BioMarin to Cut 119 Jobs in Novato Manufacturing Consolidation

BioMarin Pharmaceutical will cut 119 jobs across its Novato and other California operations, with all terminations effective Dec. 4 under a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice filed Sept. 24 with the California Employment Development Department.

The 114 layoffs concentrated at 105 Digital Drive in Novato fall under the manufacturing category — a move the company framed this way: the site "will remain BioMarin's primary drug substance manufacturing site for Aldurazyme and Naglazyme, while activities related to other products and facilities will be transferred, divested or decommissioned."

BioMarin is headquartered in San Rafael. The remaining positions break down as follows:

• 2 workers in San Mateo
• 1 worker in Sacramento
• 1 worker in Colorado
• 1 worker in Massachusetts

Affected staff began receiving notices on Sept. 22. The company has not disclosed expected severance costs for this round.

Where does this fit in the North Bay labor market?

The life sciences sector runs counter to the broader Bay Area tech shakeout. While tech employers continue announcing reductions — Genentech disclosed 103 layoffs at its South San Francisco site in July — biotech and pharma job cuts fell 90% year over year in August, according to BioSpace's monthly tracker, with the sector shedding just over 500 positions.

For North Bay manufacturing and lab-services workers, BioMarin's move is concrete: a single employer absorbing 119 cuts in a regional labor pool that already absorbed 225 BioMarin layoffs in 2024. Those earlier reductions — roughly 7% of the company's workforce at the time — included about 119 Marin County staff across executive, scientific, engineering and analyst roles.

What does BioMarin's broader restructuring tell workers to watch?

The company is mid-stream on a major consolidation. In April, BioMarin closed its $4.8 billion acquisition of Amicus Therapeutics, taking on $3.7 billion in debt financing. Second-quarter revenue rose 20% year over year to $990 million, but net income fell 81% to $45 million.

BioMarin signaled it would trim general and administrative roles overlapping between the two companies, projecting a $92 million severance-and-termination-benefits bill and an April 2027 completion target. On the real-estate side, BioMarin paused a six-year plan in April to build two new office-and-lab buildings at 999 Third Street in San Rafael. It now pivots to converting 781 Lincoln Avenue into a dedicated lab facility — what the company called "an integrated science hub that brings teams closer together to foster collaboration, support scientific excellence and meet the evolving needs of our pipeline."

Year-end 2025 headcount stood at 3,221 employees worldwide, up 6% from 2024, split between 2,026 in the U.S. and Canada and 967 in Europe and the Middle East. BioMarin added a separate deal on Aug. 31, acquiring ALE1 from Dutch firm Alesta Therapeutics for $275 million upfront plus up to $215 million in milestones; that transaction brought no Alesta employees onto BioMarin's payroll.

For North Bay biomanufacturing staff, the December calendar carries real weight: every affected role in California becomes permanent on Dec. 4, and BioMarin's April 2027 restructuring target leaves roughly four more reporting cycles for additional overlap-driven cuts to surface.