Pfizer has told 75 employees in Sanford, North Carolina, that their positions have been eliminated.

The layoffs come three months after the company axed 150 positions in Sanford following a high-profile phase 3 trial failure for its Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene therapy candidate. The company said the new wave of layoffs is related to the DMD trial results.

Additionally, while operations will continue at Pfizer's main facility in Sanford, the company is trying to sell a newly acquired manufacturing site in the same town. In January 2023, Pfizer picked up the facility for an undisclosed sum from CDMO Abzena in anticipation of gearing up for commercial production of the DMD gene therapy prospect.

Operations at the site, which Pfizer dubbed as Sanford North, were conducted briefly before they were discontinued in July. The company had expected to officially open the facility before the end of this year.

In 2017, Pfizer invested $100 million in its manufacturing operations in Sanford, where clinical trial materials were produced for DMD, hemophilia B and hemophilia A gene therapy candidates. In 2019, Pfizer announced an additional investment of $500 million for the construction of a facility to produce gene therapies.

The layoffs come amid a large cost-cutting campaign Pfizer initiated in the fall of 2023. Following the announcement of $4 billion in planned spending reductions last year, Pfizer in May unveiled a new plan to reduce expenses by an additional $1.5 billion by the end of 2027.

More recently, the company has come under pressure from activist investor Starboard Value, which has called for the company’s board of directors to “hold management accountable” for poor returns on its investments in R&D and M&A, according to a presentation (PDF) Tuesday at the 13D Monitor Active-Passive Investor Summit in New York.