aibioPacira BioSciences cuts about 70 jobs as it decommissions 45-liter EXPAREL facility
Tickers PCRX
Pacira is closing its 45-liter EXPAREL manufacturing system and cutting about 70 Technical Operations jobs, and the employee note it filed says the larger 200-liter process in San Diego and Swindon now supplies the product.
Key facts
- Company
- Pacira BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCRX)
- News type
- Distress
- Primary source
- Pacira BioSciences, Inc. 8-K (2025-07-10)
Pacira BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCRX) filed an employee note dated July 10, 2025 with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an exhibit to an 8-K. The note, sent on behalf of Frank D. Lee, announces that the company will decommission its 45-liter facility at the Science Center Campus. The note says that facility has reached the end of its lifecycle after making commercial supply of EXPAREL since 2014.
The shutdown affects a reduction in workforce across the Technical Operations team, which the note puts at approximately 70 colleagues. All of them were notified the day before the note was sent. The note says the decision "was not made lightly," and it promises that leaders will treat those affected "with the utmost dignity and respect."
Why the company says it is moving
The note ties the decision to progress in manufacturing. It says the company has brought its enhanced, large-scale 200-liter manufacturing process online in both San Diego and Swindon. The note says that, for the first time in the company's history, it can maintain optimal inventory levels to meet growing demand for EXPAREL.
The note also says that staff at the Science Center and Swindon will continue to supply EXPAREL, iovera and ZILRETTA. It states that the company has delivered EXPAREL to more than 16 million patients, and it credits the departing employees with that record. Those claims are the company's own, and the note gives no supporting figures.
The note does not say how much the 200-liter process cost to build, how long it has run at commercial scale, or what the company will save by closing the older system. It also gives no severance terms and no dates for the closure of the 45-liter facility.
Why the supply chain matters
The annual report for 2024, filed in February 2025, says EXPAREL net product sales were $549.0 million in 2024, $538.1 million in 2023 and $536.9 million in 2022. The filing says EXPAREL accounted for 78% of total revenues in 2024, 80% in 2023 and 81% in 2022.
Because so much of the company's revenue depends on one product, the manufacturing transfer carries financial weight. The note's assurance that inventory is now at optimal levels is a company statement. The filing's business section does not report inventory levels, so readers cannot check that claim against a figure.
The filing describes EXPAREL as a long-acting local analgesic. It says EXPAREL is the only product indicated for local analgesia by infiltration in patients six years and older, and for regional nerve blocks in adults. It also says safety and efficacy have not been established in other nerve blocks. The European Commission granted marketing authorization for some EXPAREL uses in November 2020.
The rest of the portfolio
ZILRETTA, the company's second product, is a single-shot corticosteroid injection for osteoarthritis knee pain. Its net product sales were $118.1 million in 2024, $111.1 million in 2023 and $105.5 million in 2022. The FDA approved ZILRETTA in October 2017. The iovera system, the third product, is a handheld device that delivers controlled doses of cold temperature to a targeted nerve.
The annual report also lists the company's acquisitions: MyoScience in April 2019, Flexion Therapeutics in November 2021, and GQ Bio Therapeutics GmbH in February 2025. It says Pacira is advancing PCRX-201, a gene therapy vector platform, and that its 5x30 growth plan, launched in January 2025, sets five objectives for 2030.
What remains open
The closure of the 45-liter facility is presented as progress, and the note says Frank Lee will be at the Science Center Campus the following week, with members of the leadership team, to listen and answer questions. The note does not say whether those sessions will change the plan, and it does not name a number of jobs beyond the approximate 70 in Technical Operations.
For a company whose main product accounted for most of its 2024 revenue, the note leaves the most important question open: how long the 200-liter sites have been running at the volume now required. The filing does not answer that, and the note does not mention any risk to supply during the transition.