Dive Brief:
- Thermo Fisher Scientific is eliminating 300 jobs, effective March 30, across two sites in Massachusetts, the state said in a Jan. 31 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification report.
- The cuts in Cambridge and Plainville, Massachusetts, are in addition to 160 layoffs at the two locations Thermo Fisher notified the state about in November, a company spokesperson confirmed in an email. Those layoffs were expected to begin last month and continue through Nov. 6, 2026.
- Thermo Fisher is scaling back roles at the sites in response to recent shifts in customer timelines and utilization needs, the spokesperson said.
Dive Insight:
Thermo Fisher opened the Plainville facility in August 2022 to expand its ability to manufacture viral vectors, which are key materials in the production of gene therapies.
At the time, the company said the expansion would add about 300 jobs to support development, testing and manufacturing of viral vector components.
Since then, venture capital investment in developers of cell and gene therapies has declined sharply.
The company recently closed a viral vector contract development and manufacturing organization site in Lexington, Massachusetts, affecting more than 100 jobs. That plant opened in late 2019. Thermo Fisher also shifted work from a viral vector site in Alachua, Florida, to the Plainville facility, affecting 205 jobs.
Thermo Fisher said it will continue to serve the market. “We remain committed to supporting our customers' continued innovation and advancement of medicine to improve patient care worldwide through our viral vector services network,” the spokesperson said.
The job reductions are part of a broader, multiyear effort to improve the company’s efficiency.
In 2023, severance actions connected with facility consolidations and cost-cutting measures affected about 5% of the company’s total workforce, according to a securities filing. Thermo Fisher employed about 122,000 people at the end of 2023, including about 61,000 in the Americas. The number is down from about 130,000 global employees, including 67,000 in the Americas, in 2022.
“Thermo Fisher Scientific continuously evaluates opportunities to enhance our operational efficiency and better serve our customers,” the spokesperson said.
Thermo Fisher has been turning around a revenue slump, posting year-over-year growth of 5% in the fourth quarter, to $11.4 billion. Full-year 2024 revenue was flat at $42.88 billion.
