OXiGENE axes half its staff, halts enrollment in restructuring

OXiGENE is restructuring, cutting its 41-person workforce by 20 and halting further enrollment for a Phase II/III trial on thyroid cancer. The developer says that it will concentrate its efforts on a mid-stage study of Zybresta for non-small cell lung cancer.

The restructuring comes just days after shareholders at VaxGen turned thumbs down on a buyout offer from OXiGENE. The company's shares (OXGN) slid a little more than five percent this morning as the company outlined $2.6 million in annual savings from the cost cutting program.

The merger deal with VaxGen would have given OXiGENE the $33 million on VaxGen's books. But after winning support from shareholders with only 40 percent of VaxGen's shares, OXiGENE declined VaxGen's offer to regroup and seek more support.

- check out OXiGENE's release
- here's the Dow Jones story

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