Biotech, Layoffs, Cystic Fibrosis

Altus Cuts 75 Percent of Staff

Luke Timmerman 1/26/09

Altus Pharmaceuticals, a Waltham, MA-based biotech company, said today in a regulatory filing it is eliminating 107 jobs, or 75 percent of its workforce, and halting development of an experimental cystic fibrosis drug to conserve cash. Altus, which will now have 35 employees, is handing back the rights to Trizytek to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Altus shares (NASDAQ: ALTU) plunged more than 50 percent this morning on the news to 26 cents.

Luke Timmerman is the National Biotechnology Editor for Xconomy. You can e-mail him at ltimmerman@xconomy.com, call 206-624-2374, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ldtimmerman.