BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. reduced its staff by 43 percent, two weeks after canceling a Phase III trial.

The Birmingham, Ala.-based firm said it needed to conserve resources. It said it is reducing its staff by 30 employees, which would leave 45 on staff. BioCryst said the money saved would stretch its currently reported cash, cash equivalents and investments of $41.7 million for a longer time than previous estimates of two and a half years.

But the initial estimates were made before it terminated its peramivir (RWJ-270201) program for influenza.

"Certainly the results of our peramivir trial prompted us to have to go back and revisit all of our strategic directions," Chief Financial Officer Randy Pittman said. "It was one of those things that a company has to do when it's in the development phase and has to focus on the most important things."

Preliminary findings showed no statistically significant difference in the primary efficacy endpoint - the length of time from the first dose to the onset of clinically significant relief of influenza symptoms - between those treated with the orally active small molecule and placebo (p=0.17).

That was the last straw for the investigational neuraminidase inhibitor.

"The study was blinded until we analyzed the results, so [we had no such prior indications]," Pittman said.

But the program had a few missteps long before it ended. The trial, which began in February 2000, targeted 1,300 patients. Peramivir initially was jointly developed by BioCryst and Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals Inc. and the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, both New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson companies.

But J&J dropped the drug program in May 2001. BioCryst continued on its own. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 4, 2002.)

"Most [potential] partners were interested in seeing Phase III results, but that's a moot point now," Pittman said.

BioCryst said it would shift its focus to other development programs, including BCX-1777, which is in a Phase I/II trial for patients with T-cell leukemias and lymphomas, and discovery programs of tissue factor/factor VIIa. Pittman said BioCryst identified a compound with which to work and would move ahead with its further development.

"We would certainly be interested in partnership relationships on any of our programs down the road," Pittman said. "[But] one of the reasons we did what we did was to shore up and maintain a fairly sizable and significant cash resource that can give us the resources to develop these products on our own for the next couple of years and get them a little further along before we [enter] a partnership."

Less-advanced programs include a hepatitis C polymerase and complement component C1s, the latter in partnership with Yardley, Pa.-based 3D Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Last July, BioCryst's stock (NASDAQ:BCRX) traded at $6.59 per share. But its price had dropped as low as 60 cents in recent weeks. On Thursday, it gained 26 cents to close at $1.20.