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news.Adolor has reported it is cutting 52 employees from its work force and disbanding its sales forces, with the dismissal of 35 sales workers, following delays in the approval of a key drug in its pipeline.
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Following the redundancies, Adolor’s headcount will stand at 128, down from 180. The company expects to take a one time charge of approximately $2-3 million in the fourth quarter.
Adolor established its sales force in early 2005 for the launch of its lead product Entereg used in the management of postoperative ileus. Final approval for the drug in the US is currently on hold pending additional safety information relating to Entereg.
This has delayed the drug’s entry into the market, as a result Adolor’s chairman of the board David Madden concluded that, “it would be difficult to retain and motivate our sales force without a product to detail during this period.”
The sales force has also been dealing with GlaxoSmithKline’s anti-thrombotic agent, Arixtra under a co-promotion agreement, which expires on December 31, 2006. In the Adolor and GlaxoSmithKline collaboration agreement, Adolor is still required to provide a limited number of full time equivalent sales personnel for the first year of product commercialization.
Adolor said it may also evaluate whether to reestablish an independent sales force at a later date. Adolor believe the discontinuation of the company’s independent sales effort will not affect the profit sharing arrangement in the collaboration with GSK.