Laid off from Novartis.

What Novartis layoffs have meant for employees

Novartis hasn't cut East Hanover in one announcement you could brace for. Since the 2022 restructuring, the cuts have arrived in waves of separate New Jersey notices, NJBIZ has reported, and the groups named have kept changing from one notice to the next. Being passed over once has been no promise about the next filing. If you're still on the campus after several of these, the strain of waiting is real, and it's fair to feel worn out by it.

Several rounds have tracked particular medicines. When Novartis reworked its cardiovascular commercial model in 2025, a March 2025 report from NJBIZ set the change beside Entresto's approaching loss of patent protection and Leqvio's growth. The outlet's July 2026 coverage noted the company's push to offset patent expirations for Entresto and Cosentyx, along with its warning that profits would decline as some best-selling drugs lost their protections. If your work centers on one product, it can help to write down the launches, accounts and territories you handled while the details are still fresh.

Several of these notices give a range of dates rather than one day. The March 2026 notice set cuts between June 26 and November 27, NJBIZ reported, so a filing that covers a group doesn't tell anyone in it which day is theirs. When Novartis cut clinical operations staff in 2023, those affected were to keep drawing regular wages through the notice period as long as they didn't resign, ROI-NJ reported, which matters if another job turns up before that date. If your role is covered by one of these filings and you're weighing an outside offer, it can help to get your own separation date, and what's paid until then, in writing.

New Jersey's statute changes the math in a layoff it covers. Under New Jersey's WARN statute, an employer in a covered layoff has to pay at least the greater of the state's severance or its own, and the weekly figure comes from the better of two rates, the regular pay you averaged across your final three years with the employer or your last regular rate. The law counts that severance as earned in full the day the job ends, and giving it up takes approval from the state's commissioner of labor or a court before any waiver has effect. If your Novartis job ended in a covered New Jersey layoff and a separation agreement asks you to give up the statutory amount, that's worth raising with an employment lawyer, and negotiating severance covers what else is worth asking for. The state's notice rules are on layoffs in New Jersey.

The cuts have run alongside big investment plans. Novartis committed in April 2025 to invest $23 billion over five years in US manufacturing, research and development, and the company said several new facilities under development would support its goal of making all of its key medicines in the US, according to the May 2026 report from NJBIZ. Novartis has said it expects that buildout to create more than 1,000 positions for skilled workers such as scientists and engineers, plus 4,000 support and construction jobs.

Novartis's research staff were spread across Switzerland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and California as of December 2025, according to that same May story, and both California filings in our WARN tracker since 2025 were closure notices, as was Tourmaline Bio's 2026 notice in New York. If you're filing for unemployment, New Jersey unemployment benefits, California unemployment benefits and New York unemployment benefits set out each state's process.

A sourced history of Novartis layoffs

• July 2026, field sales, patient support and marketing cuts

  The 322 East Hanover cuts came from changes across Novartis's field sales, patient support and marketing organizations, a spokesperson told NJBIZ, which noted that the year's cuts had by then reached sales teams for rare disease, oncology, dermatology, rheumatology and neuroscience medicines and the research arm.

• March to May 2026, three East Hanover notices

  Notices for 114 jobs in March, 60 in April and 76 in May carried effective dates from late June to late November on New Jersey's 2026 WARN list, and in May a spokesperson confirmed cuts in the biomedical research arm to NJBIZ.

• February 2026, Tourmaline Bio New York closure notice

  Tourmaline Bio filed a New York notice, held in our WARN tracker, for a closure affecting 60 jobs effective May 29, after Novartis completed the purchase announced in its October 2025 release.

• September 2025, US Medical Affairs changes

  Novartis filed to eliminate 58 East Hanover positions between November 2025 and June 2026, NJBIZ reported, as a spokesperson described US Medical Affairs changes that would eliminate, modify and create roles.

• March 2025, 427 East Hanover jobs

  Novartis filed to cut the 427 positions between June 13 and October 24, 2025, and a spokesperson commenting on the cuts to NJBIZ pointed to changes in its cardiovascular commercial model set for April 1.

• February 2025, Xolair and Taf+Mek field sales cuts

  Novartis set 139 East Hanover cuts for February through August 2025, and NJBIZ reported that the company described those affected as primarily commercial field sales teams for Xolair, Tafinlar and Mekinist.

• August 2023, global clinical operations reorganization

  Novartis set 103 East Hanover layoffs for November 24, ROI-NJ reported, as it reorganized its global clinical operations to create a simpler, more streamlined organization.

• December 2022, 285 East Hanover jobs in the restructuring

  Novartis set 285 East Hanover layoffs for January 28, 2023, under the restructuring announced earlier in 2022, saying, as NJBIZ reported, that the positions sat in its former pharmaceuticals and oncology divisions and functions including finance, legal and communications.

• March 2021, Longmont, Colorado drug plant set to close

  Novartis said it would close its Longmont drug-making facility by July 9 and lay off about 400 staffers there, BizWest reported, and our WARN tracker holds the matching Colorado notice from Novartis Gene Therapies.

What to do if you're laid off from Novartis

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Novartis's biggest hubs: New Jersey, California, New York. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Novartis's hub states run: New Jersey, California, New York, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.