AstraZeneca PLC Announces MedImmune Layoffs, But Does Not Specify Numbers or Location
July 18, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
According to Derek Lowe, writing in his “In The Pipeline” blog for Science Translational Medicine on July 15, AstraZeneca has announced job cuts at its MedImmune division. The gist of the rumors was confirmed by a Friday, July 15 statement released by the company.
The company’s statement on Friday, July 15, said, “Our pipeline has become arguably one of the best in the industry—MedImmune’s Phase II pipeline success rate is almost double the industry average. Biologics represent 50 percent of the overall AstraZeneca pipeline and includes 17 Phase III biologics trials currently underway and 19 Phase II trials. Given this backdrop, we’re sharpening the focus on the main therapy areas, prioritizing the pipeline, and driving greater productivity and efficiency across the organization. As a normal course of business, we have shifted some resources and have had minimal staffing reductions, while hiring for critical roles in key areas such as oncology.”
Lowe indicates that the “Oncology division was largely untouched. The rest of the Gaithersburg research structure, though, seems to have been cut back pretty hard, with entire groups being let go along with many longtime employees.”
AstraZeneca told FierceBiotech that the cuts were part of its strategic plan announced in its first-quarter update in the spring. In a statement to FierceBiotech, AstraZeneca wrote, “In April, AstraZeneca announced the sharpening of our focus on our main therapy areas to prioritize and improve efficiency and productivity across the organization.
“This will see the company allocate additional investment to core areas, particularly oncology. This is a natural progression of our strategy and reflects increased pipeline productivity, as well as the evolving shape of the overall company portfolio with a growing proportion of specialty-care medicines.”
AstraZeneca acquired MedImmune in 2007 for more than $15 billion, which was criticized as overpriced at the time—and still, apparently. MedImmune at that time had a limited early-stage pipeline focused on flu vaccines and a pediatric respiratory drug. Ben Adams, writing for FierceBiotech in March 2016, said, “AstraZeneca said it had its eyes on the future with its purchase but nearly ten years later, little justification has been made for the deal. And in recent years the biotech has to shed hundreds of jobs in California as part of a major restructuring drive for its parent company—a company that has seen its fair share of late-stage disappointments and big changes at the top of its leadership since the MedImmune deal.”
But the point of Adams’ March article was that MedImmune seemed to be turning itself around and showing signs it just might—maybe—start generating some profit for AstraZeneca. At that point, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given MEDI-551, which was in mid- to late-stage trials for neuromyelitis optica (NMO), orphan drug status. It is also being studyed in patients with diffuse B-cell lymphoma. Data is expected in 2018 and the studies are expected to be completed in 2019.
There are also rumors that AstraZeneca is one of several companies interested in acquiring San Francisco’s Medivation (MDVN), although it’s Paris-based Sanofi that’s pushing ahead with a hostile takeover bid. Other companies supposedly interested include Pfizer (PFE), AbbVie and Roche .
Otherwise, AstraZeneca today announced that its Phase III AURA3 trial of Tagrisso as a second-line treatment in patients with EGFR T790M mutation-positive, locally-advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) had met its primary endpoint, showing superior progression-free survival compared to standard platinum-based doublet chemotherapy.
“These results confirm Tagrisso as a meaningful alternative to benefit EGFR T790M lung cancer patients,” said Sean Bohen, AstraZeneca’s executive vice president, Global Medicines Development, and chief medical officer, in a statement. “The AURA3 results demonstrate the benefits of our science-led approach that enabled the rapid development of Tagrisso as a targeted treatment to address the most common cause of resistance to a first-generation EGFR-TKI for patients with metastatic EGFR-mutant lung cancer.”