The failure of GPC Biotech's cancer drug satraplatin in a Phase III trial is being paid for with the jobs of 44 percent of its workforce. PC announced late last week that it needed to significantly cut back to account for the setback. Now the company says it will concentrate "internal efforts on a limited number of development-stage oncology projects, significantly increasing our licensing efforts and actively exploring M&A opportunities." Sixty workers in Germany and 43 more in Princeton are getting pink slips. The remaining staff of 114 will be about evenly split between Germany and Princeton after GPC's Waltham, MA facility is closed.
"Our goal of having approximately two years of operating cash on hand at the end of 2007 has sadly necessitated very significant staff reductions on both sides of the Atlantic," says CEO Bernd R. Seizinger.
- see this release
- read the AFX report for more
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