Generic drugmaker Impax Laboratories Inc. said Wednesday it eliminated 110 jobs, or about 10 percent of its workforce, partly because of delays in approval of an important product.
Impax said most of the cuts were made at its manufacturing facility in Hayward, where 176 employees worked at the end of 2012. The company also eliminated 20 jobs from its branded drug sales force and four regional sales management positions.
Impax expects to save about $12 million from the moves in 2013, and forecast $15 million in annual savings from manufacturing cuts and the discontinuation of some products.
The company will take $2.4 million in one-time charges during the second quarter.
The company said is reducing positions at the factory because it has transferred the manufacturing of some products to a more cost-efficient facility in Taiwan. Impax also cited product discontinuations and delays in the approval of some products. It has been unable to get marketing approval for its Parkinson’s disease drug Rytary because of problems at the Hayward facility. Impax also said it will expand its sales force again after Rytary is approved.
Impax had 1,125 employees at the end of 2012.
The Food and Drug Administration sent Impax a warning letter in January 2011 based on an inspection of the Hayward plant, and the agency found new problems during inspections in 2012 and 2013. Impax plans to make Rytary at the plant in Hayward and needs to fix those problems to get the drug approved.
Shares of Impax rose 17 cents to $18.93 in morning trading.
