BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

Vical cancer, infectious news

September 2, 2013 7:00 AM UTC

Vical will reduce headcount by 47 (39%) to about 74. The cuts include Alain Rolland, who departed as EVP of product development. Last month, the biotech discontinued development of Allovectin velimogene aliplasmid after top-line data from the single-blind, international Phase III AIMM trial in 390 chemotherapy-naïve patients with recurrent stage III or IV metastatic melanoma showed that the product missed the primary endpoint. Vical expects its cash burn for 2H13, including the restructuring, to be $13-$15 million. Vical had about $70 million in cash at June 30, which the company expects will last through 2015. Vical reported a six-month operating loss of $19.2 million at June 30 (see BioCentury, Aug. 19).

Vical also reiterated its plans to focus its resources on its infectious disease vaccine programs. The company's ASP0113 is in a Phase III trial to prevent cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation in CMV-seropositive hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Partner Astellas Pharma Inc. (Tokyo:4503, Tokyo, Japan), which has exclusive, worldwide rights to develop and commercialize ASP0113, plans to complete enrollment of the Phase III trial in late 2015, with trial completion slated for late 2016. ASP0113 is a DNA vaccine encoding phosphoprotein 65 and glycoprotein B formulated with poloxamer (see BioCentury, July 18, 2011). ...