MARTINSRIED/MUNICH, Germany-Staff reductions of approximately 44 percent are in store for GPC Biotech AG after the recent announcement of a corporate restructuring plan. The staff reductions are taking place in both Germany and the United States, but the company notes it is retaining key personnel needed to achieve both GPC Biotech's medium- and longer-term goals.
The company's restructuring plan involves a staff reduction of 103 employees. The reduction in force affects 60 employees in Munich and 43 in Princeton, N.J. The remaining work force will be 56 in Munich and 58 in Princeton after the completion of the shutdown of the company's Waltham, Mass., facility in a few weeks. Thus, going forward the company will have 114 active employees.
"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," explains Dr. Bernd R. Seizinger, CEO. "I would like to express my sincere appreciation to our affected employees for their contributions to GPC Biotech."
"This is a very challenging time for GPC Biotech," he adds. "However, we have retained a smaller, excellent team, who we are confident can effectively address these challenges and move our company forward. We are implementing a revised strategic plan, which includes focusing our internal efforts on a limited number of development-stage oncology projects, significantly increasing our licensing efforts and actively exploring M&A opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic."
Affected employees will be eligible for severance packages that include severance pay, continuation of benefits and outplacement services. The company has retained a core drug development team that is headquartered in the United States, with a small group of development people retained in Germany to support ongoing and future work in Europe. GPC Biotech has also retained a core drug discovery group in Munich that will support drug development in addition to continuing late-stage drug discovery efforts focused on kinase inhibitors. General and administrative staff also has been reduced. A small group of key commercialization team members has been retained in the United States to support drug development and business development activities.
In related news, GPC Biotech confirmed its previous guidance that the company expects its year-end 2007 cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities position to be approximately 60 million Euros.
GPC Biotech AG is a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company with a mission to discover, develop and commercialize new anticancer drugs. GPC Biotech's lead product candidate is satraplatin, an oral platinum compound. The company has various anticancer programs in research and development that leverage its expertise in kinase inhibitors.
