Drug work completed, Theravance cuts 40% of staff

Theravance announced that it is cutting 40 percent of its workforce now that it has finished work on its antibiotic telavancin. Telavancin is currently undergoing FDA review: in March the FDA accepted the company's response to the approvable letter Theravance received in October [1]. Telavancin is a once-daily injectable antibiotic for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections, such as MRSA.

The company's net loss for the first quarter of 2008 was $29.8 million compared with $49.5 million for the same period of 2007, a decrease of $19.7 million. Completing Phase III work on Telavancin contributed to the narrower loss. Rick Winningham, Theravance's CEO, said that the company will prioritize development of TD-5108, a treatment for GI motility dysfunction. "During the second quarter, we will be making certain workforce changes to focus support on these key activities and our discovery programs and to reduce our cash burn rate in 2008 and beyond," noted Winningham.

- check out this release from Theravance [2]
- and see this Forbes report [3]

Related Articles:
FDA to review Theravance's telavancin response [4]
Blog divines new FDA standard on data integrity [5]
FDA wants more data on Theravance antibiotic [1]
Theravance trumpets positive results of mid-stage trial [6]
Astellas take a pass on Theravance's drugs [7]