Novartis to cut up to 130 Basel jobs in biologics restructuring

Up to 130 jobs will be cut in Basel by the end of 2027, as Novartis winds down small-scale biologics production in Kleinbasel. The pharmaceutical company announced the plan on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, linking the move to the expiry of individual lease agreements at the site.

The decision affects a specialised part of Novartis’s Basel operations. Biologics are medicines produced using living cells or organisms, and their development and testing require dedicated laboratories and technical facilities. Novartis said other biologics sites around the world will assume some of the work currently handled in Basel.

The announcement adds another layer to the continuing reorganisation of pharmaceutical manufacturing and development in Switzerland. Basel remains one of the country’s most important life sciences centres, with major research, production and corporate operations concentrated around the Rhine. For employees in Kleinbasel, however, the company’s global network means that some responsibilities can move beyond the city.

Novartis has not described the final number of redundancies. The figure of up to 130 positions represents the maximum impact identified in the announcement, with the implementation still subject to consultation with employees and their representatives.

Three categories of work will move from Kleinbasel to the Novartis Campus: laboratories for biological cell banks, analytical testing procedures and technical development activities. The campus stands on the opposite bank of the Rhine and already hosts major Novartis research and development functions.

The relocation will keep some of the work within Basel. That does not remove the employment risk, because Novartis also plans to end small-scale production at the Kleinbasel site and said other biologics locations around the world will take over additional tasks. The company has not identified those overseas sites in the information provided.

Novartis described the campus project as the next stage in its plan to create a new centre for the technical development of biologics. The centre is intended to complement an existing research centre for biologics, bringing related capabilities together at the campus.

The shift reflects the way large pharmaceutical groups organise specialised work across international networks. Facilities are assessed according to leases, capacity and technical roles, while individual sites increasingly focus on selected stages of research, development or production. In Basel, the result is a concentration of some biologics activities alongside the withdrawal of others.

The Basel announcement follows wider restructuring at Novartis’s Swiss operations. A separate Swissinfo report has linked the company to plans affecting more than 500 jobs at its Stein plant. The two announcements concern different sites and activities, so their employment figures should not be combined as a single programme. Together, they show the scale of operational changes facing the company’s Swiss network.

Stein, in the canton of Aargau, is associated with pharmaceutical production, while the Basel announcement focuses on small-scale biologics production and related laboratory work. The distinction matters for employees, suppliers and the regions around each facility. Different skills, facilities and regulatory requirements shape how work can be transferred.

Novartis’s latest plan also illustrates the tension between local continuity and global allocation. Some Kleinbasel activities will remain in the city after moving to the campus. Other tasks will go to biologics sites elsewhere in the world. The company’s statement did not provide a breakdown of how many roles will transfer, how many will be eliminated through attrition or how many employees may be redeployed.

Those details are likely to emerge during the consultation process. Until then, the 130-job figure is a maximum estimate, not a final list of redundancies.

The restructuring remains open until employee consultation is complete. Novartis said all planned changes are subject to an information and consultation process. The company also committed to supporting affected employees through a range of measures, including a long-term social plan.

That process will determine how the announced reduction affects individual staff members. Employees may face different outcomes depending on their roles, qualifications and whether comparable positions exist at the Novartis Campus or elsewhere in the company. The source announcement does not specify the terms of the social plan, the number of internal transfers or any timetable for individual decisions.

The operational deadline is the end of 2027, giving Novartis more than a year to wind down the Kleinbasel production activity and reorganise the laboratories and technical functions. For Basel, the transition will be watched closely because the city’s life sciences sector depends on a dense network of highly trained workers, research institutions and specialised suppliers.

The campus investment signals that Novartis intends to retain a significant biologics development presence in Basel. The job reductions show that this presence will be organised differently, with selected capabilities consolidated locally and other work assigned to sites elsewhere in the company’s global system.