Array biopharma cuts staff, seeks partnerships

Array Biopharma released a statement today confirming rumors that the company laid off 10 percent of its staff. In addition to the 40 employees cut from research and support positions, Array announced it will be scaling back its R&D over the next 2 years. The company expects the restructuring to reduce its burn rate from $30 million per quarter to $20 million. 

Array says it plans to focus its resources on gathering data to market its pipeline as it hopes to increase its capital through partnering and licensing its clinical development and preclinical programs. The company said it had $101 million on hand at the end of the third quarter and received an additional $40 million drawdown last month. According Array's statement, new and current partnerships are expected to produce approximately $80 million over the next 12 months.

"We are putting in place multiple measures to allow our most promising programs in cancer, inflammation and diabetes to rapidly advance in clinical development," said Robert E. Conway, CEO. "It is important to conserve our cash resources during these difficult times for the financial markets and focus our efforts on advancing our clinical programs through proof-of-concept to maximize their value."

- read the Array release [1]

Related Articles:
Array grabs $40M loan [2]
SPOTLIGHT: Array lands $80M financing deal [3]
Array partners with Celgene, nets $40M upfront [4] (Sept 2007)
Four promising companies to watch [5] (Aug 2007)