Dive Brief:
- Cepheid plans to lay off more than 600 employees in California as the company consolidates manufacturing activities in the state, according to multiple Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filings.
- Cepheid, which makes molecular diagnostic tests, will cut approximately 626 employees who report to its Sunnyvale, California, headquarters and approximately 11 employees who work at a site in Fremont, California. The separations are expected to occur on or about Sept. 27, according to the filings.
- A Cepheid spokesperson said in an emailed statement to MedTech Dive that the company is “consolidating all US-based cartridge manufacturing activities to our high-tech Lodi [California] manufacturing campus.” Both notices were dated July 24.
Dive Insight:
The medical technology industry has been rapidly shedding jobs since the beginning of 2023. A MedTech Dive analysis of state WARN databases found that medical device companies announced layoffs for more than 14,000 employees between Jan. 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024.
The diagnostic industry has been particularly hard hit, with more than 5,000 layoffs over this time, more than any other sector.
Cepheid has been one of the firms to cut the most workers in the past roughly 18 months. In 2023, Cepheid filed plans to eliminate 778 jobs. Now, the company is set to ax about 637 additional positions.
Cepheid’s spokesperson said that some “Sunnyvale manufacturing employees will be moving to Lodi and there will be additional hiring in Lodi.” Both WARN filings stated Cepheid would offer “on-site outplacement services provided by a third-party vendor, free of charge” to affected employees.
The majority of affected positions at the Sunnyvale headquarters were manufacturing associates.
In June, Cepheid said it received de novo authorization for the only molecular test in the U.S. to detect the hepatitis C virus directly from fingerstick blood samples.
The Food and Drug Administration, which also announced the clearance, said the test could help improve access to hepatitis diagnosis and care. The agency said Cepheid’s point-of-care test could allow patients to receive treatment immediately after diagnosis, simplifying the current process and potentially allowing more people to be cured.