Palo Alto, CA-based Jazz Pharmaceuticals said it is cutting 67 jobs due to sluggish sales of its antidepressant Luvox. "Although Luvox CR prescriptions have increased steadily since launch earlier this year, sales to date have fallen short of our expectations, and we have made the difficult decision to reduce the size of our sales force," explained Jazz's president Robert Myers. There was some good news in the company's earnings report, however. Jazz posted a narrower-than-expected Q3 loss due to increased sales of narcolepsy drug Xyrem. Sales of the drug have increased 48 percent since last year.
This is Jazz's second round of cuts this year. In June, the company axed 33 workers, or eight percent of its workforce, because it needed to extend the development time line for two key drug programs.
- see Jazz's release