Vical Restructures

Vical, Inc. has restructured to conserve capital. The company will eliminate 47 positions, or approximately 39% of its total workforce, after which, it will have approximately 74 employees. The company is also focusing its resources on its infectious disease vaccine programs and terminating activities related to Allovectin, its investigational cancer immunotherapy, which recently failed to meet Phase III efficacy endpoints. The company expects to incur restructuring charges of approximately $2.2 million in 3Q13.
 
“We have evaluated our organization and priorities and are restructuring to extend our cash runway to ensure that our promising infectious disease vaccine programs are adequately resourced to create maximum shareholder value,” said Vijay Samant, Vical’s president and chief executive officer. “This has been a very difficult process and we regret the impact this business decision has on our departing employees. We acknowledge their commitment and contributions to Vical over the years and wish them continued success.”
 
Vical’s infectious disease vaccine programs include: a Phase III trial of ASP0113, an investigational therapeutic designed to control cytomegalovirus (CMV) in transplant recipients; a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its Vaxfectin vaccine against herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2); and Vaxfectin-formulated CyMVectin prophylactic vaccine for CMV infection before and during pregnancy.