workforce

Gilead doubles jobs, space to boost development

Calisha Myers — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:46:58 -0400

While many biotech and pharma companies are planning layoffs and restructuring to reduce costs, Gilead Sciences plans to double its campus at its Foster City headquarters--swelling from 629,154 square feet to 1.2 million to make way for a big expansion of its workforce. The developer says it needs to accommodate an additional 1,900 jobs over the next ten years. The company will also double its workforce in Seattle and Durham over the next ten years, Gilead President John Milligan told the San Francisco Business Times.

Gilead's expansion plans don't end there. The increase in staff and space is part of an overall effort to boost the funding and resources allocated for R&D. The company currently has over 20 compounds in different stages of development, said Milligan. The anti-viral drug maker, which claimed a $999 million profit in the first half of this year, is also building a portfolio of pulmonary and cardiovascular drugs, according to the SFBT.

- read the San Francisco Business Times article

Jazz Pharma axes staffers after delaying two trials

John Carroll — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:56:28 -0400

Jazz Pharmaceuticals says it needs to extend the development time line for two key drug programs, a move that triggered a decision to lay off 33 workers, or eight percent of its workforce. In a statement, Jazz also said it is actively hunting out partners for its development programs. The biotech has delayed a planned Phase III of JZP-7 for restless leg syndrome and a planned Phase II trial of JZP-4, in development for epilepsy and bipolar disorder. The layoffs are targeted at the company's R&D and administrative areas.

CEO Samuel Saks said that Jazz is "actively seeking partners for several of our development programs. We have been pleased with the level of interest from potential partners and look forward to completing one or more development partnerships to help us bring these important therapies to the market as quickly as possible."

- check out Jazz's release
- read the AFX story

ImaRx to cut staff

John Carroll — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:01:08 -0400

ImaRx says it will immediately cut its workforce after scrapping a planned deal to sell its urokinase inventory and related assets to Microbix Biosystems for $17 million. Release

MedImmune to hire 800 in pipeline push

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:59:57 -0400

With plans to double the number of experimental therapies in its pipeline by 2010, MedImmune is laying plans to hire 800 new staffers by the end of this year, according to a report in the Washington Business Journal. That's a 25 percent increase in its workforce, which also swelled after AstraZeneca bought the Gaitherburg, MD-based developer and combined its operations with the UK's Cambridge Antibody Technology Group. Many of these new hires will be headed for the research department, which has ambitious plans for fast growth. MedImmune has outlined plans to provide 25 percent of AstraZeneca's late-stage therapies by 2010.

- read the report in the Washington Business Journal

SPOTLIGHT: Sunesis cuts 60 jobs

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:59:53 -0400

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals is realigning to focus on the development voreloxin (SNS-595), its lead drug candidate. The company is expanding activities around late-stage development of the drug and reduced its workforce by 60 percent. The plan includes de-emphasizing research work. Sunesis said the move concentrates the company's assets "on the strongest path to potential near-term value creation for the company's stockholders." Release

Pharmacopeia cuts 15% of workforce

Fri, 30 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

In an effort to streamline its business and save cash, Pharmacopeia is laying off 15 percent of its workforce and decreasing "other expenses through improved operational efficiencies and increased financial discipline." The layoffs are part of the company's ongoing effort to focus resources on clinical and later-stage discovery programs.

Earlier this month Pharmacopeia announced positive trial results for PS433540, a hypertension drug. In a statement, interim CEO Joseph Mollica said it was the right time to put more resources towards the drug development. "In order to maximize shareholder value it is essential that we focus our efforts on the programs that can provide the greatest return," noted Mollica. The company is also testing PS433540 as a kidney disease treatment. Pharmacopeia expects the layoffs and other cost reduction efforts to save $10 million in 2009.

- see Pharmacopeia's release

FDA blisters Purdue for 'poor' OxyContin data

Tue, 06 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Researchers for Purdue Pharma laid out their data for a new, tamper-resistant form of the blockbuster OxyContin to an expert FDA panel, and promptly had their heads handed back to them.

"I'm fascinated with the poor scientific rigor" of the data, said panel member Jeffrey R. Kirsch, according to the Wall Street Journal. "It's almost insulting."

Purdue says this new version of the drug turns to a jelly-like substance when dissolved, making it almost impossible to inject with a syringe, a common practice among abusers. The panel will consider whether this new version can be marketed before long-term studies are completed.

