Biogen to Reduce Its Workforce by About 11%.

"Biogen said it is eliminating about 1,000 jobs, or about 11% of its workforce, after the drugmaker's new chief executive concluded it had too many costly drug-research projects that weren't likely to generate big returns.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based company said the cuts would help the company reduce its annual operating expenses by about $1 billion by 2025. It had 8,725 employees at the end of last year.

Of those savings, Biogen plans to invest about $300 million into new product launches and remaining research and development programs. One of the new products includes the Alzheimer's disease treatment Leqembi, with partner Eisai.

Biogen CEO Chris Viehbacher, who took over the company in November, said the company had been developing some high-risk, high-cost products, and it wants to narrow its focus to drugs with a higher probability of success."You have to be cost-efficient and you have to invest in growth," Viehbacher said on a conference call with analysts. "And that is a very tricky exercise."

The company is giving priority to experimental drugs for Alzheimer's disease, lupus, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It has exited eye-disease drugs and is narrowing its focus in gene-therapy treatments, a spokesman said.

Biogen has seen revenue decline in recent years partly because of increased competition for its multiple-sclerosis drugs. The company has also been beset by turnover in its R&D leadership, as well as a botched launch of a different Alzheimer's disease drug, Aduhelm.

Biogen said second-quarter sales fell 5% from a year earlier to $2.46 billion. Second-quarter net income fell to $591.6 million, or $4.07 a share, from $1.06 billion, or $7.24 a share." [1]

1. Biogen to Reduce Its Workforce by About 11%. Loftus, Peter. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 26 July 2023: B.1.