North Jersey biotech company to lay off 81, continuing industry trend

• Other pharmaceutical and health care companies recently announced layoffs — including Bayer, Siemens, RWJBarnabas Health and Bristol Myers Squibb — as they struggled to integrate AI
• On March 11, Labcorp announced that it had entered an agreement with pharmaceutical company OPKO Health in which Labcorp would acquire certain assets of BioReference

BioReference Health, a biotech company, is laying off 81 employees at its main laboratory in Elmwood Park.

The move comes just weeks after announcing that parts of the firm were being acquired by diagnostics giant Labcorp, though BioReference executives say the two are not related.

The layoffs went into effect retroactively to Jan. 1, 2025 through March 31, 2025, according to a March filing with the New Jersey Department of Labor. Affected employees include those in laboratory services and “support functions,” the notice states. 

BioReference previously gave 71 employees the pink slip in 2023, according to public filings which are known as Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications, or WARN notices. 

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On March 11, Labcorp announced that it had entered an agreement with pharmaceutical company OPKO Health in which Labcorp would acquire certain assets of BioReference, a wholly owned subsidiary of OPKA. 

Those assets include BioReference’s oncology and oncology-related clinical testing services, according to the March announcement. 

"By integrating BioReference Health's oncology and related clinical testing services into our portfolio, we're providing greater access to our world-class services to patients, physicians and health care providers across the country,” said Labcorp Chief Operations Officer Mark Schroeder. 

A wave of pharma and health care layoffs

Lauren Ruggiero, who heads human resources at BioReference, said there was no relation between the Labcorp acquisition and these layoffs, and that they were just “cost-savings initiatives.” 

Representatives at Labcorp did not return emails seeking comment.

Previously, another pharmaceutical firm, drugmaker Novartis, announced the layoffs this spring and summer of 427 employees that report to its East Hanover location. The layoffs were related to a Novartis patent that’s expiring for Entresto, a heart condition medication.

Last year, other pharmaceutical and health care companies announced layoffs — including Bayer, Siemens, RWJBarnabas Health and Bristol Myers Squibb — as they faced uncertain funding and struggled to integrate new technology such as artificial intelligence. 

“This space is undergoing an enormous shift, certainly due to disruptive technology, as these companies implement AI in their medical research and automate certain functions,” Andy Challenger, senior vice president at the job search firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, based in New York City, said last year.   

Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record. 

Email: munozd@northjersey.com; Twitter:@danielmunoz100 and Facebook