After days of widespread rumors Galderma Laboratories, based in Fort Worth, TX, has acknowledged that it is undergoing a major reorganization that involves its home office as well as positions around the U.S. There's no word on just how many people are getting whacked or which departments are being targeted in the restructuring, which the dermatology company says was inspired by the need for greater efficiency.
Asked how the cuts would fall among research staffers and salespeople, a spokesperson for Galderma tells FierceBiotech in an e-mail that this is an "across the board reorganization."
"This corporate-wide effort involves positions at the company's main offices in Fort Worth and other positions throughout the United States," the company said in a statement sent to FierceBiotech. "Affected employees are being offered severance packages and outplacement assistance. These are always difficult decisions but are required due to the highly competitive nature of our business as well as the need for continuous improvement in our processes."
The restructuring comes at a difficult time for Galderma, which started marketing Mirvaso, a topical treatment designed to flush out the bright red patches that appear on the faces of people who suffer from rosacea, after an FDA approval earlier this year. But two months later company president Francois Fournier departed in search of "new opportunities." Just weeks ago its partner NovaBay Pharmaceuticals also acknowledged that a Phase IIb study Galderma ran on auriclosene for impetigo--a highly contagious skin infection that afflicts preschoolers--had failed. No data were released in a terse statement which said only that the partners were reviewing results to try and determine how they should proceed.
FierceBiotech first picked up word of layoffs at Galderma last week, though the company did not then respond to a query. The local D magazine was the first to break word of the restructuring.
Galderma Labs is part of a broader international group that was created as a joint venture by Nestle and L'Oreal back in 1981. Recently a Bloomberg report noted that Nestle might want to merge Galderma with Allergan ($AGN), one of several possible futures which have been suggested for Allergan as it endured its own set of afflictions this year.