Emergent lays off 400 workers, pulls back from focus on CDMO operations

Emergent BioSolutions is making some major changes to its business and is laying off hundreds of employees in the process.

On Tuesday, Emergent announced that it is cutting back on its investment and “de-emphasizing” its growth in its CDMO services business.

The manufacturer will be reducing operations at its Bayview facility in Baltimore and its Canton, MA, location. Emergent said it’s also doing a small cut to its operations in Rockville, MD. This is due to changes in the “volume of US government procurements of medical countermeasures,” Emergent said in a news release. The company said it plans to keep some operations going at Bayview and Canton.

Adam Havey

The reductions will lead to around 400 employees being laid off across the company. An Emergent spokesperson told Endpoints that the layoffs will occur over the coming weeks and that a small number of employees will stay on at those facilities to maintain them. WARN notices in Maryland and Massachusetts have not been updated to give insight into the specific number of layoffs.

Emergent will now focus on producing medical countermeasures, such as decontamination lotion, and measures for diseases such as Ebola and smallpox, as well as Narcan nasal spray and delivering products for both the US and allied governments.

Haywood Miller

It is also eliminating the chief operating officer role as a result of moving away from services with current COO Adam Havey leaving on Sept. 30. Bill Hartzel, SVP and head of bioservices, will oversee all manufacturing operations and will join the management team.

The company said it expects that these new actions will save the company $100 million annually. The reductions in staff and operations are expected to cost around $19 million to $21 million in the third quarter of 2023.

“The actions we are taking will further strengthen our core products business and financial foundation,” Emergent’s interim CEO Haywood Miller said in a release. “This will better align Emergent’s businesses with a focus on our core products and delivering for the needs of our customers. It will provide us with flexibility to respond to future customer demand while responsibly maintaining manufacturing infrastructure deemed critical to respond to public health threats.”

In January, Emergent laid off over 130 employees as part of its efforts to combine its research, product development and clinical teams into one department.

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