Catalent is laying off 350 employees in its gene therapy manufacturing division in Baltimore “due to an unexpected shift in demand from a large customer, which made it necessary to reduce our workforce,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“It is never easy to see talented colleagues leave Catalent and we remain committed to providing them transition support as they manage this change,” the spokesperson added. “Our gene therapy business continues to see strong growth and we look forward to working on behalf of customers to deliver novel therapies for patients with genetic diseases/disorders.”
The "majority" of the layoffs, according to the company, are at Catalent's manufacturing campus in Harmans, Maryland, which includes two facilities that support phase 3 through commercial production of gene therapies.
Some of the layoffs also came at a 128,000-square-foot site 13 miles to the north at the University of Maryland BioPark in Baltimore. The plant specializes in upstream and downstream process development of viral vectors for clinical applications, according to the company's website.
Catalent did not confirm but the large customer may be Sarepta Therapeutics, which has been navigating fallout from the deaths of multiple patients who had received one of the company's gene therapies. Two weeks ago, Sarepta said that it was “evaluating opportunities to enhance operational efficiency and adjust manufacturing commitments based on latest demand.”
As patient deaths surfaced this year, the company stopped shipping Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys to non-ambulatory patients in June. Then in July, the FDA asked the company to pause treatment in all patients before quickly changing its stance to allow continued delivery to ambulatory patients. Massachusetts-based Sarepta conducted its own round of layoffs in July, cutting 36% of its staff.
As for Catalent, the CDMO last year laid off 130 at its massive manufacturing and filling plant in Bloomington, Indiana, around the same time that the company revealed that it was selling the facility and two other sites in Europe to Novo Nordisk for $11 billion.
That deal materialized alongside news that Novo Holdings, which operates under Novo Nordisk’s owner the Novo Nordisk Foundation, would lay out $16.5 billion to acquire Catalent in full. Those deals were completed in December of last year.
Between October and December of 2023, Catalent also conducted reductions of 300 positions as part of a cost-cutting campaign. A year earlier, in response to a decline in demand for the manufacture of COVID products, Catalent cut 400 at its Bloomington facility and more than 210 between sites in Texas and Maryland.