With the ink now dry on Gilead Sciences’ $7.8 billion buyout of CAR-T biotech Arcellx, the Foster City-based pharma is consolidating some of the workforce at Arcellx’s own California outpost.
Gilead will lay off 108 workers from Arcellx’s site at 800 Bridge Parkway in Redwood City, CA, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) alert filed with the state late last week.
The round of cuts is slated to begin at the end of June. As of the end of 2025, Arcellx had 209 full-time employees, according to its annual report (PDF).
“This is part of the integration following the close of the Arcellx acquisition,” a Gilead spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Pharma.
The company has begun communicating the decision to affected employees, adding that it did not make the decision lightly and is focused on supporting staffers through the transition, according to the spokesperson.
Back in February, Gilead puts its chips on the table for Arcellx, pledging $7.8 billion to acquire the company and the BCMA-directed CAR-T anitocabtagene autoleucel, also known as anito-cel, that it partnered on to develop in 2022.
As part of the deal, in which Gilead agreed to pay $115 per Arcellx share in cash, shareholders are also in the running to receive another $5 per share if cumulative global anito-cel sales hit $6 billion by the end of 2029.
The FDA is expected to weigh in on an approval decision for anito-cel in fourth-line multiple myeloma by Dec. 23, 2026.
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Gilead announced that it closed its deal for Arcellx last Tuesday.
“With the Arcellx acquisition, our focus turns to executing with speed and discipline as we prepare to bring anito‑cel to patients,” Cindy Peretti, global head of Gilead’s CAR-T unite Kite Pharma said in a release announcing the deal’s completion. “I want to thank the Arcellx team for their scientific leadership, close collaboration to date and deep expertise they bring as we advance anito‑cel.”
While certainly not the desired outcome for employees of acquired companies, consolidation moves aren’t uncommon after major biopharma mergers.
In 2023, Amgen announced that it would liquidate some 350 roles at Horizon after its $27.8 billion buyout of the company. And the following year, Novartis shuttered two MorphoSys sites and set plans to lay off around 330 staffers after its takeover of the German cancer biotech for 2.7 billion euros, to name a few recent examples.
