Global Biopharma Layoffs September 2026

Merck

Merck is eliminating another 53 positions at its Rahway, New Jersey, site, according to a state WARN notice. The latest workforce reduction is scheduled to take effect in two rounds, on Dec. 11, 2026, and Jan. 4, 2027.

The Rahway facility has faced multiple rounds of layoffs over the past year. In June, Merck announced plans to eliminate 88 positions at the site, with those cuts taking effect in early September. The company had also disclosed in August 2025 that 58 Rahway employees would be laid off, with those reductions becoming effective in November of that year.

The latest cuts come as Merck continues a global $3 billion cost-reduction initiative expected to run through 2027. The broader restructuring could ultimately affect around 6,000 jobs as the pharma seeks to shift resources away from slower-growing areas and direct more investment toward a pipeline containing more than 20 potential product launches.

TScan Therapeutics

TScan Therapeutics is undertaking a major strategic reorganization that will put greater emphasis on its in vivo solid tumor program while pausing development efforts in hematologic malignancies. The restructuring will eliminate approximately 75% of the company's workforce. Based on TScan's 138 employees as of Aug. 7, the cuts could affect roughly 104 positions.

The Waltham, Massachusetts-based biotech is also reducing its leadership team as part of the overhaul. Chief Financial Officer Jason Amello and Chief Medical Officer Chrystal Louis departed effective Sept. 2. The latest reduction follows a 30% workforce cut announced in November 2025, when 66 employees were let go as TScan streamlined its pipeline and sought to extend its cash runway into the second half of 2027.

TScan, which develops TCR-engineered T cell therapies for cancer, plans to seek external partnerships for its hematologic malignancy and autoimmune programs rather than continue advancing them internally. The company will also eliminate its internal manufacturing organization and substantially scale back its research operations as it concentrates resources on in vivo cell therapy for solid tumors.

Novartis

Novartis expects to cut approximately 130 jobs in Switzerland as it plans to discontinue small-volume biologics production at its Kleinbasel site by the end of 2027. The move is part of a broader reorganization of the company's Swiss biologics operations and was announced by the pharma in early September.

The changes are linked to plans to transfer laboratory activities supporting biological cell banks, analytical testing and technical development from Kleinbasel to Basel by the end of 2028. Small-scale biologics manufacturing at Kleinbasel will subsequently be phased out, with production needs supported by other biologics facilities across Novartis' global manufacturing network.

The laboratory relocation forms part of an earlier initiative to establish a new biologics technical development center at Novartis' Basel campus, complementing the company's existing biologics research center. The latest workforce reduction adds to a series of job cuts announced by Novartis in 2026.

Most of the previously disclosed reductions have involved the company's East Hanover, New Jersey, operations, where 572 positions have been eliminated. Novartis has also announced plans to close its production facility in Wehr, Germany, affecting about 220 jobs, while separately confirming a "select number" of layoffs within its biomedical research organization. Including the latest Swiss cuts, the company has disclosed potential reductions affecting at least 922 positions this year.

Arsenal Biosciences

Arsenal Biosciences is undergoing a major strategic realignment that will concentrate the company's resources on developing in vivo CAR T therapies. The shift is accompanied by a substantial workforce reduction affecting the majority of the company.

A total of 99 employees will be laid off from ArsenalBio's South San Francisco headquarters and Hayward, California, sites, a company spokesperson confirmed. The affected positions span teams and functions across the organization. ArsenalBio had 127 employees as of September 2025, following a 50% workforce reduction, but the company did not disclose how many employees will remain after the latest cuts.

Under the new strategy, announced Aug. 31, ArsenalBio will retain a smaller core team dedicated to advancing its in vivo CAR T programs. The remaining employees will also evaluate strategic options for the company's existing assets and technologies as ArsenalBio narrows its focus and reshapes its operations.

Cellares

Cellares is carrying out another round of layoffs following the termination of its partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb, this time eliminating 68 positions at its Bridgewater, New Jersey facility. According to a state WARN notice, the cuts are scheduled to take effect on Nov. 19.

The latest reduction comes shortly after Cellares disclosed plans to lay off 100 employees at its headquarters in South San Francisco. Those positions are scheduled to be eliminated on Oct. 20, bringing the total number of publicly disclosed job cuts across the company to 168 in recent weeks.

The workforce reductions follow BMS' decision to end its partnership with Cellares after determining that the company's cell therapy manufacturing system did not meet the requirements for producing commercial batches of Breyanzi, a CAR-T cell therapy. Cellares has disputed that assessment, saying it "strongly disagrees" with BMS' characterization of its manufacturing platform.