BioMimetic Therapeutics, Inc. Slashes 25% of Workforce

Nashville Business Journal by Chris Silva, Staff Reporter

BioMimetic Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: BMTI) has cut a quarter of its workforce in an effort to retain cash as it continues to work toward approval of its bone graft device, Augment, from the Food and Drug Administration.

BioMimetic, which has 75 employees, revealed the reductions in a Jan. 20 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said the move would generate annual savings of approximately $2.5 million, primarily from savings in employee salaries and benefits.

BioMimetic also said a decision was made to “scale back” clinical program work on Augment as it continues to work with the FDA.

The Nashville-based biotechnology company was dealt a setback earlier this month when the FDA said a final decision on its premarket approval application for Augment was being delayed.

Augment is BioMimetic’s flagship product, and while it has gained approval for use in Canada and Australia, the potentially lucrative U.S. market has eluded the company. BioMimetic had hoped for FDA approval of Augment by the end of 2011.

In the SEC filing, BioMimetic said, “Given the company’s desire … (to) conserve resources until there is further clarity from the FDA regarding Augment, the company has decided to scale back the progress of its Augment injectable bone graft clinical program.”

BioMimetic now hopes to see Augment approved 15 to 24 months from now, as we recently explored for print subscribers, and still stands by that time frame.

"While awaiting the final response from the FDA ... we thoroughly assessed our cost structure and made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce and certain other expenditures," said Kearstin Patterson, a BioMimetic spokesperson, in an email. "While this type of action is always difficult, we believe it will provide us with the best opportunity for long-term success and establishes the best foundation for building stockholder value. We remain dedicated to prudently managing our financial resources while we’re working with the FDA to gain approval of Augment."

Back to news