Evotec’s sweeping reorganization has claimed roughly 600 jobs since last March, 200 more than were originally planned under a reorganization the biopharma contractor initiated last year.
Last summer, Evotec CEO Christian Wojczewski, Ph.D., emphasized the need for the company to “accelerate our transformation towards sustainable profitable growth, leveraging better on our strengths, driving productivity, reducing complexity and making the organization stronger for its next growth phase,” he said in a half-year earnings report issued in August 2024.
In an effort to achieve annualized savings of more than 40 million euros ($44 million), the German company identified about 400 roles that could be scrapped plus “certain lease agreements” that could be dropped, the company said at the time.
Between March 2024 and June 2025, Evotec actually reduced its head count by 600 full-time jobs, according to a half-year report (PDF) published this week. During the first six months of the year, the company posted a 5% overall sales decline, generating 371 million euros versus 391 million euros during the same period in 2024.
Revenues tied to the company’s discovery and preclinical development (D&PD) outfit particularly took a hit over the first six months of the year, sliding 11% as demand in the field remains “soft," according to the report.
While the company’s CDMO, Just – Evotec Biologics (JEB), is “ahead of plan,” the D&PD division is “behind expectations,” Evotec explained in its report.
With JEB, Evotec has been moving toward an “asset-lighter” model, narrowing its focus to its areas of expertise. So far, the company has followed through on its plan to slim down with the recent sale of its biologics manufacturing facility in Toulouse, France, to biosimilar partner Sandoz. Evotec hoped that the move would “immediately improve” its revenue mix, profit margins and capital efficiency, it said at the time of the deal. The CDMO unit posted 16% year-over-year revenue growth in the first half of the year
The company's strategic execution is “firmly on track,” Wojczewski said in an Aug. 13 release, as the company has been making “meaningful strides toward sustainable and profitable growth."
Elsewhere, Evotec in April cut about 30% of its asset portfolio and divested a phase 2 candidate, effectively ending the company’s foray into clinical development. The company's focus is now “sharply defined from target ID to IND,” Wojczewski said on an earnings call earlier this year.
Evotec currently lists a workforce of more than 5,000 employees worldwide.