Sosei to cut back jobs and reduce pipeline

Following a strategic review of its operation, Sosei has implemented initial reductions in workforce headcount and says it will focus expenditure on a smaller number of core pipeline products. In his annual statement, the chairman of the Tokyo, Japan-based drugmaker said that its overall cost base will be scaled down so that its funds can provide for two years planned cash requirements.

The move follows a spate of bad news for the firm, which recently saw SOU-001 pulled from its development pipeline and the withdrawal of the application for approval of Eligard (leuprolide) as a generic (Marketletter January 30). The firm says that "there is no short or medium term prospect of developing" the prostate cancer drug for the domestic market but noted that its acquisition of UK-based Arakis will spread development risk and has added a sustainable discovery engine (Marketletter July 25, 2005).