Following a series of layoff rounds this year, Takeda is once again pruning its headcount in the Bay State.

Takeda is laying off dozens of employees in Massachusetts, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) alert filed with the state late last week. The layoff process kicked off in late September and will run through March of next year, according to state records.

While the WARN alert states that 79 employees across the two sites are set to face cuts, the final number "is not clear at this time" and will depend on potential "redeployment opportunities," according to a detailed filing cited by Boston Business Journal.

In an emailed statement, a Takeda spokesperson confirmed that the latest round of cuts is tied to a restructuring campaign the company launched earlier this year. 

"As we continue to work to bring these initiatives to fruition, difficult choices will also be required, and some employees will be impacted as a result," the spokesperson said, adding that "specific areas of change will look different across individual teams and will be phased according to unique business needs."

This marks the third round of job cuts Takeda has initiated in Massachusetts since rolling out a 140 billion Japanese yen ($900 million) restructuring drive in May. Under the plan, Takeda aims to bring its total profit up to 225 billion yen ($1.4 billion) by March 2025, which marks the end of the Japanese pharma’s current fiscal year.

At the time, Takeda added that it would “reduce layers” and “refine operating models” in a bid to achieve “organizational simplicity.”

Following the strategic pivot, Takeda in late May telegraphed plans to reduce the workforce at its U.S. headquarters in Cambridge by 495. Another 146 employees at Lexington were also set to be let go.

In July, Takeda parted ways with another 189 employees in Cambridge, plus 31 more at the company’s Lexington site.

Takeda is currently the biggest life sciences employer in Massachusetts, where it set up its U.S. headquarters following a 2018 relocation from the Chicago area. Takeda has previously communicated that it feels “confident” it can hold onto that title, despite the recent wave of job cuts.

Outside the U.S., Takeda in March said it would shut down production and R&D operations at its adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy plant in Orth, Austria, where nearly 200 staffers were set to lose their jobs as part of the decision.

Takeda had originally hoped to sell the Orth site, but, following a “thorough and lengthy effort,” the company was unable to locate a buyer, a spokesperson previously told Fierce Pharma.