BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: BCRX) is laying off half its work force as part of a restructuring.
The company said early Friday that it was cutting 38 jobs.
The company disclosed in a regulatory filing that one top executive is being let go.
“David McCullough, Vice President of Strategic Planning, Commercialization and Corporate Development was informed on December 6, 2012 of his termination, which will be effective as of December 12, 2012,” the filing said.
BioCryst recently called off a proposed merger with a California firm.
Last month, BioCryst also terminated a Phase 3 trial of an intravenously administered influenza treatment for which it has received nearly $235 million in federal funding.
“The restructuring is a necessary but difficult measure that impacts many talented and dedicated BioCryst employees who will be leaving the company,” said BioCryst Chief Executive Officer Jon Stonehouse in a statement.
The company said the decision “is intended to significantly reduce BioCryst’s cost structure and scale the organization appropriately for its current portfolio.”
BioCryst will focus on antiviral and hepatitis C programs.
“To succeed, we must significantly decrease our operating costs and carefully manage cash, while efficiently advancing our three priority programs,” Stonehouse said. “Therefore, we are implementing a substantial corporate restructuring to decrease our annual cash utilization and thereby extend our cash runway. The restructuring provides additional cash runway to reach value inflection points for these programs.”
