Pfizer will end development on its experimental Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy after a Phase 3 failure last month, and plans to eliminate roles at a North Carolina site that was working on the project.
The cuts affect about 150 workers involved in the Duchenne program and “other site operations” at Pfizer’s Sanford, NC facility, a company spokesperson confirmed to Endpoints News on Monday.
When the company announced the Phase 3 readout in June, it said it was still evaluating the future of the gene therapy, dubbed fordadistrogene movaparvovec.
In addition to the Sanford site cuts, Pfizer is also letting go 60 employees at its Rocky Mount, NC facility, a large sterile injectables site that was hit by a tornado last July. The company quickly restarted production after national attention and collaboration with the FDA. Some details of the cuts were reported earlier by news organizations in the state.
Pfizer has undertaken a multibillion-dollar cost-cutting program, highlighted in three disclosures last fall and this spring. During its first-quarter earnings report in May, Pfizer said the cost cuts were “largely complete.” It reports second-quarter earnings on Tuesday.
The company has also conducted layoffs in Colorado, California, Connecticut, Michigan and elsewhere in the past year, including impacts to manufacturing, R&D and operational roles. The pharma giant has said it employs about 11,000 people in the US for manufacturing and supply operations.
Pfizer said the Rocky Mount changes are due to a “lower projected product demand and ongoing site modernization efforts,” the spokesperson said. It will stop unspecified manufacturing lines while starting new ones, the spokesperson added.
“Due to the limited number of units required and the cost associated with continuing to manufacture in Rocky Mount, we are shifting to a Contract Manufacturing Organization (CMO) for our large volume solutions business which will discontinue operations effective July 31, 2024,” the spokesperson wrote.