Job cuts at Amgen, Takeda and Vertex

Pharmaceutical firms Amgen, Takeda and Vertex are all restructuring and cutting jobs. The cuts continue the trend of pharmaceutical firms aggregating in the Boston–Cambridge and San Francisco areas.

Amgen has confirmed it is moving around 100 roles in its US discovery research and translational sciences groups, from Thousand Oaks near Los Angeles to San Francisco and Cambridge, US. Local news reports suggest this is part of a larger reorganisation, involving around 10% of the 5,500 employees at Thousand Oaks. Some will be laid off, while others change roles or move to different sites.

Vertex will close its site in Laval, Canada, affecting around 70 employees, according to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The company is also consolidating and reorganising its US research activities in Boston and San Diego, which has involved some redundancies in those areas. In Europe, the company will concentrate its efforts at its Milton Park site near Abington, UK.

Takeda is making cuts and continuing its reorganisation programme following its acquisition of US firm Ariad in January. Around 300 staff are affected, with 120 transferring to Takeda’s nearby site in Boston, a further 50 finding positions at Takeda’s contract research subsidiary PRA. The remainder will be laid off.