Biotech Layoffs Continue in 2024: Spero and Pfizer Among Latest to Cut Workforce

Spero Pharmaceuticals laid off 39% of its workforce, reflecting the ongoing challenges in the biotech industry.
Pfizer announced additional layoffs, including 75 more workers in North Carolina, as part of its broader cost-cutting measures.
Takeda planned 641 more layoffs, adding to the industry's significant job cuts.
Bristol Myers Squibb is eliminating 2,200 jobs by the end of 2024, part of its ongoing restructuring efforts.
Novartis is cutting approximately 100 more jobs as it winds down its research site in San Diego, part of a broader restructuring effort announced in April 2024.
CureVac reduced its workforce by 30% (about 350 employees) as part of restructuring its mRNA collaboration with GSK.
The biotech industry saw 57 layoff rounds in the first quarter of 2024, matching the number from the same period in 2023 and nearly doubling the 30 layoff rounds in Q1 2022.
Aerovate Therapeutics laid off 78% of its workforce (39 people) following the Phase IIb failure of its candidate for pulmonary arterial hypertension.
GeNeuro laid off all but two of its staff members after the Phase II failure of its candidate for long COVID.
Cara Therapeutics is laying off 70% of its staff by the end of June, discontinuing development of its candidate for moderate-to-severe pruritus in notalgia paresthetica.