Salt Lake City-based NPS Pharmaceuticals says it will cut about 250 workers and suspend commercial development of its osteoporosis drug Preos in the U.S. NPS has spent $330 million developing Preos over the past six years, but its new CEO says that the company fears the FDA will ask for more studies before it can be approved. NPS says it will require a licensing partner to complete more studies. Preos is approved in Europe, but U.S. regulators have expressed concern about data demonstrating elevated calcium levels in patients. News of the restructuring, which will claim more than half of its staff, sent its stock down by 19 percent, though it later recovered some of that loss. NPS will close a facility in Canada and sublease half of its campus space in Utah. In a new focus, researchers will concentrate in part on teduglutide for gastrointestinal disorders.
- here's the article on NPS from the Salt Lake City Tribune