Thermo Fisher Scientific is closing its Carlsbad DNA manufacturing site less than three years after opening it, a move that will mean the loss of more than 70 local jobs.
In July 2021, Thermo Fisher expanded its presence in San Diego County with a 67,000-square-foot plasmid manufacturing facility near its existing Carlsbad campus. Plasmid manufacturing s life science clients working on developing cell, gene and mRNA-based therapies.
The strategic investment was made to “meet growing global demand for cell and gene therapies and vaccines,” the company said at the time. It also promised to add more than 150 local jobs as manufacturing scaled up.
But the company now cites a change in demand as the reason for it needing to adjust its manufacturing workforce.
“Thermo Fisher Scientific continuously evaluates its global operations to identify opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness in meeting our customers’ needs,” a company spokesperson said in an email to the Union-Tribune on Tuesday. “There are times when we must adjust staffing levels to remain in line with current volume demands. In alignment with this ongoing effort, we have made the decision to adjust staffing levels in our plasmids manufacturing laboratory at our location in Carlsbad.”
The global life science company is based in Waltham, Mass. and has approximately 122,000 employees worldwide, as of Dec. 31, 2023, according to its most recent financial filing. The company’s website says its Carlsbad site has more than 2,200 employees.
Thermo Fisher cuts 106 workers in fifth round of San Diego layoffs this yearHowever, that figure has likely declined since last year when the company conducted multiple rounds of local layoffs that affected a total of 796 people.
“We remain committed to our Advanced Therapies business and to our pharma services customers’ process development and analytical development needs, and we look forward to continuing to deliver on those commitments,” the company said.
The facility closure at 5791 Van Allen Way will result in the layoff of 74 employees, according to its Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications (WARN) letter filed with the state.
The layoffs will begin in late May and continue through the end of June. After that, the facility will close, but the spokesperson said it’s unclear what will happen with the building as options are still being explored.
Thermo Fisher closing 3 San Diego facilities, laying off 218 workers The spokesperson also added that the decision to lay off people is never taken lightly and affected employees will receive job transition from the company.
The job cuts and manufacturing facility closure do not impact Thermo Fisher’s other Carlsbad offices at 5823 Newton Drive and 5781 Van Allen Way.
In 2023, Thermo Fisher conducted five rounds of layoffs at its San Diego County facilities. The most recent layoff in August affected 106 workers, many at its Carlsbad offices and the plasmid manufacturing site.
Most of the previous job losses last year were at locations associated with COVID-19 test manufacturing and resulted in Thermo Fisher shuttering three facilities. Following those closures, Thermo Fisher’s local presence contracted to its Carlsbad offices.
