Dive Brief:
- Xconomy reports that CA biotech giant Amgen is laying off about 40% of the remaining workforce at subsidiary Onyx Pharmaceuticals, or about 300 employees.
- Amgen is shuttering Onyx's facility in south San Francisco. CEO Bob Bradway told employees in a memo that the layoffs are part of a broader restructuring of Amgen's oncology arm.
- The job cuts are slated to begin at the end of the year. It still isn't clear how much of Onyx's remaining 750-person workforce (before the 300 layoffs) will be offered roles at Amgen, although Xconomy reports that about 250 field workers will get new jobs, leaving another 200 or so employees in limbo until management finalizes arrangements.
Dive Insight:
The Onyx partnership (which began when Amgen bought the company for $10.4 billion in 2013) has been, by all means, a very lucrative one for Amgen. In fact, the subsidiary's multiple myeloma drug Kyprolis bested one of its main competitors in a head-to-head result by an impressive margin last week.
But just as companies ranging from Shire, to GSK, to Merck, to Valeant have proven with announced layoffs in just the past 10 days, the prospect of restructuring amid an ever-shifting biopharma M&A landscape brings with it the constant threat of job cuts and downsizing.