At least 12 companies reduced their workforces during the third quarter, compared to at least 13 in the same period last year. All cash and operating loss figures in $M.

Date

Company

Staff cuts

Cash

Yrs cash pre-cut

Cash date

6-mo op loss ended 6/30

7/3/12

Cardiome Pharma Corp. (TSX:COM; NASDAQ:CRME)

85%

$60.7

2.84

6/30/12

$10.7

Cuts include all internal research positions and supporting functions; restructuring comes after partner Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) discontinued development of the oral formulation of atrial fibrillation (AF) product vernakalant, a controlled-release formulation of a mixed ion channel antagonist; in September, Cardiome said Merck will return all rights to develop and commercialize IV and oral formulations of vernakalant to Cardiome; Cardiome will no longer have access to a $100M credit facility from Merck, of which $50M has been drawn down

7/9/12

QLT Inc. (TSX:QLT; NASDAQ:QLTI)

68% to 68

$203.3

3.45

6/30/12

$29.5

Focusing on QLT091001, a synthetic retinoid replacement therapy for 11-cis-retinal, for which QLT plans to begin pivotal trials for Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA) in 1Q13 and for retinitis pigmentosa in 2Q13; expects restructuring to save $20M annually; retained Goldman Sachs to explore the sale or spinout of the company's Punctul Plug Drug Delivery System (PPDS); as part of the restructuring, QLT in September sold its rights to ophthalmic drug Visudyne verteporfin to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (TSX:VRX; NYSE:VRX) for $112.5M up front