Kendall Square Biotech Layoffs

Featured image: The Kendall Square neighborhood of Cambridge. Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Kendall Square biotech companies are cutting jobs while the share of empty Cambridge lab space is near cycle highs. Commercial real estate firm CBRE reported on Oct. 9, 2026 that Cambridge lost 307,103 square feet of occupied lab space in the third quarter as large subleases came onto the market. Mid-Cambridge availability reached 59.3%. Meanwhile, layoff notices from Takeda, Blueprint Medicines and smaller Cambridge biotechs add up to hundreds of jobs.

Cambridge lab vacancy in the third quarter of 2026

CBRE’s Boston Metro Life Science Figures, Q3 2026 report these numbers:

Greater Boston lab vacancy rose 0.2 percentage points to 28.9%, and availability rose to 33.1%. CBRE called both “near cycle highs.”
Net absorption across the region was negative 168,430 square feet, and Cambridge accounted for most of the decline.
Average asking rent fell to $77.97 per square foot, triple net, down 8.1% from a year earlier. CBRE said growing concessions mean effective rents are falling faster.
Rents in East Cambridge, which includes Kendall Square, have fallen for 18 straight quarters.
Third-quarter leasing totaled 708,446 square feet, down 21.1% from the second quarter.

Kendall Square biotech layoffs in 2026

Companies have filed these Cambridge cuts this year, as tracked by BioSpace and Fierce Biotech from WARN notices and company filings:

Takeda: its U.S. headquarters is in Cambridge. A WARN notice lists 247 Cambridge employees affected by a restructuring, effective July 1, 2026 through Dec. 31, 2027, out of about 634 in the U.S.
Blueprint Medicines (Sanofi): about a year after Sanofi bought the company for $9.5 billion, a WARN notice disclosed 229 layoffs in Cambridge, where Blueprint is headquartered. The cuts take effect from Oct. 9, 2026 to June 25, 2027. BioSpace estimated that is about a third of the workforce.
Fulcrum Therapeutics: the Cambridge biotech said in June it would cut 48 of its 57 employees after ending development of pociredir for sickle cell disease.
Foghorn Therapeutics: on Oct. 1, Fierce reported that the Massachusetts company is laying off 40% of its workforce after its collaboration with Eli Lilly ended.

Across Massachusetts, at least 442 biotech workers lost jobs in the third quarter, NBC Boston and the Boston Business Journal reported on Oct. 7. Sanofi and TScan Therapeutics accounted for more than half. The real total is likely higher, because some large employers have not said how many Massachusetts jobs their cuts include.

Why the cuts are happening

The companies gave different reasons. Takeda said its restructuring is meant to save more than 200 billion yen, about $1.26 billion, a year, according to Fierce Biotech, and the changes take effect after new CEO Julie Kim takes over. Fulcrum said in June it no longer saw a viable regulatory path for pociredir after the FDA raised concerns about the drug’s benefit-risk profile. Foghorn’s cut followed disappointing phase 1 data that ended its Lilly partnership, Fierce reported. Blueprint, now owned by Sanofi, makes Ayvakit, a treatment for the rare blood disorder systemic mastocytosis.

Signs of recovery, and what is missing

CBRE pointed to some improving signals: $2.1 billion in venture funding in the third quarter, more public offerings, and year-to-date leasing up 20%, mostly from renewals. The region’s 924,000 square feet of lab space under construction is fully preleased to pharmaceutical companies, and some projects are switching away from lab use. But CBRE said smaller venture-backed tenants, the companies that have long filled Kendall Square startup space, “have yet to return.”

Recent deals elsewhere in the region include Repligen’s BioLife acquisition in Waltham and the Bambusa Therapeutics IPO. Watertown’s EyePoint announced layoffs after a failed trial.

What it means for Cambridge

For Cambridge residents who work in life sciences, the combination of layoffs and fewer small startups leasing space means fewer open roles nearby. The cuts so far come mostly from large drugmakers restructuring and from small biotechs whose lead drug failed, rather than from a single event. Laid-off workers in Massachusetts can file for unemployment and get job search help through the state’s MassHire career centers.

More Cambridge coverage

Additional details

Suburban markets offset part of the loss with 151,858 square feet of positive absorption, led by Somerville. Mass General signed a lease for 105,000 square feet there, CBRE said.
In 2025, BioNTech cut 58 jobs in Cambridge as part of a 90-person U.S. reduction, according to BioSpace.
Blueprint had 687 employees as of April 2025, according to an SEC filing cited by BioSpace.
Fulcrum estimated about $4.2 million in restructuring costs, mostly severance.

Sources

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Kendall Square Biotech Slump: Cambridge Layoffs Mount as Lab Availability Hits 59% in Mid-Cambridge