Even Millennium! 4%
Millennium Pharmaceuticals to Cut 103 Jobs in Shift to Product Development
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- Biotech company Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday it would lay off 103 workers, including 54 full-timers, as it adjusts its focus from research to product development.
The layoffs will be at Millennium's Cambridge, Mass. headquarters. The company also has facilities in South San Francisco, Calif., and Cambridge, England.
"Millennium is evolving from an organization that was primarily research-oriented into a product-driven company," the company said in a statement. "It's been part of our long-term business strategy over a very long time and clearly this requires a different range of skills and capabilities, and we are making the organizational changes that reflect this evolution."
Millennium has about 2,450 workers worldwide. The layoffs include 49 contract workers.
Earlier this month, Millennium announced its cancer-fighting drug Velcade appears to stop or reverse the progression of a deadly form of the disease in six out of 10 patients.
The company plans to file for regulatory approval early next year before Phase III trials are complete, but some analysts doubted it would warrant approval under a speeded-up regulatory process.
Millennium shares were up 35 cents to close at $9.26 Monday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. They are down from a high of more than $25 earlier this year. |
