Ultragenyx and Agios cut deep into R&D to fund their commercial teams

Both companies have drugs on sale and revenue growing. Both are still cutting. Ultragenyx said on 3 November, in its third-quarter results, that it will reduce headcount by about 20%, leaving roughly 1,000 employees. Two days later Agios said it would remove more than 100 R&D roles.

Ultragenyx: a smaller research footprint

Ultragenyx expects the reduction to be largely complete by the end of 2026, with around $25 million of severance and other one-off restructuring charges in the fourth quarter. Alongside the job cuts it is reducing its real estate and has finished winding down all studies of GTX-102 in Angelman syndrome. It has also ended UX701 in Wilson disease after the dose-finding study missed the bar for moving into Phase 3.

The numbers show where the money goes next. Ultragenyx is guiding to 2027 R&D spend below $350 million, at least 50% lower than in 2025, and SG&A below $375 million. Third-quarter revenue was $173 million, up from $160 million a year earlier, and the company expects full-year GAAP profitability in 2027.

"With substantial reductions in headcount and expenses, combined with two launches and continued growth in our base business, we expect meaningful profitability in 2027 and going forward." Emil D. Kakkis, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and President, Ultragenyx

Agios: over a third of R&D

Agios's results release on 5 November puts the R&D cut at more than 100 roles, a fall of more than 35% in R&D headcount compared with 2025. The reductions are due to finish by the end of this year, with savings landing in 2027 and a target of non-GAAP profitability in 2028.

BioSpace reported that the move came days after the FDA pushed its decision on mitapivat in sickle cell disease from 1 November to 1 February 2027. Agios had 539 full-time employees across the business at the end of 2025, and expects restructuring charges of about $11 million this year. Its mitapivat franchise brought in $55.4 million of net revenue in the third quarter.

A WARN notice after an acquisition

The same week, the BioSpace layoff tracker logged a California WARN notice from Avidity Biosciences, now a Novartis subsidiary, covering 40 employees, seven of them remote, with cuts starting on 31 December. It also picked up smaller or undisclosed reductions at Voyager Therapeutics, C4 Therapeutics and Vistagen Therapeutics.

The pattern

None of this looks like the cash-crunch layoffs of 2023 and 2024. These are companies with products to sell, moving money from early research into launches and late-stage work. The people affected are scientists, programme managers and research operations staff, many of them with rare disease experience that is hard to find.

Timing matters too. Most of these cuts finish around the turn of the year, which is when a lot of 2027 headcount plans get signed off.