Amgen and Genentech cut jobs in California

Amgen is again making cuts to its research unit, this time shedding about 200 R&D jobs, primarily at labs in California. In March, about 500 employees at Amgen’s Thousand Oaks, Calif., headquarters were affected by a decision to shift certain research activities and support services to other sites. As part of the earlier move, research was concentrated at the firm’s facilities in San Francisco and Cambridge, Mass., threatening some 100 jobs in its discovery and translational research operations. In a statement Amgen says the new round of cuts is driven by a need to be “increasingly efficient in our operational discipline.” In a separate move, but one also aimed at efficiency, Genentech is shedding 130 jobs at its Vacaville, Calif., manufacturing facility. The company points to changing demand for injectable medications.