Cepheid to Axe over 600 Employees in California

Cepheid, a maker of molecular diagnostic tests, said it plans to lay off approximately 626 employees at its Sunnyvale, CA headquarters and about 11 employees at its Fremont, CA site, according to multiple WARN notices. With the cuts to take place on or around Sept. 27, they will mostly impact manufacturing associates and staff in material handling, with additional layoffs affecting some senior management roles and engineering positions.

Initiated to consolidate all US-based cartridge manufacturing activities at Cepheid’s Lodi, CA manufacturing campus, according to the company, some Sunnyvale manufacturing employees will be moved to the new location, where there will also be additional hiring. According to the WARN filings, the company said it will offer “on-site outplacement services provided by a third-party vendor, free of charge,” to employees included in the layoffs.

The decision will axe approximately 13% of the diagnostics company’s 4,800 employees.

This is not Cepheid’s first rodeo when it comes to layoffs. In 2023, the company filed to eliminate 778 jobs from multiple locations, including Sunnyvale, Newark, Santa Clara, and Lodi. Additionally, in February this year, a WARN notice was filed which initiated an additional layoff of approximately 92 employees from its Sunnyvale and Santa Clara locations.

The most recent layoff news comes after the June announcement that Cepheid received FDA de novo authorization and a laboratory waiver for its Xpert HCV diagnostic which detects hepatitis C virus directly from fingerstick blood samples. The test runs on its GeneXpert Xpress tabletop PCR system, allowing for use in doctor’s offices, emergency rooms, urgent care clinics, substance use disorder treatment centers, syringe programs, and correctional facilities for improved access to diagnosis and treatment.