Rockville-based Narcan maker Emergent is cutting hundreds of jobs – WTOP News

Rockville-based Emergent BioSolutions is eliminating 300 jobs and will not fill 85 current job openings, as part of a broad restructuring that also includes closing manufacturing facilities, including one in the Maryland city.

Emergent also reported quarterly revenue of $300 million, almost double revenue in the same quarter a year ago, and a $9 million profit, compared to steep losses in the first quarter of 2023.

Emergent BioSolutions manufactures and sells over-the-counter opioid overdose antidote Narcan, and supplies government stockpiles with vaccines. The company says its latest reorganization would focus the company on its core products business, including Narcan and its anthrax vaccine.

Last quarter, it was awarded a procurement contract valued at up to $235.8 million to supply its anthrax vaccine, BioThrax, to the U.S. Department of Defense.

As part of its restructuring, Emergent is shutting down its Baltimore-Bayview drug manufacturing facility and its drug product facility in Rockville. It said it will concentrate manufacturing operations at sites in Winnipeg, Canada, and Lansing, Michigan.

“Today’s actions are about the future of Emergent,” said CEO Joe Papa. “We have put in place a multiyear plan to position Emergent for sustainable and long-term success, and that starts by stabilizing our operations, strengthening our balance sheet and managing our debt.”

Papa, former Bausch + Lombe CEO, was named Emergent chief executive in February.

The Food and Drug Administration approved over-the-counter sales of Emergent’s Narcan in March 2023, and it began shipping it last fall. Emergent gained rights to Narcan as part of its 2018 acquisition of Adapt Pharma.

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