NEW YORK – Gilead Sciences will lay off 72 employees at a facility based in Seattle, according to a government Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice issued on Wednesday.
The workforce cuts will go into effect on Jan. 17, at which time Gilead will also shutter its Seattle location, the notice said. The Seattle location was focused on research and development activities.
The firm is closing its Seattle offices as part of an effort to align its resources with long-term strategic goals, a Gilead spokesperson said on Friday. This involves moving some of the firm's teams to different locations.
"When a role is eliminated, employees can apply for another position within the company or take advantage of severance and job placement services," the spokesperson said.
Roughly a year ago, Gilead also laid off 7 percent of employees at its cell therapy business unit, Kite Pharma, as part of a restructuring plan.
At the time, the Foster City, California-based drugmaker also said it planned to create roughly 90 new jobs in other areas, bringing its net workforce reduction to 5 percent.
The news of the Seattle layoffs comes a week after Gilead reported a 7 percent year-over-year increase in total revenues for the third quarter of 2024, but relatively flat sales of the products in its cell therapy business unit, Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) and Tecartus (brexucabtagene autolecucel).