Unilife rotates staff to save $12 million

April 6, 2011 By MassDevice staff Leave a Comment

Unilife Corp. (NSDQ:UNIS) hopes to save $12 million this year as it makes cuts to its current workforce.

The York, Pa.-based medical device company is refocusing spending on its Unifill prefilled syringe, Unitract 1mL syringe, and the commercialization of other products, and the layoffs, which the company said eliminate redundancies, come as the company expands its sales and marketing team for the products.

The $12 million reduction is comprised of $5 million in savings on operating expenses and improving cash reserves by $7 million, according to the company.

The company last week began initial production of its Unifill prefilled safety syringes.

"Having completed the key industrial milestone of initial Unifill syringe production well ahead of schedule, Unilife can implement a planned realignment of its business structure to better service the needs of pharmaceutical customers and deliver value to shareholders," COO Ramin Mojdeh said in prepared remarks.

UNIS shares rose about 0.2 percent yesterday to close at $5.44, rising 1 cent for the day. The company’s shares, which in April 2010 traded as high as $7.90, fell as low as $4.15 on March 14.

The company reported losses of $10.4 million, or 19 cents per diluted share, on sales of $1.8 million during the three months ended Dec. 31, 2010. That compares with losses of $5.9 million, or 13 cents per diluted share, on sales of $3.2 million during the same period in 2009.

Unilife appointed Ramin Mojdeh COO on Feb. 7. He was formerly vice president and general manager of Becton Dickinson Pharmaceutical Systems and vice president of research and development for BD Medical.

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