Novartis is cutting more jobs at its U.S. headquarters in New Jersey, with plans to eliminate 114 positions as it reorganizes its rare disease drug sales team.
The Swiss pharmaceutical company telegraphed the job cuts in its recent Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) submission (PDF) to the canton, which is expected to take effect from late June to November.
“Our U.S. customer engagement organization has been evaluating opportunities to evolve the structure of our field sales team to better support the unique needs of patients and customers in rare and ultra-rare disease areas, where Novartis has a strong presence and focus on in-market products and important new products going forward,” a Novartis spokesperson told Fierce Pharma. “To that end, we are making some organizational changes that will result in some roles being removed, modified or created.”
The adjustment is the latest in a series of job cuts at Novartis, which can be traced back to a major reorganization that began in 2022.
Novartis offers several medicines in the rare disease field. These include chronic myeloid leukemia drugs Tasigna and Promacta to treat low platelet counts in certain patients, including the rare blood diseases chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and aplastic anemia. The two drugs, together with blockbuster heart failure drug Entresto, form Novartis’ largest single-year patent cliff in history, making it a notable challenge for the company in 2026.
Novartis is also managing several new rare disease launches in the autoimmune space, including Rhapsid for chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). In addition, the company is rolling out two rare kidney disease treatments for IgA nephropathy: Vanraffia and Favalta. Additionally, the dual-mechanism B cell depletion antibody inalumab is moving closer to market after two wins in Sjögren’s Phase 3 trials, with pivotal first-line ITP information expected this year.
“Novartis continually evaluates opportunities to adapt to the evolving needs of our pipeline, patients and customers. As such, we are directing our efforts and talent to areas where we can create the greatest potential impact for patients and customers,” a company spokesperson said.
Novartis has made several layoffs related to its New Jersey headquarters over the past few years. In September, the company announced plans to lay off 58 employees in its U.S. medical affairs division following a further review of its cardiovascular commercial structure that affected 427 employees.
Swiss drugmakers have been steadily shedding their U.S. workforce in recent years. Coinciding with the separation of Sandoz’s biosimilars and generics division, Novartis’ U.S. headcount, measured in full-time equivalents, fell nearly 12% year over year to 12,846 in 2023. As of the end of last year, the company had 12,556 full-time employees in the United States.
Globally, Novartis is only one of two large pharmaceutical companies to consistently slim down each year from 2021 to 2025, according to a recent Fierce Pharma analysis.
Novartis increased its manufacturing workforce by 25% to 1,479 people last year, while shrinking its U.S. sales team and general administration. Last year, Novartis announced a $23 billion investment to expand its manufacturing and research and development footprint in the United States, following an industry-wide trend to avoid potential drug tariffs by the Trump administration.
