Originally published Monday, August 4, 2008 at 12:00 AM

MDRNA laying off 30% of its staff, including president

Biotech firm MDRNA said today that it will terminate 23 employees, or about 30 percent of its workforce, mostly from its waning intranasal...

By Ángel González

Seattle Times business reporter

Biotech firm MDRNA said today that it will terminate 23 employees, or about 30 percent of its workforce, mostly from its waning intranasal therapy franchise.

The terminations include President Gordon Brandt, Chief Scientific Officer Henry Constantino, and Chief Business Officer Timothy Duffy. Most employees will be laid off by Aug. 31, the company said as it released it second-quarter financial results.

MDRNA, formerly known as Nastech, said last week that its experimental nasal spray to treat obesity had failed at a midstage clinical trial.

MDRNA has been struggling since Procter & Gamble pulled out of a potentially lucrative research partnership with the company last November, after it determined a nasal spray for the treatment of osteoporosis wasn't working as well as expected.

The company signaled a new direction in June, when it announced a name change and a new chief executive officer, and said it would focus on RNA interference therapeutics, a frontier field in biotechnology.

Ángel González: 206-515-5644 or agonzalez@seattletimes.com

More Business & Technology headlines...

E-mail article Print view Share: Digg Newsvine

More Business & Technology

Facebook's future: Web 3.0?

Tech execs double as scourges and sages at Allen & Co.'s media summit

Brier Dudley: Brier Dudley | Learning hard lessons from Boeing giveaways

Symantec, McAfee add firepower to market-share war

Interface: UIEvolution helps content providers get mobile

Advertising

Video

2009 fireworks time lapse
With strict parking rules enforced at this year's July 4th celebration on Wallingford Ave North, less cars and more spectators filled the streets.