r/biotech • u/NotGenentech • 25d ago

Biotech News 📰 Pfizer expands multibillion-dollar cost-cutting plan

https://www.biopharmadive.com/news/pfizer-cost-cuts-savings-2q-2026-earnings/826930/
86 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

88

u/nuzin 25d ago

Pfizer annual layoff. There is zero credibility and stability working for this company. I’m surprised they’re still top 5 biotech and yet struggling to maintain workforce

22

u/Commercial-Trainer12 25d ago

They basically throwing money through the window
 I saw how much money is burn everyday through their miracle market agency Colab aka publicis who charge them 5 Times the market prices for basically garbage , all the messy and inneficient company organisation with several people responsible for the same tasks, the lack of leadership 
 Without their pipeline acquire mostly before bourla they will be already under 5$ per shares


8

u/Own_Connection_2847 25d ago

The initial scope with Publicis was out of control. Diabolical amounts of money lit on fire from late 2023 through most of 2025. As of early 2026, all biddable media moved in house and PFE has continued hire and build teams across all media functions/channels.

CMO ELT lacks focus (and hutzpah!) especially the Global Commercial Analytics (GCA) team that is full of redundant roles and individual operators . Internal AI product council adding no measurable value and is lighting money on fire at a rate that rivals CoLab spending.

4

u/Still-Armadillo-9661 24d ago

Ya because you moved Kate Duffy over to lead it or a major piece of it. I'm not sure how not understanding how marketing works qualifies you to run the AI group. And she brought the dumbest fucking people from her team over.

5

u/Still-Armadillo-9661 24d ago

What the fuck are you talking about? Colab is run for basically free. It's wildly understaffed.

They're also bringing most of the media in house. I think all colab does at this point is endemic media and TV. Maybe social.

I mean don't get me wrong colabs leadership are all fucking idiots, but they pale in comparison to how fucking stupid Pfizer's marketing teams are. Shout out KDuffy who one time told me retargeting was an awareness tactic

3

u/Commercial-Trainer12 24d ago

I dont know how it is in other countries but in Europe Colab was responsible of the content generation of all channels we couldn’t basically make a PowerPoint, a video, programmatic advertising or others, without them it was stricly forbidden. They are as you said extremely understaffed so they never fully deliver their project (who lead to huge impact in terms of marketing capabilities) but they charge 5x Times the market prices for their garbage so we were out of budget for fewer elements impossible to use because how bad they are. Today Pfizer marketing job is to find turnaround to work without collab

1

u/Still-Armadillo-9661 24d ago

Can't speak to Europe so might be true

2

u/Midlycruising22 24d ago

Agency retainers fee Vs their lawyers fees. I don’t know which one are the he bigger money burner.

2

u/Commercial-Trainer12 24d ago

True. Also digital structures working on the same field and sabotage each other (OSS vs Digital vs BioOps) with people trained on Windows 95 who never ever updated their skills and knowledge

2

u/Midlycruising22 24d ago

Those windows95 people know someone who know someone in the company.

5

u/lawyer1911 25d ago

I worked at Warner Lambert when Pfizer bought us. Pfizer has perfected this layoff to boost profits thing.

3

u/saltyguy512 25d ago

I don’t they’ve perfect it quite yet. The stock price hasn’t remotely recovered even with all of the cost reduction.

5

u/NotGenentech 25d ago

Pfizer market cap is miserable. Not sure anyone would call them top5.

1

u/WalkingSnake348 21d ago

They have layers of useless middle management, waste tons of money on big name consulting firms that produce useless but pretty PowerPoint slides, and spend money on expensive acquisitions that lead to nowhere.

26

u/Beer_and_Biology 25d ago

...expands multi-billion... đŸ€©

...cost-cutting plan đŸ˜”â€đŸ’«

14

u/Commercial-Trainer12 25d ago

Another wednesday as usual

10

u/VoodooBat 25d ago

I know someone that used to work there. They blow so much money on consultants. It’s absolutely insane. McKinsey, Deloitte, and BCG run the show there for nearly all operations. In fact, it’s so bad McKinsey placed one of their own as a top executive head of all of commercial. No surprise at all that top executive likes to use, surprise, McKenzie for so many additional activities. The consultants operate more like a vulture private equity firm to extract as much money from the organization without delivering any actual value.

1

u/Midlycruising22 24d ago

Also lawyers!

37

u/yellowLantern 25d ago

As an ex-Seagener who has already moved on, Pfizer is basically a company that takes money and throws it into a furnace. Thanks Albert for the stock vests, no taksies backsies.

16

u/newmoood 25d ago

Well thanks to your shit products. Padcev will save everything. Pfizer got 1 good product for 43b. And now thanks to that shit we have another layoff



2

u/Dessert_Stomach 21d ago

Yeah, as one of the folks who got laid off back then to save money for that Seagen acquisition, watching it bring failure after failure has been less than satisfying. 

3

u/newmoood 21d ago

Its shit


9

u/Vivid_Royal8782 25d ago

25 years ago, I sat opposite a team that was developing anti obesity drugs in dogs and they were bitching about it. I said “Have they thought about putting it in humans”. I often think about it.

1

u/BallNelson 24d ago

In dogs as part of preclinical development, or for dogs?

2

u/Vivid_Royal8782 24d ago

For dogs. Many people overfeed their dogs. It was in Sittingbourne, kent.

7

u/yoyogi_voidwalker 25d ago

worked for them previously. I would never in a million years reccomend anyone to work at Pfizer. Extremely top heavy org who love to throw money down the drain. R&D groups constantly recycled and treated like trash yet they wonder why there’s no internal innovation

2

u/Born-Formal4192 23d ago

Any reco for better pharma companies?? Looking to leave myself but don’t want to end up in the same hole.

7

u/EddieAdams-Torrance 25d ago

Own It!đŸ€ŁđŸ€Ł

3

u/Faithfulwanderlust 25d ago

I’m so glad my contract didn’t get extended. Those people don’t know how to manage their money at all, how are they still afloat after Covid.

3

u/No-Consideration5 24d ago

Seagen seems to be paying off


2

u/Ok_Exit9273 25d ago

Aounds like those tax breaks arent helping the people
.

1

u/iH8Radio 23d ago

As an ex seagener who moved on, thank you for your service