- read the Wall Street Journal story

Purdue jumps ahead in pain drug race

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

With three significant development programs at work on a tamper-free alternative to the blockbuster OxyContin franchise, Purdue Pharma is bracing for an upcoming FDA panel review of its new pain therapy formulation. Pain Therapeutics, Alpharma and Elite Pharmaceuticals all hope to gain approvals for their own therapies, notes Pharmalot. But Purdue plans to beat them to it.

No one knows exactly what makes the new Purdue therapy tamper-proof, but there have been hints about a certain "rubbery" quality to the new drug. Just a year ago executives with Purdue pleaded guilty to charges that they had misled regulators on the addictive risks presented by OxyContin, which brought in a billion dollars in sales last year.

- check out the report in Pharmalot

SPOTLIGHT: Genta restructures

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:59:53 -0400

restructures
With the FDA unwilling to budge on its decision to demand more data before it approves the leukemia drug Genasense, Genta announced plans to cut 16 employees--about 30 percent of its workforce--as it restructures to conserve cash. Release

Arizona gets its own early-stage venture fund

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:59:55 -0400

The Translational Accelerator has opened its doors to all biotech companies in Arizona--or any life sciences company thinking about moving there. And it has $20 million in venture funds to welcome the industry with, according to the Business Journal of Phoenix. Richard Love, a former senior executive with the Translational Genomics Research Institute, helped organize the fund, bringing some of the top names in the state's biotech business together to help spur the industry along. Their niche will be investments of $500,000 to $2 million for early-stage ventures.

Arizona officials heralded the move, saying it represents the growing role that biotech will play in the state.

"We are already seeing great results from the additional funding we gave to the research and development institutions at the universities," says Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. "We are also seeing more and more biomedical companies relocate or expand to Arizona because of the business climate and the workforce we are turning our of our universities."

- read the article in the Phoenix Business Journal

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Coles leaves NPS to take reins at Onyx

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:59:54 -0500

There's another game of musical chairs in biotech today. NPS Pharmaceuticals President and CEO Tony Coles is moving to take the reins at Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Onyx CEO Hollings Renton had announced plans to retire last October. He steps out officially at the end of March. NPS COO Francois Nader, meanwhile, is stepping up to the Coles' position. Nader joined NPS in 2006 and was promoted to COO last year.

- see this release
- read the AFX report

ALSO: Richard Eno was named CEO of Metabolix. Release

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Neurocrine cuts workforce--again

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:59:57 -0500

Neurocrine has announced that it is laying off more than half of its workforce following yesterday's approvable letter from the FDA for the sleep drug indiplon. A total of 130 workers at Neurocrine's San Diego location will be let go, leaving the company with 120 employees. The move is part of a restructuring plan designed to save money and focus the company's activities around R&D.

Neurocrine's stock plummeted 45 percent after the FDA said that it would need additional data on its sleep therapy indiplon before it can be approved. The company is preparing a formal meeting request to the FDA to discuss the approvable letter.

- see Neurocrine's release for more

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Deep cuts reported at Neurocrine, Valentis. Report
Struggling to save cash, Neurocrine axes sales force. Report

Replidyne cuts jobs, stops antibiotic program

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:59:54 -0500

Replidyne has cut about a third of its workforce and dumped one of its development programs in a restructuring. The company announced that most of the cuts were in administration, clinical, regulatory, and commercial operations while it was suspending work on a topical antibiotic, REP8839. A late-stage trial for faropenem in acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis is continuing. Replidyne was a 2006 Fierce 15 company.

- check out this release
- here's the AFX report on the restructuring

Related Articles:
FDA rejects Replidyne's antibiotic. Report
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Tough times at Chemokine

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 06:59:57 -0500

More bad news for Canadian biotechs: Chemokine Therapeutics has decided to withdraw its public offering due to poor conditions in the financing market. The company is reducing its costs by laying off 65 percent of its workforce; those workers who are staying have agreed to a 10 percent salary reduction. In addition, Chemokine's CEO C. Richard Piazza has resigned and CFO Bashir Jaffer will serve as interim CEO. According to the release, Chemokine is "currently evaluating financing alternatives to fund ongoing activities." The company is developing chemokine-based therapies to treat cancer, blood disorders, and vascular diseases.

