Biotech company Biomira Inc. of Edmonton is slashing 30 per cent of its workforce as part of a cost-cutting program curtailing secondary research programs to throw resources behind its two leading products.
“The strategic decision, supported by our board, is to focus our resources on our two late-stage product candidates closest to possible commercialization,” said Alex McPherson, president and CEO of Biomira.
“Our decision to maximize our resource allocation in this way was reinforced by the downturn in the biotech sector and specifically our share price.”
The market downturn “substantially” impacts the potential for financing opportunities, McPherson said.
“The resulting strategy will conserve our resources, while keeping us at the forefront of therapeutic cancer vaccine development.”
Biomira’s THERATOPE vaccine is being studied in a Phase III metastatic breast cancer trial; Biomira anticipates that the final survival analysis of this trial will be in mid-2003.
Its BLP25 Liposomal vaccine is currently in Phase II trials.
Gone are 41 jobs in Edmonton and 10 in New Jersey, bringing employee numbers down to 115.
McPherson said the cutbacks will ensure two years of cash reserves as of the end of 2002. The company’s liquidity was $60.1 million in cash and short-term investments as at June 30, 2002.
Biomira will retain a U.S. presence as it continues to build a marketing organization, prior to a potential launch of THERATOPE.
The company’s share price has plunged in recent weeks after an interim review revealed the vaccine did not meet pre-determined statistical significance.
Shares closed Oct. 11 at $1.10. Biomira’s 52-week high was $8.21.
