Alameda, California-based Exelixis, a biotechnology company focusing on genomics-based drug discovery, has announced a restructuring and a 13% reduction in the company’s workforce.
The restructuring will impact 175 employees and is due to be completed this Quarter. It is believed the changes are being driven by Farallon Capital Management, an activist investor dissatisfied with the company's performance.
Farallon noted, “With the cost of capital increasing and biotech companies of all sizes making hard investment choices regarding compounds to advance and trials to conduct, Exelixis stands out as a company with neither a coherent R&D strategy nor a disciplined approach to spending. Instead of becoming more focused and disciplined, Exelixis is doing precisely the opposite, sponsoring nearly 80 trials simultaneously. We fear the company is spread too thin and lacks expertise across its many different trials.”
According to CEO Michael Morrissey...
“Rebalancing our investment priorities” means Exelixis can focus on label expansions for the approved cancer drug Cabometyx, as well as pushing ahead with the development of zanzalintinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that’s in late-stage studies for colorectal cancer and renal cell carcinoma. Also on the agenda is the phase 1 trial of an antibody-drug conjugate for various solid tumors and a phase 1 USP1 inhibitor recently licensed from Insilico Medicine that’s being developed to treat tumors that have become refractory to PARP inhibitors. And to move three promising preclinical programs into clinical development.”
“We are taking these steps with the conviction that they are necessary for our continued progress toward the company’s goal of delivering an innovative pipeline of biotherapeutics and small molecules to help patients with cancer and create value for all of our stakeholders,” Morrissey added in the preliminary 2023 financial results.
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