Lexicon Reorganizes And Cuts R&D jobs

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals is reorganizing to cut costs and increase the efficiency of its R&D operations. It will reduce staff by about 100 people, or 20% of its workforce, at its headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas, and its Princeton, N.J., facility. Among those leaving are Chief Financial Officer Julia Gregory, Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical Biology Jim Piggott, and David Boulton, vice president of technology and operations in New Jersey. The company expects to save about $4 million in the remainder of this year and $10 million on an annualized basis. Lexicon began reorganizing in early 2007 to focus resources on clinical development while maintaining a discovery effort on certain drug targets.