Gilead Sciences is cutting 51 employees at its Foster City, California headquarters, effective May 29, according to a WARN Act notice. One year ago, the same HQ shed 149 jobs.
In February, Gilead closed a $7.8 billion acquisition of Arcellx, buying anito-cel, a CAR-T therapy targeting relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Last month, it picked up Ouro Medicines in a deal that could exceed $2 billion, adding T cell engagers for inflammatory diseases. Two transactions, roughly $10 billion deployed, then a WARN notice.
Gilead filed three WARN notices at California facilities in 2025. It’s buying pipeline rather than growing it internally, which explains some of the internal headcount pressure. Oceanside — the California site that handles clinical manufacturing and process development for the company and subsidiary Kite Pharma — saw 53 layoffs staggered across two rounds: 36 effective August 2025 and 17 in January 2026. A separate WARN filed January 29 covered 34 more, effective March 27. A Gilead spokesperson previously said the Oceanside cuts were about co-locating biologics teams with R&D in Foster City. Now Foster City is getting trimmed too. That’s two consecutive April layoffs at the same address.
The 51 Foster City terminations take effect May 29.
— Diana Kowalski