Regeneron to lay off field staffers as it restructures Sanofi partnership

With its long-standing partnership with Sanofi in its final days, Regeneron is in a belt-tightening phase as it prepares for its new reality. Now, the first blow has landed with some of the New York-based drugmaker's staff being shown the door. 

Regeneron will eliminate 15 field and supporting staff positions in February as it reworks its longstanding partnership with Sanofi for PCSK9 med Praluent and rheumatoid arthritis med Kevzara. According to a New York State WARN notice Dec. 20, the company is expected to lay off those staffers Feb. 18.

A Regeneron spokeswoman could not be reached for comment by press time.

In early December, Sanofi and Regeneron announced they would restructure their 12-year-old partnership into a royalty-based agreement for Praluent and Kevzara, with Regeneron taking over U.S. rights to the former and Sanofi snagging global rights to the latter. 

The restructuring, however, won't affect the companies' 50-50 split on Dupixent, which hit $633 million in the third quarter worldwide, they said. The reworked deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year. 

The shakeup came as part of Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson's strategic unveiling in early December that included investing heavily in Dupixent and building the drugmaker's oncology and rare diseases pipeline. 

"Economically, it makes sense," Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson said at an investor meeting at the time, arguing the new structure gives the drugmaker "agility" and frees it of joint product committees and joint decision-making on those drugs.

Sanofi said it would likely also sell its more than 23.5 million shares in Regeneron once the collaboration expires in a move to raise capital, the French drugmaker said.

Despite slicing away those 15 positions, Regeneron is working on a nearly billion-dollar production push and hiring spree at three of its manufacturing sites in New York state.

In August, Regeneron said it plans to add 1,500 workers to its 2,700-employee-strong New York workforce by 2024. In addition, the drugmaker intends to invest $800 million in production improvements, including the third and final phase of its East Greenbush site, which will include building a 240,000-square-foot office and lab space, 350,000 square feet of manufacturing space and a six-story parking garage, the company said.

The second phase of the East Greenbush expansion was announced back in 2013 and included adding two 10,000-liter bioreactors to boost production capacity by 50%. The project, completed in 2014, included expanding the workforce by up to 840 employees, with $72 million spent on the plant expansion and $8 million for a new office building.

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