Discovery Laboratories (DSCO) has axed 24 employees from its commercial operations. The pink slips, which were given out on Friday April 24th, brings the Surfaxin developer workforce down to 91.

DSCO didn’t make an official announcement on the cuts, however it was buried deep in the firm’s recent Q1 earnings. DSCO also said they would take a $600K hit as part of the reduction.

Math time!

A. Severance charge to DSCO = $600K

B. Number of employees axed = 24

C. Severance/employee = A/B = $25,000

Ehhh, that’s so-so. Of course, it’s not much after Uncle Sam gets his cut.

The walking papers follow yet another setback for the company. Two weeks ago, DSCO received its fourth complete response from the FDA for Surfaxin, an investigational surfactant for the prevention respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in premature infants. The FDA stated they still have concerns about the product’s CMC specifications.

CEO Robert Capetola didn’t comment on the axes, but did say this about Surfaxin:

“We are very confident in our KL4 surfactant technology and our ability to resolve the remaining questions raised by the FDA in the Surfaxin Complete Response letter. The pharmacology of our synthetic KL4 surfactant technology has been validated through our pivotal Surfaxin phase 3 clinical trials and post-hoc analyses, as well as, numerous clinical and preclinical studies. With Surfaxin, Surfaxin LS(tm), our lyophilized formulation, and Aerosurf(r), our aerosolized surfactant, we plan to develop a pediatric franchise which could greatly improve the quality of RDS management in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) and support a greatly expanded and potentially significant market opportunity.”

DSCO wrapped up Q1 with $19M in cash and a net burn of $5.7M.

Image from shanjon

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