Novo Nordisk is shutting down wet lab operations in Seattle. (Novo Nordisk Photo)

Danish multinational biopharma company Novo Nordisk is laying off 86 employees in Seattle, according to a new filing with the Washington state Employment Security Department.

A spokesperson confirmed the cuts with GeekWire and said the company is shutting its Seattle “wet lab” operations, also known as experimental labs. Novo Nordisk currently operates a research and development center in Seattle for diabetes, liver disease and other therapeutic areas.

The company will continue to have operations in Seattle focused on digital therapy, data science and artificial intelligence, said the spokesperson.

The company is also laying off about 20 employees in Indianapolis while expanding its operations in Boston, where it anticipates adding 200 jobs this year, according to the spokesperson. Boston will serve as the home of the “majority” of the company’s U.S.-based R&D activities, she said.

Novo will offer affected employees opportunities within the company, which employs more than 50,000 people in 80 locations worldwide.

Novo Nordisk established its Seattle R&D center in 2009, according to the company’s website, and in 2014 opened an obesity research unit. It has an even longer history in the city. In 1998, the company bought Seattle-based ZymoGenetics, which was later spun out into a public company. Bristol Myers Squibb then acquired ZymoGenetics in 2010.

The layoffs are the latest to hit biopharma in Washington state, which has seen workforce cuts at Absci, Zymeworks, TwinStrand BiosciencesNanoString Technologies and Sana Biotechnology, among other companies.

About 120 biotech companies laid off workers in 2022, according to Fierce Biotech’s layoff tracker and some big pharma companies are also trimming staff, including Novartis.

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