More News

Rockville biotech Novavax is laying off 18 employees, or about 20 percent of its workforce, to reduce operating expenses, executives said in a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange filing.

For the nine months ending Sept. 30, Novavax reported a net loss of $25 million, down slightly from a loss of $25.5 million in the same period in 2007. Revenue declined by 6 percent to $994,000. Total cash and short-term investments as of September were $45.2 million, down slightly from $46.5 million in December 2007.

The company is expected to take a charge of $190,000 in the first quarter for related severance costs, while the terminations will reduce cash spending by about 20 percent.

The layoffs are effective this quarter, said Tricia J. Richardson, senior manager for investor relations and media for Novavax. Like many biotechs, the company is having difficulty obtaining new investors, she said.

“It is not the credit market but the equity markets that continue to be difficult,” Richardson said. “It is not loans but investments.”

Novavax is continuing to develop a seasonal influenza vaccine and works on commercialization efforts for its pandemic and seasonal influenza vaccines.

Last month, company executives said they had favorable results from a phase 2a human clinical trial of its seasonal influenza vaccine candidate. The vaccine was studied in about 300 healthy adults age 18 to 49 who received a single injection of either a placebo or an influenza vaccine.

The results “strongly support” continued development of the vaccine, executives said.

“These seasonal influenza results, in combination with the pandemic influenza results released in August, give us ongoing confidence in this technology in preventing influenza,” Rahul Singhvi, president and CEO, said in a statement.

This report originally appeared in The Business Gazette.