Less than two months after the departure of its president, layoffs have begun at Fort Worth-based pharmaceutical company Galderma, the company confirmed Monday.
“The company is undergoing a reorganization that will improve the efficiency of its operations throughout the United States,” the company said in a statement to D Healthcare Daily, after an inquiry. “This corporate-wide effort involves positions at the company’s main offices in Fort Worth and other positions throughout the United States. Affected employees are being offered severance packages and outplacement assistant. These are always difficult decisions but are required due to the highly competitive nature of our business as well as the need for continuous improvement in our processes.”
Spokesman David Marguiles would not confirm how many employees were let go, what departments were affected, the reason for the layoffs, or whether the layoffs were expected to continue this week. The layoffs began late last week, according to a source.
Galderma has been in the pharmaceutical limelight due to the fall release of its rosacea drug, Mirvaso. Prior to his departure in October, president Francois Fournier touted the drug as a kind of wonder drug, but results have been mixed. Online rosacea message boards have attacked the product, saying that the rebound flushing caused by the drug was worse than the initial redness itself.
Francois said he expected to roll out Misvaso internationally in the coming months. It is unclear whether the ouster had anything to do with Mirvaso’s side effects.
The 46-year-old French citizen helmed the North American region of the Swiss pharma company since June 2009. Galderma focuses exclusively on dermatological products, including the successful Cetaphil line of over-the-counter lotions and skin-care products.
At least one former employee took to a Galderma-focused message board last week to express their displeasure.
“I am a victim of the home office purge,” they wrote. “Looks like management took care of their own as expected and sacrificed the ‘real’ workers. I used to love working for Galderma, but when you fall out with the management [sic] click, then your days are numbered. Good luck everyone and lets hope that those who require it receive 10 fold the results of their actions.”
In addition to the disappointing public reaction to Mirvaso, it was recently revealed that product tests for an impetigo product did not go well, either. In October, during an interview with D Healthcare Daily, Fournier stressed that impetigo was one of the afflictions Galderma was targeting next.
“Last week, we announced that the recently completed Phase 2b clinical study of impetigo had been completed,” Ron Najafi, Chairman and CEO of NovaBay Pharmaceuticals said in November during a financial update. “While the study showed that auriclosene is safe and well tolerated, it did not meet its primary clinical endpoint. While the news is not what we expected, we are working closely with our partner Galderma to thoroughly analyze the results of the study and understand the differences from this study and the previous successful Phase 2a for impetigo. Both NovaBay and Galderma remain committed to determining the next steps in the development of auriclosene for impetigo and other opportunities in dermatology.”
