MUNICH—GPC Biotech AG announced it will close its Waltham, Mass.-based discovery facilities, consolidating the U.S. discovery programs with its Munich-based efforts. The move will see the company reduce its total workforce by 16%. According to company CEO Bernd Seizinger, the move was prompted by GPC's acquisition of Axxima Pharmaceuticals in 2005 and the ending this year of a collaboration with Waltham's ALTANA Pharma.

 

"While we believe this action makes sense for the company strategically, it was not a decision we made lightly as it has necessitated the closing of our Waltham site," he says.

 

The company has by no means given up on the United States, however, as it expects to continue to build its clinical development and commercialization groups at its Princeton, N.J.-based operations. Part of that process, Seizinger suggests, will be the hiring of a U.S. field sales force.