The rightsizing at BioMarin continues to take its toll as CEO Alexander Hardy devises a new corporate strategy for the rare disease biotech.
BioMarin plans to cut about 225 employees, or about 7% of its global workforce, the California biotech said in a securities filing (PDF) Wednesday.
The latest reductions are separate from a previous set of layoffs affecting about 170 employees announced in May, a BioMarin spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Pharma. Employees impacted by the latest initiative were notified by Wednesday, and both rounds are expected to be “substantially completed” by the end of this year, according to the company.
BioMarin chalked up the new cuts to “organizational redesign efforts” as well as the company’s narrowed focus for the hemophilia A gene therapy Roctavian and its decision to discontinue the development of BMN 293, a preclinical gene therapy for a genetically driven subtype of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The latter two moves were previously announced alongside BioMarin’s second-quarter report Aug. 5.
“BioMarin is in the process of developing a new corporate strategy and a critical component of delivering on this strategy is to ensure that BioMarin is structured in a way that will position the company for continued success in the future,” the company spokesperson said in a statement. “As part of the new strategy, and because of changes related to our pipeline and business priorities going forward, our workforce was impacted.”
The strategic rethink started as BioMarin brought on former Genentech CEO Hardy as its helmsman in late 2023. The company has yet to systematically share the new blueprint, and analysts are looking to an investor event that’s scheduled for Sept. 4 to gain more clarity.
Several products have already felt the impact from the revamp. The previous layoff round targeting 170 positions were associated with BioMarin’s termination of four candidates. Rather than a global launch, BioMarin has decided to focus Roctavian on its three existing territories where the gene therapy has secured reimbursement policies—the U.S., Germany and Italy.
Amid the strategic review and pipeline makeover, BioMarin has also shuffled its executive team. The company is bringing on Amgen veteran Greg Friberg, M.D., to replace the retiring Hank Fuchs, M.D., as the new R&D chief. One of Hardy’s former colleagues at Roche, dealmaking expert James Sabry, M.D., Ph.D., will also join as chief business officer. Cristin Hubbard, who was Roche Pharma’s head of global product strategy, took on BioMarin’s chief commercial officer role in May.
The BioMarin spokesperson didn’t specify whether the 225 layoffs involve any managerial roles. The company expects employee severance in this round will cost about $30 million to $35 million, of which the majority is likely to be incurred this year.
The downsizing at BioMarin adds to a broader struggle among gene therapy developers. For Roctavian, BioMarin has to work through reimbursement hurdles and patients’ hesitance, especially when other effective therapies exist. The requirement to establish additional infrastructure to administer the one-time drug has also been an obstacle.
CSL recently admitted that uptake of its hemophilia B gene therapy, Hemgenix, has been slower than expected, which the company blamed on the fragmented U.S. healthcare system.
Earlier this month, bluebird bio narrowed its 2024 expectations for its sickle cell disease gene therapy Lyfgenia to the lower end of its prior projection after slower-than-expected patient onboarding. As one of the earliest gene therapy players, bluebird had previously made some difficult decisions in Europe and has been relying on outside loans to stay afloat.
In July, Pfizer unveiled a plan to cut 150 jobs at its dedicated gene therapy facility in North Carolina following the high-profile failure of—and the decision to discontinue—its Duchenne muscular dystrophy candidate.
Last week, gene editor Tome Biosciences announced that it will disband nearly its entire workforce despite having raised $213 million in a combined series A and B round. In explaining the decision, the Massachusetts startup cited a dramatic shift in investor sentiment across the gene editing space, especially for preclinical companies.