Bristol Myers Squibb is laying off another 206 employees in New Jersey. It’s the latest round of cuts from a pharmaceutical giant that has been steadily shedding jobs at its Mercer County headquarters since early 2025. 

The layoffs, disclosed in a WARN Act notice filed with the New Jersey Department of Labor, are expected to be completed by the end of 2027. They follow 247 cuts announced in February and more than 800 eliminated throughout 2025—a figure that includes over 500 jobs eliminated at its Lawrence Township offices last May. Bristol Myers Squibb has cut more than 1,700 positions since January 2025, according to Patch.

The Bigger Picture

The cuts are part of a multi-year initiative to slash $2 billion in costs by the end of 2027. The company says the strategy is working—selling, general, and administrative costs fell in its most recent financial report. A first-quarter earnings call is scheduled for April 30.

“We remain focused on developing and delivering transformational medicines to patients around the world and continue to deliver on our long-term business strategy by aligning resources to best support our operating model,” a Bristol Myers Squibb spokesperson said in a statement to NJ.com.

Bristol Myers Squibb’s global headquarters sits on a 280-acre campus in Lawrence Township. The company employs roughly 30,000 people worldwide and makes drugs to treat cancer, HIV, and cardiovascular disease.

Part of a Broader Wave

The cuts aren’t isolated. The company was among the largest employers to appear in a wave of WARN notices filed across New Jersey earlier this year, alongside Amazon, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and dozens more.

In March, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Labcorp, and Reckitt Benckiser also announced layoffs—adding to a string of layoffs across the pharmaceutical sector.

Under the federal WARN Act, companies with 100 or more employees must give workers 60 days’ notice of a layoff affecting 50 or more people at a single site. New Jersey adds its own requirements on top of that, including mandatory severance pay.

For a region that has long looked to the pharmaceutical industry as an economic anchor, the pattern is becoming harder to ignore.