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January 20, 2012
Alnylam Cuts Back Hard
Posted by Derek
The news is that Alnylam, the RNAi company just down the street from where I'm writing, is cutting about a third of its workforce to try to get its best prospects through the clinic. This is a familiar story in the small-pharma world; there's often money to try to get things through the clinic, or to pay everyone in the earlier-stage R&D - but nowhere near enough money to do both. There are companies that have gone through this stage several times, sometimes rehiring the same people when the money began flowing again.
You could see this coming, what with the news in that research space over the last couple of years. It's going to be a race to see if Alnylam can get something that will bring the income before time and resources get too tight. I wish them luck - I think there's really something there in their pipeline, but is it going to be enough, and will it be ready soon enough?
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1. NH_chem on January 20, 2012 1:38 PM writes...
Perhaps the first domino to fall in the RNAi field?!?!?
Permalink to Comment2. MB on January 20, 2012 3:03 PM writes...
Not the first domino, that would be RXi
Permalink to Comment3. bbooooooya on January 20, 2012 7:41 PM writes...
Didn't alny also lay off ~25% in 2010?
I wonder by what % the CEO's $600,000 ($1.3 mill with bonus) salary will be cut by?
Permalink to Comment4. LegacyMerckguy on January 21, 2012 9:22 AM writes...
@Bloooo
Permalink to CommentYou CAN'T cut the upper execs' pay!!! That's because no one will do that job for a fraction of what they are getting. At least that is what I hear. I mean, it's not like there are a ton of unemployed scientists out there that would take on a job for 150K so you MUST pay the CEO highly otherwise the job would be forever vacant.
5. Ajay Malik on January 21, 2012 5:45 PM writes...
Is this a symptom of loss in confidence in RNAi therapeutics or just the fact that a small biotech has to shift resources because they are up for batting next. Last year many big boys left the RNAi field - see here: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/19679/will-rnai-therapeutics-ever-succeed-roche-pfizer-abbott-merck-novartis-trim-commitments-19679.html
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