According to reports, Biogen has taken steps to scale back costs following the release of its Aduhelm Alzheimer’s disease drug.
The company has moved to sublease more than 260,000 square feet at multiple locations in Massachusetts as it looks to cut $1 billion in costs, The Boston Globe reported.
Across from its Cambridge, Massachusetts, headquarters, the company plans to sublease more than 183,000 square feet in its 300 Binney Street space, while it has also made plans to sublease two floors comprising 80,000 square feet at one of two properties at 133 Boston Pond Road in Weston, Massachusetts, The Globe report said.
The Globe report credited the Boston Business Journal with first reporting the sublease news, while also saying that Biogen has “long subleased” one of its two Weston buildings to Monster, the job search website.
Biogen’s cost-cutting efforts will total an estimated $1 billion in part through an unspecified number of layoffs, the report said, including what The Globe described as “essentially its sales division” for the controversial Aduhelm Alzheimer’s drug. The Globe said Biogen had previously confirmed as many as 1,000 layoffs in March, while a spokesperson did not offer an updated total but confirmed to the publication that the company has allowed some vacant positions to remain unfilled.
The spokesperson also told the outlet that the decision to sublease the office space in Cambridge and Weston represents part of Biogen’s efforts to optimize its footprint and reduce the amount of space it takes up while considering elements like the hybrid work model.
Aduhelm has been under scrutiny since its 2021 FDA approval through an accelerated approval pathway. A recent physician survey demonstrated that nine in 10 neurologists have doubts over the therapeutic while earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ruled that it would limit coverage of the drug.
While sales for the drug sputtered, in May, CEO Michel Vounatsos stepped down from the corner office.