Dive Brief:
- Biomanufacturer National Resilience is laying off 120 workers at its Durham, North Carolina, fill and finish operations gene therapy medicines plant.
- The job cuts will begin on Dec. 15, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice.
- The San Diego, California-based company bought the Durham facility from biotech firm Bluebird Bio in 2021 as part of a $110 million deal that included acquiring the operations and retaining more than 100 employees.
Dive Insight:
National Resilience’s headcount reduction follows an announcement in February to expand its operations at the North Carolina site, including a new isolator filler to support vials and PFS.
At the same time, the drugmaker said it would spend $225 million to bolster its facility in Cincinnati, Ohio, where it operates three high-speed vial fill lines. The expansion plans for a fourth prefilled syringe line were slated to be up and running by 2025.
Overall, National Resilience is expanding its clinical and commercial drug manufacturing capabilities across its network, aiming to provide more than 200 million units to its partners by 2025, according to a Feb. 20 company press release.
National Resilience’s job cuts in Durham are not isolated. The company announced 105 layoffs on Dec. 5 at its site in Alachua, Florida, according to a state WARN notice. The layoffs are slated to start on Feb. 3 and run through June 1.
The company acquired the Alachua facility in April 2021 when it bought Ology Bioservices, where it primarily produces drugs and biologics for commercial clients as well as the U.S. government. At the time of the acquisition deal, it had won more than $1.8 billion in government contracts, according to a National Resilience press release.
The same day of the Florida layoffs, National Resilience appointed William Marth as its new CEO, replacing Rahul Singhvi. Marth previously served as president and COO at the biomanufacturer, overseeing all development, manufacturing and commercial activities at Resilience, according to the company’s press release.
For the past year, the biotech industry has suffered from harsh macroeconomic conditions, leading many companies to reduce their headcounts. Overall, biotech layoffs claimed at least 10,000 jobs within the sector in 2023, according to data compiled by sister publication BioPharma Dive.
