Cancer genomics company Exelixis announced on Monday that it would cut 270 jobs, a loss of about 40% of its workforce, with the brunt of the cuts aimed at drug discovery, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Image: Donovan Govan/Wikimedia

The company, which is using genomic models of cancer to screen a massive library of compounds, estimates the layoff and subsequent restructuring will save $90 million through 2011. Last year The Scientist profiled the company's unique business strategy, which involved acquiring other companies and the bulking up its pipeline to 14 compounds at a time when few biotechs had more than a couple -- in other words, acting more like a pharma company than a biotech.

Exelixis now plans to hunker down and focus on pushing their most advanced cancer compounds through clinical development. Their top candidate, XL-184, codeveloped with Bristol-Myers Squibb, targets the cancer pathways MET and RET as well as the VEGF receptor, an angiogenesis factor. It's currently in Phase III clinical trials; two other compounds, also saved from the axe, are in Phase II clinical trials. But the company says it still plans to continue developing several drugs now in Phase I, as well as delivering one investigational new drug per year.

The company's stock fell from nearly $7 per share on Monday to trade at $6.17 today.

"We are convinced that the restructuring is the right step for the company and positions us well to move into the future," said George Scangos, Exelixis' CEO, in a press statement. "However, it is extremely difficult to release many people who have contributed substantially to the company over the years and who are our friends and colleagues."


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