Eisai Co. has laid off 121 employees at its U.S. operations, including its New Jersey headquarters, as the Japanese pharmaceutical company’s flagship Alzheimer’s treatment Leqembi continues to face significant market challenges.
The cuts, representing 7% of Eisai’s American workforce, primarily affected sales and other departments while eliminating overlap between neurological disease and oncology units. The restructuring comes after Eisai temporarily expanded its sales team following Leqembi’s 2023 U.S. approval.
“We want to move beyond simply cutting costs and restructure the organization,” said Chief Operating Officer Keisuke Naito.
Despite approvals in the U.S., Japan, China, and Europe, Leqembi sales have disappointed expectations. Only about 6,000 patients were on the U.S. waiting list as of September 2024, prompting Eisai to lower its fiscal year 2025 sales forecast last November.
The medication, which slows early Alzheimer’s progression by targeting amyloid beta proteins, faces multiple adoption barriers. These include time-consuming diagnostic testing requiring expensive PET scans and cerebrospinal fluid collection, the burdensome administration via hour-long intravenous infusions at medical facilities, and high treatment costs.
Eisai is collaborating with Terumo to develop a subcutaneous version that could be administered in under a minute, potentially even at home. U.S. approval for this formulation is expected by late August, initially for existing patients before expanding to new ones.
The company hopes that new blood-testing technology for amyloid beta, expected to become widespread from fiscal 2026, will further increase adoption. Eisai aims for the Leqembi business to become profitable worldwide by fiscal 2026.
