#pharmaceuticals

Bristol Myers Squibb plans to lay off 206 employees. These job cuts will impact its New Jersey workforce. The company expects these layoffs to occur between July and December. This action is part of a larger $2 billion cost-cutting initiative. Bristol Myers Squibb has already eliminated over 1,400 New Jersey positions.

Lawrence Township, New Jersey

https://njbiz.com/bristol-myers-squibb-206-more-layoffs-new-jersey/

Replimune informed the state of upcoming layoffs. The company will cut 63 jobs. This action follows an FDA decision. The Food and Dr-g Administration rejected its melanoma treatment. This was the second rejection for the dr-g.

https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2026/04/15/replimune-layoffs-dr-g-rejection.html

In February 2026, Express Scripts was hit with a racketeering class action lawsuit alleging it used a Swiss company to disguise billions of dollars in kickbacks. The lawsuit claims this scheme diverted rebates meant for clients, violating federal racketeering laws (RICO) and inflating dr-g costs.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/02/ftc-secures-landmark-settlement-express-scripts-lower-dr-g-costs-american-patients

https://open.substack.com/pub/healthcareuncovered/p/express-scripts-just-got-sued-for?r=4gx0u9&utm_medium=ios

Takeda Pharmaceuticals is undergoing a restructuring. This will lead to job cuts in Massachusetts. Exactly 247 positions will be eliminated. The affected employees are part of its Cambridge workforce. The company has 700 open roles and will prioritize internal candidates.

Cambridge, Massachusetts

https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2026/03/27/takeda-to-lay-off-247-massachusetts-workers.html

Curia Global is set to close its pharmaceutical production plant in Burlington, cutting around 81 positions. Company documents indicate the shutdown will take place in March, marking yet another setback for the area’s life sciences and advanced manufacturing sector.

https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/curia-plant-shutdown-massachusetts-forces-lay-81

Intercept Pharmaceuticals is undergoing a significant restructuring, which includes 146 layoffs across its operations. This move comes shortly after the withdrawal of its liver disease dr-g, Ocaliva, from the market. The layoffs are a direct consequence of the company's strategic re-evaluation and market adjustments. Affected employees will be impacted as the company realigns its operational focus in response to recent challenges. This restructuring aims to streamline Intercept's operations following the major product withdrawal.

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/intercept-heels-ocaliva-withdrawal-restructures-146-layoffs

This is apparently a big story: Eli Lily is dropping Caremark as their PBM and moving to Rightway (same as Tyson Foods had done a few years back). Rightway is a fee service PBM (no rebates, odd pricing, etc).

I feel like CareMark is really endangered

Source:
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/eli-lilly-drops-cvs-dr-g-plan-workers-after-novo-obesity-deal-bloomberg-news-2025-11-12/

When Americans talk about why prescription dr-gs cost so much, we often point fingers at pharmaceutical companies. But behind the scenes, a quiet and far more insidious force drives prices higher — Pharmacy Benefit Managers, or PBMs.

These middlemen were supposed to save us money by negotiating discounts and managing benefits between dr-gmakers, pharmacies, and insurance companies. Instead, they’ve built a cartel-like empire that manipulates prices, restricts access, and drains billions from patients and small pharmacies alike.

Three PBMs — CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx — now control nearly 80 percent of the prescription dr-g market. That’s not competition. That’s consolidation, and it gives them unchecked power to dictate what dr-gs Americans can take and how much we pay for them.

Here’s how the scheme works: PBMs negotiate secret rebates with dr-g manufacturers in exchange for preferred placement on insurance formularies. The larger the rebate, the more likely a dr-g will be covered — even if a cheaper or more effective alternative exists. But those rebates don’t go to patients. Instead, PBMs and insurers often pocket the difference, leaving patients at the pharmacy counter paying inflated copays or list prices.

Independent pharmacies suffer too. PBMs reimburse them below cost, while steering patients to their own mail-order or corporate-owned pharmacies. Many small-town pharmacies — often the only healthcare access point for miles — have closed under this pressure.

It’s legalized extortion wrapped in healthcare jargon.

The result? A system where everyone but the patient profits. Dr-gmakers inflate prices to fund rebates. PBMs boast about “savings” that never reach consumers. Insurers look the other way because they share in the cut. And the average American pays more for prescription dr-gs than anyone else on Earth.

The good news is that lawmakers are finally paying attention. Bipartisan bills in Congress and state legislatures aim to require transparency, ban spread pricing, and force rebates to flow directly to patients. But reform will fail unless regulators confront the core problem: PBMs have become too big, too secretive, and too conflicted to serve the public good.

The United States cannot claim to have a free market in healthcare when three corporations act as gatekeepers to every pill that reaches a patient. We broke up oil trusts and telecom monopolies before. It’s time to do the same for the PBM cartel.

Because healthcare should serve people, not middlemen.

Someone commented on another board that they are expecting notable layoffs in Abbvie Patient Services. Anyone heard anything?

no rifs remote first company 6 figure salary, no work, December time off to enjoy
great company , with so many $$, pharmacy engineers are the best