The Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda will be laying off 240 employees in the United States to navigate the upcoming loss of exclusivity for depression drug Trintellix.
Trintellix oral tablets were first approved by the FDA in 2013. The U.S. patent expires this coming December.
This latest round of job cuts will affect remote employees in the neuroscience sales unit, who are assigned to the company’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Takeda is offering some of the employees redeployment opportunities as the company “[reprioritizes] resources to prepare for multiple potential new medication launches in the United States, which will create over 400 new commercial field roles," a Takeda spokesperson told GxP News.
In addition to losing exclusivity for the depression drug, Takeda has seen sales fall for Vyvanse, a medication for ADHD. In response, the company has launched an “efficiency program” that will lead to 640 layoffs in two Massachusetts sites over 10 months and has caused 320 job losses in San Diego.