OSI Pharmaceuticals Announces Restructuring to Focus R&D Efforts On Oncology
MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 24, 2002--OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: OSIP - News) announced today a series of staffing adjustments, management realignment and business initiatives designed to continue the Company's efforts to refocus its entire business and research and development activities into the oncology arena.
The Company has reduced its overall headcount by approximately 40 people from approximately 490. The majority of these job reductions were concentrated in the discovery research area and primarily in biology sciences.
"Although the Company is financially strong, closing our fiscal 2002 with approximately $470 million cash, we have made these difficult decisions now so that we can continue to build upon our strong scientific and clinical base in pursuing our goal of establishing an industry-leading and commercially successful oncology franchise," stated Colin Goddard, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. "As we have increased our business focus on oncology and exited our discovery research alliances including cosmeceuticals and cardiovascular disease, we have determined that our skill-set mix in research resembled our platform discovery technology services past rather than the cancer research focus we need for our future."
These adjustments will allow the Company to continue to hire additional cancer research specialists while also increasing its investment in academic research collaborations and technology in-licensing initiatives necessary to enhance its research capabilities in cancer.
The Company also announced that it intends to divest its non-oncology research assets, principally through an establishment of an externally funded affiliated entity in the metabolic disease area. The Company has engaged Petkevich & Partners, LLC to assist it with identifying potential investors for this initiative.
"OSI has established a high-quality, discovery research program in the metabolic disease area which we believe could be more effectively capitalized through an affiliated entity rather than simply out-licensing the projects," stated Dr. Goddard. "We intend to explore this initiative over the next 3-6 months."
OSI's discovery research program in diabetes includes a partnership with the Vanderbilt University Diabetes Center, a funded alliance with the pharmaceutical company, Tanabe Seiyaku Co. Ltd., and six proprietary gene-targeted discovery programs in the lead seeking and lead optimization phases, primarily focused in the glucose regulation and obesity fields.
OSI also announced a series of senior management changes in research. Dr. Neil Gibson has been promoted to the position of Vice President, Research, reporting to the CEO and will assume responsibility for the Company's pre-clinical cancer research efforts. Prior to joining OSI in 2001, Dr. Gibson was formerly Director, Cancer Research at Bayer and a Senior Research Investigator in Pfizer Inc.'s cancer discovery group. Before moving into industry Dr. Gibson enjoyed a successful academic career in cancer research, holding various positions at the University of Southern California, the AMC Cancer Research Center in Denver, CO, Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA and the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Gibson has served on the National Cancer Institute's Experimental Therapeutics Study Section and has been actively involved with the American Association of Cancer Research. Dr. Gibson received his Ph.D. in cancer pharmacology from the University of Aston in Birmingham, U.K. Dr. Arthur Bruskin, formerly Head of Research, has moved over to the position of Vice President, Strategic Planning. Dr. Bruskin will be an integral part of the Company's portfolio planning process and will help coordinate and drive the Company's efforts to access and acquire technology, candidates and products in oncology.
OSI also announced two senior research appointments at its Oxford, U.K. facility. Dr. Jim McCormack has joined the Company as Vice President, U.K. Research, reporting to Dr. Gibson. Prior to joining OSI, Dr. McCormack held several senior management positions, including Vice President of Target Cell Biology at Novo Nordisk in Denmark. Dr. McCormack received his Ph.D. and D.Sc. from the University of Bristol in the U.K. Dr. Martin Page has joined OSI as Director, Cancer Biology at the Oxford facility. Dr. Page was formerly head of oncology drug research at Oxford GlycoSciences, Ltd. and previously was head of the oncology department at Glaxo Wellcome Research and Development located in the U.K. Dr. Page received his Ph.D. from the University of Liverpool.... |