- see Chemokine's release for details

Related Articles:
Canadian biotech stocks suffer as bad news mounts. Report
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Aranesp flunks late-stage trial for breast cancer

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:59:55 -0500

Good news is hard to come by at Amgen. The company's slipped on Friday after the biotech giant announced that its fading anemia blockbuster Aranesp failed a late-stage study for breast cancer. Combined with chemotherapy, there was no indication that the combinatorial approach helped shrink tumor sizes in early-stage breast cancer victims. And in the long-term follow-up, researchers said that there were more deaths and tumor progression in the Aranesp group than in the control group. Amgen has been restructuring as it deals with a cutback in the use of anemia drugs.

- see this release
- check out the report on the trial

Related articles:
Amgen touts new Aranesp studies. Report
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SPOTLIGHT: BMS to unveil layoffs, manufacturing cuts

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:59:53 -0500

Will Bristol-Myers Squibb join the layoff parade just before Christmas? Industry experts think so. A UBS analyst issued a research report yesterday upgrading BMS stock to a "buy," saying that the company plans to announce a 10 percent to 20 percent cut in its workforce over the next three years. The analyst, Roopesh Patel, also predicts that BMS will close or sell off more than half its 38 manufacturing sites. Report

GPC shares crater on Phase III cancer failure

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:59:58 -0400

Germany's GPC Biotech saw its already battered stock price crater this morning after announcing that its experimental prostate cancer drug, satraplatin, failed to help patients live longer in a critical late-stage trial. GPC announced it was cutting its workforce by 15 percent to account for the trial disaster, which sliced 65 percent off of its remaining stock value.

The vultures had already been gathering around satraplatin after GPC and its partner, Pharmion, announced that they were withdrawing their FDA application until survival data was in. The data is also expected to have an impact on their European regulatory filing. In the trial, patients taking the therapy in combination with prednisone lived an average of 61.3 weeks compared to 61.4 weeks for the control group. That kind of survival response would not pass muster with regulators. Researchers say they will evaluate how they plan to proceed with the cancer program.

"We are extremely disappointed with the findings,'' said GPC Chief Executive Officer Bernd Seizinger in an understatement of the week. One analyst noted that the company's business model is somewhat "unclear" after the results were announced.

- see this release from GPC
- here's the report from MarketWatch

Related Articles:
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AstraZeneca merges MedImmune, CAT

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 06:59:58 -0400

AstraZeneca is merging UK-based Cambridge Antibody Technology into MedImmune in Gaithersburg, MD as it creates a new subsidiary that will focus on the development of biologics. The move follows AstraZeneca's decision to lay off about 10 percent of CAT's workforce, including CEO Hamish Cameron and research chief Alex Duncan. A spokesperson for AstraZeneca told The Times that its acquisition of CAT and MedImmune has led to some redundancies at each of the two biotech companies but that no cuts were expected in their research operations. And she added that the combination of CAT and MedImmune would lead to the creation of one of the largest biotech companies in the world.

- read the report on AstraZeneca's plans for MedImmune

ALSO: AstraZeneca brass got all huffy and defensive last month when news of their plans to outsource manufacturing hit the press. "Misquote" was the operative word. Now, though, the company has agreed to buy a key ingredient in Seroquel, its $3.4 billion schizophrenia drug, from contract manufacturers in China. Report

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King cuts 20% of workforce

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 06:59:56 -0400

Tennessee-based King Pharmaceuticals said it will cut its workforce by 20 percent due to problems the company is having with its Altace franchise. Last month King Pharmaceuticals lost its fight with Indian generics maker Lupin when a federal appeals court invalidated the patent on Altace, a drug for high blood pressure. The company is also speeding up plans to focus its business on neuroscience and hospital/acute. The cuts will save the company between $75 million and $90 million in 2008.

- see King's release

Related Articles:
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DARA owners acquire troubled Point Therapeutics

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 06:59:54 -0400

DARA BioSciences is buying out Point Therapeutics, which stumbled badly after the FDA put its cancer therapy, talabostat, on hold. Wellesley, MA-based Point Therapeutics, which was facing a de-listing, had already slashed its workforce in an effort to cut costs. In the merger deal, DARA stockholders will own 96.4 percent of the new company, which will be called DARA and will be based in Raleigh.

- check out the release on the deal
- here's the report from the Boston Business Journal

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Read more on: Point Therapeutics