BOTHELL — Nastech Pharmaceutical Co. will cut jobs, focus resources on its most advanced drug candidates and establish a newly independent company to attract more investment.
The Bothell-based biotechnology firm announced the actions Tuesday, a week after Procter &Gamble Pharmaceuticals terminated its agreement to help Nastech develop and eventually market a nasal spray designed to treat osteoporosis.
It was the second of Nastech’s potentially lucrative development partnerships to dissolve in less than two years.
“The steps that Nastech is taking will better position the company to achieve our near-term goals, as well as reduce our operational expenses while ensuring that we retain our key capabilities for long-term growth,” Steven Quay, Nastech’s chairman and chief executive, said in a written statement.
Quay planned to comment more on the company’s restructuring during a conference call this morning.
The three primary actions planned are:
Reducing the company’s work force, which numbers about 225 people. Ed Bell, Nastech’s director of investor relations, said Tuesday he couldn’t provide any figures on how many people will lose their jobs.
Concentrating research and development work on programs that have hit at least phase 2, the middle stage of human drug testing. Nastech has advanced three experimental nasal sprays that far. One is aimed at treating obesity, and the second’s a nasal spray form of insulin. An osteoporosis spray, different from the one that was being co-developed with Procter &Gamble, also has reached that point.
Establishing an independent, separately financed company called MDRNA Inc. that will try to move forward Nastech’s research into RNA interference, a cellular mechanism that turns off the production of proteins critical to the expansion of viruses in the body. As a separate company, MDRNA can receive investment independent of Nastech.
Nastech said the actions, recommended by a special committee, were approved by the company’s board of directors.
The announcement of planned changes for Nastech came after another tough day on Wall Street for the biotech firm. Nastech’s shares, which lost more than 50 percent of their value last week, dropped another 87 cents, or 15 percent, Tuesday to close at $4.87. After the restructuring announcement, however, shares were up in after-hours trading.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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