Unilife Reduces Workforce by 17%, May Position Company for Possible Acquisition
September 15, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
YORK, Pa. -- Pennsylvania-based Unilife Corporation is eliminating 50 employees and reducing operating expenses in an effort to focus its resources on the commercialization of its Imperium platform of insulin patch pumps, the company announced this morning.
The elimination of the 50 employees will reduce the company’s workforce by about 17 percent, the company said. The layoffs are expected to reduce operating expenses in 2016, which includes a reduction of research and development costs by about 30 percent, Unilife stated. The company said it expects to pay out approximately $400,000 in severance payments, which will be shown in the first quarter of the next fiscal year.
“This cost reduction and realignment will enable us to dedicate resources to support customer ramp schedules under existing supply agreements, and enter into additional strategic relationships that represent attractive opportunities for growth. Active programs and discussions with all previously disclosed strategic customers are moving forward favorably,” Alan Shortall, Unilife’s chief executive officer said in a statement.
Unilife may also be looking at positioning itself for a possible acquisition as well. Shortall said the company is working with Morgan Stanley to conduct a review of strategic alternatives to manage the company’s cash position and maximize shareholder value.
“This review may result in the acquisition of our company, a strategic investment with one or more parties, and or the licensing of one or more of our proprietary technologies,” Shortall said.
With the completion of the new insulin pump, Unilife said it has now established a “full portfolio of products and capabilities to serve customers across all target market segments.”
Since 2014 Unilife has struck several deals to license its delivery systems. In October 2014, Unilife struck a deal with Sanofi to be the sole provider of cartridge-based wearable injectors for all of Sanofi 's applicable large dose volume drugs, and to make Unilife's wearable injectors available to Sanofi's partners for use with applicable molecules under joint collaborations.
In December 2014, Unilife signed a 10-year commercial supply agreement with an undisclosed pharmaceutical company for the use of the Depot-ject delivery system with an approved ocular injection therapy.
In January 2015, Unilife entered into a $5 million strategic agreement with AbbVie for that company to use the Unifill Finesse prefilled syringe and the LISA delivery system for use with that company’s drug portfolio for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Over the past year, Unilife also expanded the size and scale of its production facilities and operational infrastructure. The company said multiple manufacturing lines are at various stages of use, assembly, installation and development across multiple device platforms, including prefilled syringes and wearable injectors. Additional assembly lines are scheduled to become operational during fiscal year 2016, the company said. Product shipments to customers are scheduled to increase across multiple device segments during 2016 to support the commercial rollout timelines of customers, Unilife said.