(Yicai Global) July 4 -- Innovent Biologics has refuted layoffs reported by staff, explaining that the Chinese cancer treatment developer is instead optimizing its workforce.

"The company has not laid off its employees from last year to date," financial media outlet Jiemian reported yesterday, citing the Suzhou-based maker of drugs to treat autoimmune and metabolic diseases.

"In order to enhance the efficiency of both production and staff, it [Innovent] did optimize people with low business performance as well as the corresponding positions, which is also the type of adjustment that most firms are making for positive corporate development," the firm said, adding that adjustments are made from the corporate level as a whole without disclosing specific departments.

Insiders at the company said to Jiemian that several departments discharged staffers in the last week of June. Moreover, Innovent also downsized its sales department late last year, they added. The latest round of layoffs primarily involves the divisions of production and product quality, but they also spill over to other departments, the insiders added.

As of Dec. 31, 2022, Innocent had 5,294 employees in total, down by around 5 percent from a year earlier, according to the annual report. The company said that the headcount varies from time to time based on corporate needs.

Founded in 2011, Innovent went public in Hong Kong in 2018. The firm has a pipeline of 35 products, including eight that are approved to hit the market. One of the most renowned products is Sintilimab, a drug to treat Hodgkin lymphoma that was co-developed with American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co.

Shares of Innovent [HKG: 1801] surged by 11.3 percent to HKD33.40 (USD4.30) as of 3.01 p.m.

Editor: Emmi Laine