Far down the SEC filing about hits finances on Monday, Durham-based Chimerix disclosed two items of major news: Job cuts and a reduction in R&D spending.
The filing reads:
“We remain well-capitalized with $343 million on hand at the end of 2015, and plan to use this financial strength to efficiently fund the development of brincidofovir and our other pipeline programs based upon a careful portfolio analysis and discussion with regulatory leaders in the months ahead,” said Tim Trost, Chief Financial Officer of Chimerix. “In light of the SUPPRESS results, in early 2016 we completed an approximate 20 percent reduction in our workforce. We expect our research and corporate expenses to trend downward this year prior to discussions with regulators and agreement on further clinical development requirements. Once that path forward has been set, we would expect to provide more granular expense guidance.”
Failure of a potential transplant treatment in a late-stage clinical trial triggered more than an 80 percent plunge in the price of Chimerix shares two months ago. That’s the SUPPRESS trial that Trost noted.
Job cuts totaled more than 20, based on Trost’s figure and a headcount of 124, according to data compiled at Yahoo! Fiance.
Chimerix shares also fell slightly Monday after the company disclosed its fourth quarter and 2015 financials.
The company, which has a contract potentially worth over $400 million with the federal government for a smallpox vaccine under development, reported a quarterly loss of nearly $38 million and a $117 million loss for the year. Both totals were almost double those of the previous year.
However, a recent positive update about development of the smallpox vaccine and a big investment from a Wall Street investment fund has bolstered the company.
