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[DewDiligence]

Epix Pharmaceuticals to cut
half its workforce in 2006

http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh40846_2005-12-13_21-16-02_n13...

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Tue Dec 13, 2005 04:16 PM ET

CHICAGO, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Epix Pharmaceuticals Inc. ( EPIX ) said on Tuesday it will cut about half of its work force next month after U.S. regulators last month said the company would need more clinical data before it would approve the company's lead product, Vasovist.

Epix said the reductions will affect the research and development and the general and administrative areas of the company. After the job cuts, Epix expects to have about 48 employees.

On Nov. 22, Epix got a second so-called "approvable letter" from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, requesting additional data from the company. Vasovist is intended to help enhance images taken in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging or MRI.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based company, said its spending next year will highly depend on anticipated FDA input on future trials of Vasovist. Epix said it expects the job cuts to reduce by 30 percent, or $7 million, its 2006 cash burn rate -- meaning the amount of cash spent each year on operations, excluding cash payments related to the job reductions.

Epix said it would take a fourth-quarter charge of $1.2 million in connection with the work force reductions.
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