November 9, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
NEW YORK – Barely three months after going public and after recently launching three new clinical trials, Kadmon Holdings quietly revealed in a third quarter announcement that it has terminated 15 percent of its employees as part of a streamlining process.
In its announcement this morning, Kadmon said it has implemented a “number of strategic and operational changes” as part of an effort to “increase efficiency” and “prioritize the continued rapid development” of the company’s clinical pipeline. The company is undergoing the streamlining as it faces revenue losses from its HCV drugs. The company said its ribavirin portfolio continues to decline in the face of increased competition in the HCV market. Kadmon said it anticipates continued losses from the ribavirin portfolio through next year. Since July, the company has quietly reduced its number of employees to 119, the company said. Additionally, Kadmon said it has streamlined its product inventory, distribution efforts and marketing expenses for its HCV portfolio, as well as deferred principal payments on its 2015 credit agreement. The company said it will use these resources to continue to advance its pipeline, all while reducing its cash burn by $9.1 million over the next 12 months.
“Since the completion of our IPO, we have advanced our clinical pipeline in tandem with streamlining our operations to drive overall efficiency and ultimately increase shareholder value,” Harlan Waksal, president and chief executive officer of Kadmon, said in a statement.
During the third quarter, Kadmon initiated three new clinical trials to develop therapies in oncology, autoimmunity, fibrosis and genetic diseases. Kadmon is enrolling patients in its ongoing Phase II trial of tesevatinib in EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has metastasized to the brain or leptomeninges. Also in August, Kadmon initiated an exploratory study of tesevatinib in recurrent glioblastoma and has begun enrolling patients.
In September, Kadmon initiated a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase II clinical trial of its experimental therapy KD025 in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis. KD025 is also being explored in the treatment of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Kadmon said it also anticipated filing an Abbreviated New Drug Application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December for its trientine hydrochloride formulations called KD034 for Wilson’s disease. If approved, these generic formulations could potentially be on the market in 2017, generating meaningful revenue for the company, Kadmon said.
During the third quarter, Kadmon reported revenue of $5.7 million, down from $11.3 million for the same time period in 2015. For the first nine months of the year, the company saw revenues of $21.8 million, also a drop from the previous year.
As of Sept. 30, Kadmon’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $55 million compared to $21.5 million as of Dec. 31, 2015.
