Roche plans to lay off a few hundred people in its product development team, the pharma confirmed to Fierce Biotech.<\/p>\n
The Swiss drug developer chalked the layoffs up to a normal review of the business \u201cto ensure ongoing improvement and sustained readiness,\u201d according to a statement from a company spokesperson on Friday. Roche says it expects \u201cthe majority of the proposed headcount reduction to impact external contractors\u201d with less than 6% of the permanent product development team potentially impacted.<\/p>\n
While the specific number of full-time employees at risk was not disclosed, Roche said it would be less than 340.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite these adjustments and any prospective developments in our company’s operations as a whole, we project that the overall workforce at Roche will remain stable throughout 2024,\u201d the spokesperson added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The news was\u00a0first reported<\/a> by Swiss outlet Muula.ch, which said 345 employees will be impacted, citing an information event for those being laid off.\u00a0<\/p>\n The layoffs come a week after the pharma unit reported 7% growth<\/a> in non-COVID sales, led by eye disease drug Vabysmo. Roche also reported sustained growth across the oncology businesses, including Tecentriq and Phesgo, a fixed-dose combo of Perjeta and Herceptin. But across the whole company, sales rose just 1%, and actually fell 7% because of a strong Swiss franc.\u00a0<\/p>\n