Five Prime Therapeutics Inc. will cut 70 jobs as part of a restructuring to focus its resources on the development of three late-stage research assets.
About 70% of the layoffs will occur by the end of 2019, while the remaining staff will leave in 2020.
Five Prime Chairman and interim CEO William Ringo said the move provides cash to "prioritize future pipeline investments based on clinical data readouts in 2020." The restructuring "allows us to evaluate long-term strategies to grow our pipeline," he added.
Additionally, the company is looking to reduce costs from its corporate facilities by either subletting a portion of leased space or the whole building and transferring to smaller facilities.
Restructuring costs, including severance packages, will amount to about $3 million, Five Prime said in an Oct. 10 press release.
The South San Francisco, Calif.-based company, which develops innovative protein therapies, expects that the restructuring, planned facility expense reduction and other cost-saving efforts will result in annual cost savings of about $20 million.
Five Prime also reaffirmed its financial guidance and expects to have cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities in the range of $148 million to $153 million by the end of 2019.
The biotechnology company let go of 41 employees in January as part of a restructuring to focus its resources on five cancer programs.
