Drug delivery company NuPathe's ($PATH) new CEO, Armando Anido, has made some major cost-containment moves, including cutting NuPathe's workforce in half. This will slash 18 jobs from a current workforce of 37, according to Reuters.
Other measures include selling $28M of securities, and reducing expenditures on NP101, the company's transdermal migraine patch, and its other pipeline products. NuPathe will also delay the filing of its IND for NP202, a long-acting formulation of risperidone in development for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, until it can find a development partner. According to the company's Form 8-K, these measures should fund it into the fourth quarter of 2013.
NP101 (also known as Zelrix), the company's lead product, delivers sumatriptan across the skin using the company's SmartRelief delivery technology. The single-use patch uses a small electric charge to get the drug across the skin (iontophoresis). Users have reported mild and short-lived itching and tingling, but the patch may avoid the nausea associated with oral meds.
In 2011, NuPathe lost half the value of its shares when the FDA rejected its NDA for NP101; its shares rose again a little after the patch's resubmission in July. The FDA has accepted this resubmission, and has issued a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date of Jan. 17. This is the target date for the FDA to complete its review of the NDA.
Anido has replaced company founder Jane Hollingsworth, and was previously the president and CEO of Auxilium Pharmaceuticals ($AUXL).
- read the piece in Reuters
- see the article in MedCity News
- check out the Form 8-K