Debt-ridden diabetes care company laying off 100-plus workers in Massachusetts

A debt-ridden global diabetes care company that won FDA approval for its first wearable insulin delivery system in the summer will lay off more than 100 workers at its Massachusetts facility while eliminating the expensive product.

Embecta, headquartered in New Jersey, filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification with the MassHire Department of Career Services in late November, alerting the state that it would be laying off 118 workers at its Andover facility.

On the same day the state received the notification, company CEO Devdatt “Dev” Kurdikar announced that the costly patch pump program would be discontinued as “part of a broader restructuring,” Fierce Biotech, an industry insider, has reported.

During its 2024 fiscal year, the company spent roughly $63 million to develop the patch pump. The wearable, fully disposable device provided adjustable basal and bolus insulin for up to three days for people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.

Company officials said that eliminating the product, which received FDA clearance in September, from its business model while cutting its headcount in Andover is expected to save the company around $60 million to $65 million.

Fierce Biotech also reported that the company is looking to pay off its more than $1.6 billion in debt.

The company has not confirmed whether the reduced staff is “directly related to the halting of the patch pump program,” industry insider Drug Delivery Business News reported on Thursday.

According to the notice filed with the state, layoffs at the Andover facility are expected to occur between Feb. 3, 2025, and Aug. 1, 2025.

“Following the recent U.S. FDA clearance that we received on the open-loop version of the pump that could be used by people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, the decision to cease the pump program may come as a surprise,” Kurdikar said during an investors’ call on Nov. 26.

“However, it is important to understand that we did not intend to do a full-market launch of this product,” he added, “as the open-loop product currently cleared requires additional enhancements to be commercially competitive—including extensions of the product’s shelf-life, as well as enhancements in the form of making the device compatible from a ‘bring-your-own-device’ perspective.”