AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT FATE THERAPEUTICS

San Diego, California-based Fate Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of cellular immunotherapies for cancer patients, has announced a product realignment and reduction in force after the cancellation of a collaboration agreement with Janssen Biotech.

The personnel re-alignment will impact approximately 220 employees.

According to President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Wolchko, “We are disappointed that we were not able to align with Janssen on their proposal for continuation of our collaboration. As a consequence, in keeping with the Company’s commitment to developing disruptive product candidates, programs, and technologies with the potential to address large, unmet clinical needs, we have prioritized our clinical programs and substantially reduced operating expenses, including taking the difficult and painful step of reducing our workforce, to ensure that we have a three-year cash runway."

"We are greatly saddened to move in this direction as our employees have continually demonstrated the highest level of dedication and commitment in pioneering iPSC-derived cell therapy for patients with cancer. I want to extend my deepest appreciation to all of our employees for their tremendous efforts and wish those employees who will be departing great success in the future.”

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 SYNTHEGO

Menlo Park, California-based Synthego, a bioltechnology company specializing in providing engineered cell libraries to researchers, has announced a 20% reduction in its workforce.

The reduction in force will impact 105 employees.

According to a company spokesperson, "After a comprehensive review of our business, we have made a number of difficult but necessary organizational changes to best position the company for long-term success in the current environment."

"We sincerely regret the impact that this has on our employees and their families and owe them a debt of gratitude for their valuable contributions to the company. We are confident that the changes we have made will put us in a position to both navigate the difficult environment in the near term and continue to enable vital clinical research and development that advances accessible cell and gene therapies."

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 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?