Verily, also known as Verily Life Sciences LLC, is Alphabet Inc.’s research organization that’s dedicated to the study of life sciences, as the name suggests. Its research specializes in areas ranging from connected diabetes therapies to robot surgery. In a grave turn of events, the company is now shutting down its medical device division. Alphabet’s Verily has also announced employee layoffs.
Alphabet’s Verily will now focus on precision health, data, and AI
The company has announced this latest development in a memo sent to staff, as seen by Business Insider . However, the total number of Alphabet’s Verily employees who got laid off is currently not clear. “ We have made the difficult decision to discontinue manufacturing medical devices and will no longer be supporting them going forward ,” said the company’s spokesperson to Business Insider.
Verily, going forward, will focus on its core missions: “precision health, data, and AI tech .” The layoffs are apparently a part of Alphabet’s 2023 strategic plan, which saw 12,000 job cuts across multiple divisions. This shift put more resources toward AI and data infrastructure.
Verily lent a helping hand with its research in critical areas
While announcing employee layoffs, Alphabet’s Verily CEO Stephen Gillett noted some of the company’s achievements. These include the launch of the Dexcom G7 CGM, which is a diabetes management system. Then there’s the Stargazer VNRC launch, which is a drug targeting system, screening over 7,800 patients. These contributions have advanced patient care and medical research.
While the medical devices division may not be as profitable as Alphabet would have liked, it did offer research in critical areas. While Verily is still under Alphabet, the company has been detaching from the services and technology it shared with Google . This is to become a fully independent company one day.
