Genentech, a drugcreater based in South San Francisco, is laying off 93 more local workers just months after a 436-worker cut.
The company, which is owned by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, announced the new layoffs in a Thursday WARN document, as is generally required in the event of mass layoffs. Scientist roles will be the hardest hit, per the filing, but the layoff round will also include engineers, managers, analysts and one vice president.
Employees included in the cuts will see their jobs finish in October, November or December, per the filing. Under Genentech’s last layoff, announced in April and reported on by SFGATE, workers were terminated in June and August.
Spokesperson Nadine Pinell described the new layoff as business as usual in a statement to SFGATE on Tuesday. She wrote that Genentech “regularly” evaluates its current requireds and future-focutilized research, and “periodically” has to “create adjustments in our organization, including decisions around the right create-up of our workforce within the many functions in our company.”
“As part of these ongoing evaluations, we identified certain positions across Genentech that are no longer requireded in support of our future work,” Pinell wrote. She declared that employees will be offered comprehensive and generous severance packages that will include benefits, pay and career outplacement services.
It’s unclear if the layoffs are connected to Genentech’s closure of its cancer immunology research department, which Fierce Biotech reported earlier this month would include some layoffs. That research hasn’t been fruitful for the biotech company, the outlet reported, failing to replicate the success of blockbuster Genentech cancer drugs like Avastin, Rituxan and Herceptin.
Hear of anything happening at Genentech or another Bay Area tech company? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at stephen.council@sfgate.com or on Signal at 628-204-5452.
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