AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT SEMA4

Stamford, Connecticut-based Sema4, a biotechnology company specializing in genomic testing and data analysis to enhance diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, has announced the closure of its Stamford, Connecticut laboratory and a major reduction in its workforce.

The closure will impact 500 employees. The decision was driven by the company's plans to exit the reproductive-health testing business. The layoffs follow a previous layoff of 240 employees in August 2022.

According to a company official, “This decision was not made lightly and was informed by deep analysis, deliberation and scrutiny by our management team, advisors and board. We considered every possible option to preserve the reproductive-health business. In the end, we determined that the reproductive-health testing business was unsustainable and especially so in light of capital-market constraints and the macroeconomic environment. These changes better align Sema4 to accomplish those goals and allow us to focus on and accelerate other areas of our business that enable us to impact patients in more powerful ways.

“The Stamford lab will remain up and running beyond December 14, 2022, while we properly wind down all testing that is performed in that lab, at which point, all lab operations and testing will be performed in our Gaithersburg. Maryland lab."

As previously announced in August 2022, the company announced that its other lab in Branford, Connecticut, would close by December 31, 2022, as a result of its exit from the “somatic” tumor-testing business. Also in August, Sema4 announced that it would move its hereditary cancer-testing operations from the Stamford lab to its Gaithersburg lab to take advantage of “superior automatic capabilities.”

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT ILLUMINA

San Diego, California-based Illumina, a biotechnology company that develops, manufactures, and markets integrated analytical systems for the sequencing, genotyping, and gene expression and proteomics markets, has announced a restructuring and cost-cutting initiative that will produce a 5% reduction in force.

The personnel re-alignment will impact approximately 450 employees, including 207 employees located in San Diego, California.

According to a company statement, “Over the past several months, the macroeconomic environment has continued to get more challenging, impacting our customers and our business, and we expect these conditions to continue into 2023. While we are confident in Illumina’s long-term growth trajectory, we need to reduce the growth rate of our spending as we navigate these challenges. We understand the impact these decisions have on the affected employees and their families, and we are committed to providing support to these employees in their transitions and treating them with respect and compassion.”

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT ATARA BIOTHERAPEUTICS

South San Francisco, California-based Atara Biotherapeutics, a bioltechnology company specializing in allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy for developing therapies for patients with serious diseases including solid tumors, hematologic cancers and autoimmune diseases, has announced a cost reduction intitive leading to a reduction in its workforce.

The reduction, scheduled for October 7, 2022, will impact 77 employees, with 14 located in San Francisco, California and the remainder in Thousand Oaks, California.

A company spokesperson noted, "the company plans to focus its activities as a leaner organization centered on R&D to further advance our innovative therapies, while reducing cash burn, to position us for success in reaching critical value-generating milestones for our key pipeline assets. This included the difficult decision of reducing staff by 20% to enable us to continue to develop our transformative therapies so they can benefit patients."

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?