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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- NPS Pharmaceuticals has announced it is laying off more than half of its U.S. employees, moving its headquarters from Salt Lake City to Parsippany, N.J., and leasing out much of its office space.
The layoffs of 260 workers include cutting the Salt Lake work force from 120 to 76. Following the layoffs, NPS will have a worldwide work force of 230 employees.
The company also announced Monday that it would discontinue all U.S. commercialization of its osteoporosis drug Preos. It cited delays in getting U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.
The company said it is eliminating of the company's commercial sales operations, including the entire field force and related management and support functions, and the closing of a technical operations facility in Ontario, Canada.
Brandi Simpson, NPS senior director of investor relations, said New Jersey represented a better fit for the company's headquarters.
"It is really the commercial center and business center for pharmaceuticals and biotech," Simpson said. "As we've tried to build out our executive team, it has been harder and harder to recruit people to Salt Lake City, unfortunately."
About half of the company's 92,000-square-foot Salt Lake facility at Research Park will be subleased. The Salt Lake site includes a research group as well as the company's finance and legal teams.
Tony Coles, chief executive officer, said the changes were needed to "maximize shareholder value."
"We are taking these measures now to reduce operating expenses and preserve cash to pursue projects with the highest potential returns and to build a stronger and a healthier company," Coles said. "We have worked hard to be fair and prudent in deciding which positions remain and which ones will be eliminated. In the final analysis, we believe this is the right thing to do for the health of NPS."
NPS celebrated the opening of its new Salt Lake headquarters building just last year. At the April 2005 opening, Gov. Jon Huntsman called NPS "a wonderful success story."
Coles said Preos continued to be a valuable asset for NPS. The drug, designed for post-menopausal women with osteoporosis, was launched commercially in Europe last week. But the FDA could require a new clinical trial to resolve questions about elevated calcium levels in some test subjects.
NPS Pharmaceuticals reported a net loss of $38.3 million, or 83 cents per share, for the quarter ended March 31. That compares with a loss of $45 million, or $1.16 per share, for the 2005 first quarter.
NPS stock dropped $1.04, or 18.6 percent, on Monday to close at a 52-week low of $4.54 a share on Nasdaq. The share price had been as high as $16 in the last year.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
