Millennium to reduce discovery technologies, related staff

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Portland, Ore., Oct. 26 - Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will reduce its investment in discovery and supporting infrastructure through reductions of in-house technologies and staff in areas where work can be cost effectively outsourced, Dr. Deborah Dunsire, Millennium's president and chief executive officer, announced Thursday.

"We're taking steps that we believe are appropriate to ensure that we remain competitive, innovative and productive," Dunsire said.

The company will reduce headcount by 14% and scale back infrastructure, including associated general and administrative personnel and expenses.

"I want to be very clear that discovery at Millennium will continue to be our strong foundation. We'll continue to innovate and bring new oncology medicines to our development pipeline," Dunsire said.

In its current pipeline, Millennium is moving forward with a preclinical study using material from a new cell line engineered by the company's biologics group and is on track to begin bridging studies with the new line in the first half of 2007, Dr. Robert Tepper, Millennium's president of research and development, said during Thursday's call.

In addition, the company announced that it has started a phase 1 clinical trial of its IKK-beta inhibitor, MLN0415.

"To our knowledge, we are the first to advance an IKK-beta inhibitor into the clinic," he said.

Millennium is currently dosing the fifth cohort of patients in the study and has not seen any drug limiting toxicities, according to Tepper.

The company had $635.6 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at Sept. 30, and $99.6 million in outstanding principal of convertible debt, company chief financial officer Marsha Fanucci said Thursday.

Millennium now expects to end the year with greater than $600 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, which is up from its previous guidance of greater than $500 million, Fanucci said.

Velcade advancing; agreement signed

Millennium also announced Thursday that it has entered into a two-year, co-promotion agreement with Ortho Biotech Inc. for Velcade (bortezomib) for injection in the United States.

Under the terms of the agreement, Millennium will pay a portion of a percentage of the Velcade-related costs for the Ortho Biotech sales force. OrthoBiotech will be entitled to receive a commission on the incremental sales that exceed pre-specified targets, according to a company news release.

The companies will promote Velcade to U.S.-based physicians who treat multiple myeloma patients who have received at least one prior therapy, according to the release.

In another announcement made Thursday, Millennium said Velcade has been approved for marketing in Japan for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

The company will receive an $8.0 million payment from Ortho Biotech for the milestone achievement, under a separate agreement.

Millennium also said its supplementary New Drug Application for Velcade for relapsed mantle cell lymphoma has been granted priority review by the Food and Drug Administration. The application has a Prescription Drug User Fee Act date of Dec. 9.

Millennium is a biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Mass.

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