in 2017.
Genentech announced similar plans to cut 130 staff at a California site and 235 at a European facility late last year.
Matt Fellows
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