Vertex cutting jobs on waning Incivek sales

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTX) reported 3Q13 financial results on Tuesday and said it will reduce headcount by 370 (15%) to about 1,800 as a result of the "continued and rapid decline" in sales of its HCV drug Incivek telaprevir. The company -- which has seen Incivek sales fall as doctors and patients wait for all-oral combination therapies -- reported 3Q13 Incivek revenues of $85.6 million, down 66% from $254.3 million in 3Q12 and down 45% from $155.8 million in 2Q13. On a conference call to discuss its financial results, Vertex said the cuts will primarily come from groups related to the promotion and development of Incivek, which the company launched in May 2011.

Vertex said it will now focus on opportunities in cystic fibrosis (CF) and R&D for its remaining pipeline, which includes VX-135, a nucleotide HCV NS5B polymerase inhibitor in Phase II testing as part of an all-oral regimen for HCV. Revenues of the company's CF drug Kalydeco ivacaftor grew 105% in 3Q13 to $101.1 million. The small molecule potentiator of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulatory ( CFTR) gene is approved as monotherapy to treat CF in patients six years of age and older who have at least one copy of the G551D mutation in the CFTR gene. ...