400+ Workers To Be Laid Off At NJ Pharmaceutical Company

EAST HANOVER, NJ —Swiss drugmaker Novartis, whose U.S. headquarters is in New Jersey, will eliminate another 427 U.S. jobs by the end of October, state Department of Labor records show.

Over the past three years, Novartis has already laid off hundreds of workers at the East Hanover facility as part of an overall plan to cut 7 percent of its workforce across the globe.

The newest round of cuts will take place between June 13 and Oct. 24, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Notice that Novartis filed with the state this month.

Michael Meo, director of U.S. media relations for Novartis, said the company is looking to evolve its cardiovascular portfolio and launch new products.

"Novartis continually assesses opportunities to drive growth and sustainable performance and create the greatest potential impact for patients and customers," he said.

The drugmaker will lose patent protection for Entresto, which is used to treat heart failure, in July — meaning that other companies will be able to offer a generic product to compete with Novartis. And sales of the cholesterol drug Leqvio have been rising, Meo said.

"To support this future portfolio, we have made changes to our CV (cardiovascular) commercialization model that optimize our support for patients throughout their treatment journey and simplify and strengthen how we engage with our customers," Meo said.

The new structure is expected to be implemented on April 1.

Meo added that the company encourages affected employees to apply for other open positions at Novartis.

"We are committed to treating our people with fairness and respect," he said.

WARN Notices are required by federal law when businesses with 100 or more full-time workers lay off at least 50 people from a single worksite. They are designed to give workers and their families, as well as the local communities, more advanced notice.

The listings don't include the percentage of workers that each company cut, nor do they contain information on whether the businesses enacted smaller job cuts elsewhere in the state.