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news.US-based Cytokinetics has announced plans to realign its workforce and operations in line with a strategic reassessment of its R&D activities and corporate objectives.
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As a result, the company will focus research activities on its muscle biology programs while advancing drug candidates in its clinical pipeline. To implement this plan, the company is reducing its workforce by approximately 29% and will be discontinuing research activities directed to oncology.
Following the implementation of this realignment and restructuring program, Cytokinetics will have reduced its workforce to 111 people. The company is planning to provide severance, employee benefit continuation and career transition assistance to the employees directly affected by the restructuring.
Cytokinetics anticipates incurring restructuring charges of approximately $2.5 million in the third quarter of 2008, primarily associated with personnel-related termination costs.
Robert Blum, Cytokinetics’s president and CEO, said: “After critically reviewing our current research and development as well as other business activities, we have made the decision to reposition our company to what we believe may be the most attractive value generating opportunities. In particular, going forward we will be better positioned to focus to programs that leverage our competitive advantages in muscle biology and contractility.
“We believe these changes will result in the necessary savings to enable our advancement of CK-1827452 while also affording us resources to advance potential drug candidates in each of our contractility programs directed at skeletal and smooth muscle to clinical trials and continuing our innovative research in muscle biology.”