Bristol Myers Squibb revealed that it will be letting go of 863 employees over the course of several months, as a part of a broader strategy to reduce expenses and streamline its operations.
In a WARN notice shared this week, the company reported that the workforce reduction will affect its Lawrenceville, New Jersey site.
Just a few months ago, BMS unveiled a "strategic productivity initiative" designed to drive $1.5 billion in cost savings by the end of 2025. At the time, the drugmaker said it would focus resources on R&D programs with the highest ROI potential, prioritize investing in key growth brands, and optimize operations across the organization.
Specifically, the plan to realize internal cost savings, included within BMS' first-quarter earnings report, involved pipeline rationalization, site consolidation, third-party spend reduction, as well as cuts to management layers and the broader workforce, which BMS said would impact approximately 2,200 employees in 2024.
The recent news came as BMS looked to strengthen its long-term growth profile with a series of deals announced back in December. In late December, the drugmaker announced plans to acquire emerging radiopharma star RayzeBio in a cash deal worth approximately $4.1 billion. Just a week prior, BMS had picked up psychiatric and neurological treatment specialist Karuna Therapeutics in a $14 billion deal. In early December, BMS inked its largest ADC deal of the year, signing a license and collaboration agreement with SystImmune worth up to $8.4 billion for a potentially first-in-class bispecific ADC targeting both EGFR and HER3.