Gilead Sciences has chosen to shut down its research and development operations in Durham.
The move is to adversely impact biotech jobs. The company will close its Durham office by year’s end in a move affecting 150 workers. Local employees of the biotechnology company were told last week that the company has decided to consolidate its research-and-development work on experimental treatments for hepatitis B and C at its headquarters in Foster City, California. Previously, the company divided that work between Durham and Foster City, according to newsobserver.com. No employees were laid off immediately.
According to San Francisco Business Times, the company will move about 30 research jobs to Foster City as it shuts down a facility in North Carolina.
Gilead entered this region in 2003 when it acquired the facility with its $464 million acquisition of Triangle Pharmaceuticals. Gilead’s Durham office conducts hepatitis B and C clinical development research. With the office shutdown, the company will exit the state.
Gilead has approximately 4,000 employees around the world. Corporate headquarters are located in Foster City, California. In 2009, Gilead’s annual revenues surpassed $7 billion.
Gilead’s primary areas of focus include HIV/AIDS, liver disease and serious cardiovascular and respiratory conditions.
In another development, it has emerged that Gilead Sciences and CGI Pharmaceuticals, a privately-held, development-stage pharmaceutical company focused on small molecule chemistry and kinase biology, have signed a definitive agreement pursuant to which Gilead will acquire CGI.
Under the terms of the agreement, Gilead will acquire CGI for up to $120 million, the majority as an upfront payment and the remaining based on clinical development progress, all of which will be financed through available cash on hand. Gilead anticipates that the deal would close in the third quarter of 2010, subject to satisfaction of certain closing conditions.
After closing, CGI will continue operations in Branford as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gilead.
Gilead’s portfolio of 13 marketed products includes a number of category firsts and market leaders, including Atripla (efavirenz 600 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/ tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg) – the first single-tablet regimen for HIV infection.
The company’s first product for HIV infection, Viread (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), has also more recently been approved for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B.
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