Genentech is letting go of 143 employees who are based out of the company's headquarters in South San Francisco.
The workforce reduction will be complete by July 14, according to a California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice filed May 29.
“The success and sustained growth of our business hinges on our ability to proactively identify innovation opportunities early and adapt to a changing external environment,” a Genentech spokesperson told Fierce Biotech. “This requires us to allocate and sometimes shift resources judiciously to enhance operational efficiency.”
In doing so, the Roche subsidiary has “identified the need to reduce 143 positions across several departments," the spokesperson said.
The company did not respond to questions regarding the specific roles or site impacted. The facility listed in the state WARN document is located at “1 DNA Way” in South San Francisco.
The layoffs follow a 3% workforce reduction last April and a major restructuring initiative unveiled last summer that included the closure of Genentech’s cancer immunology research department. In late August, Genentech announced even more layoffs impacting 93 employees in South San Francisco.
Overall, Genentech's parent company Roche anticipates its workforce will “remain stable throughout 2025,” the spokesperson said.
“Moreover, we are actively hiring in several areas to advance our most promising molecules and capabilities,” the spokesperson told Fierce. “Today, we have over 2,000 open positions across the Roche group.”
In April, Roche let go of 108 workers at its molecular systems division in Santa Clara, California. As part of Roche's diagnostics unit, the division conducts R&D, software development, reagent manufacturing and business operations.
A few weeks later, the Swiss pharma announced a $50 billion investment into its U.S. operations, including an Indianapolis diagnostics campus, a manufacturing plant in North Carolina and three R&D sites.