New round of layoffs, cost-cutting at biotechs

There's a slate of new belt-tightening moves at biotech companies.  

• In an effort to make sure it has cash on hand into June, Pressure BioSciences is closing a research facility in Rockville, MD and laying off 40 percent of its work force. In a realignment, the company says it will concentrate on Pressure Cycling Technology for the mass spectrometry market as well as the biological sample preparation market. Anything not related to those efforts is being terminated. Release
• Titan Pharmaceuticals says it is cutting its workforce by 40 percent as it focuses on "reducing all current clinical and manufacturing development activities to the minimal level necessary to continue its efforts to realize the potential value of its assets." JSB Partners has been brought in to help find a partner or buyer for its probuphine program, currently in clinical development. More layoffs lie ahead. Release
• Targeted Genetics has cut its payroll by 25 percent and "realigned its product development priorities to focus on its ocular and neurological product candidates and its first use of expressed RNAi." Release
• InSite Vision says it will lay off 35 percent of its 40 staffers to reduce costs. Its CEO stepped down last month. The biotech is testing a therapy for eye and eyelid infection and inflammation. Release
• WuXi PharmaTech Cayman plans to discontinue its U.S. biologics manufacturing operations and lay off about 100 workers at its Philadelphia facility. Release

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