Achaogen Restructures & Slashes Staff 28% Ahead of Antibiotic Launch – Info Entrepreneurship

Xconomy
San Francisco — 

The runup to a new drug launch is usually a time for hiring, but antibiotics developer Achaogen is doing just the opposite.

Faced with a tough market for antibacterial products, Achaogen (NASDAQ: AKAO) announced Thursday that it will eliminate 80 positions, which is roughly 28 percent of its staff. Those cuts include much of the executive team. In a statement released after the market close, the South San Francisco, CA-based biotech said the restructuring would enable the company to focus its attention on the launch of its antibiotic plazomicin (Zemdri), as well as two research programs that already have funding.

Shares of Achaogen perked up 1.5 percent in after-hours trading.

Achaogen develops antibiotics to treat drug-resistant infections. Last month, the FDA approved plazomicin as a treatment for complicated urinary tract infections. But it was a split decision for the drug. The regulator rejected plazomicin as a treatment for bloodstream infections, telling the company in a letter that its clinical trial did not provide enough evidence of the drug’s efficacy. And the approval for treating urinary tract infections wasn’t a clean win. The injectable drug’s label carries a boxed warning that alerts physicians and patients that the drug may cause kidney problems or affect muscle use. Hearing problems and vertigo have also been reported in some patients who have used the drug. The drug is approved only for use in patients who have limited or no treatment alternatives.

Here’s more about the early days of Achaogen and its vision for developing new broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Image by Flickr user Joe The Goat Farmer via a Creative Commons license