Medical device company Delcath (NSDQ:DCTH) fired 33% of its workforce, amounting to 21 employees , as the company looks for avenues to save some cash and "increase operating efficiencies".
As of the end of last month Delcath had about $28 million in cash and cash equivalents, and the new restructuring efforts are expected to help the company save about $10 million per year, according to a press release.
Delcath has had a rough year, with DCTH shares down 66% since opening at $1.24 on January 2. Delcath last month ousted president & CEO Eamonn Hobbs, just days after the company revealed that it had received an FDA "complete response letter," finalizing the agency’s decision not to approve Delcath’s targeted liver cancer therapy device.
The company has been under pressure since an FDA advisory panel last spring recommended against approval for the Melblez device. The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 16-0 that the risks associated with Delcath’s Melblez Kit are higher than its potential benefits for patients with unresectable ocular melanoma metastatic to the liver. News of the panel’s vote sent DCTH shares down 43.5% to 44.7¢ on May 3. That marked the 2nd giant dip in less than a month, following a 40% Wall Street slide after a preliminary FDA briefing blamed the Melblez device for the deaths of 8 of 122 patients.
Analysts predicted at the time that the FDA would require more studies before advancing the device for approval.