NEW YORK – Roche Molecular Systems is closing a manufacturing facility in Los Gatos, California, and laying off more than a dozen employees, effective October 1.
According to a notice filed with the Employment Development Department of the State of California this month, 17 employees will be laid off as a result of the closure.
Microbial diagnostics firm GeneWeave Biosciences, which Roche acquired in 2015 for up to $425 million, is based in Los Gatos. The firm had developed an antibiotic susceptibility testing platform called VivoDx, which Roche recently launched as the CE-marked Cobas VivoDx system in Europe, focusing initially on early-access customers.
A spokesperson for Roche said that while some positions in Los Gatos are being eliminated, the majority will be moved to Roche Molecular Diagnostics' Branchburg, New Jersey site. According to the firm's website, that location focused on polymerase chain reaction manufacturing and has approximately 500 employees.
According to Roche, the closure of the manufacturing site has no impact on Roche's other location in Los Gatos on University Avenue, the original site of GeneWeave.