Two months after it was bought out by French pharma giant Sanofi, changes are afoot at Genzyme. The Boston Globe broke the news yesterday that several divisions of the Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech – specifically its oncology, renal, and biosurgery operations – will now report directly to Sanofi. The biotech’s core programs in multiple sclerosis and personalized genetic health, including rare diseases, will remain a part of the Genzyme division.

No layoffs have been announced, but the news is certain to make some employees antsy. “Every time the CEO makes comments like that, it makes people nervous,” says Neil Solomon of the Neil Michael Group, a New York-based agency that recruits senior executives for life-sciences firms. “It’s impossible to tell where their careers are going to be down the road.”

Thirty years old and employing 10,000 workers, Genzyme was hardly a spry young biotech when Sanofi snatched it up. But employees say the culture did retain traces of the entrepreneurial spirit that grew the company from its origins in a tiny lab over a discount women’s clothing store into a gleaming rare diseases powerhouse. The sale prompted concerns over how that culture would meld into the staid world of big pharma.

Genzyme employees have already been grumbling that decision-making within the company has slowed since the takeover. Solomon says it is too early to expect workers to flee the company en masse – some have stock options and retention bonuses to entice them to stay during the transition. But Solomon is in discussions with five executives who are weighing their options, and he is optimistic that he’ll lure at least one away in the coming month. “The reigns are loosening,” says Solomon. “In the end, you’ll see plenty of employees jumping.”

Ross Petras, senior recruiter for the biotech division of Priority Sales Recruiting, agrees. He says that his firm has placed at least five Genzyme scientists in new jobs over the past six months and is in talks with about three dozen more.

“People are listening carefully to what opportunities are inside the company versus outside,” says Alison Taunton-Rigby, a former Genzyme senior vice-president.

The decision to split up the company makes sense from a business standpoint, Taunton-Rigby notes. Sanofi lacks Genzyme’s deep experience in rare diseases, so it is likely that Genzyme will retain more autonomy in that area. Oncology, however, is a competitive area which demands an aggressive and entrenched sales force, and Sanofi will draw on its large resources in that market.

But the break-up does not make sense if the goal is to keep an entrepreneurial work force together, she adds: “‘Big’ is not good for product development.”

Image: Genzyme’s Allston manufacturing plant via EandJsFilmCrew at Flickr