Medivir ponders layoffs

Sweden's Medivir says it has alerted employees that it will start cutting costs and raised the possibility of layoffs. "We have a strong pipeline of partnered projects with Tibotec which have significant associated milestones and potential royalties. We also have Lipsovir, BACE and cathepsin K for which partnering discussions are underway. In order to ensure that cash is available to fully support these value-creating projects we need to reduce our expenditure in our other pre-clinical programs and in some admin functions. The resultant slimmed down organization will still retain the critical mass necessary to enable Medivir to continue to exploit its leadership position in developing candidate drugs based on protease and polymerase inhibition," says Medivir CEO Ron Long. Medivir release