SiliconBeat

Menlo Park medical device maker Xtent told 47 regular employees and 26 part-time they were losing their jobs, according to a filing the company made Thursday with the SEC. The cuts total 34 percent of Xtent’s workforce.

The company also said that its vice president of sales and marketing, Brian Walsh, is quitting Friday to become CEO of “”a private opthalmics company.” Also stepping down Friday is the company’s general counsel, Jeffry Grainger, who will remain as a non-executive employee through Aug. 1, after which the company said it “expects” Grainger would continue providing service as a consultant.

The firings are expected to cost between $450,000 to $500,000, the charges for which will mostly be taken this quarter. It estimated that the “average monthly cost savings from the workforce reduction initiative combined with other cost saving initiatives planned by the company will be approximately $1.3 million.”

Prior to the filing shares of Xtent had risen 47 cents Wednesday, or 18 percent, to $3.08 on a positive view of the company’s stock by an analyst at RBC Capital Markets who said said its drug-coated stents could represent a breakthrough in the toughest heart disease cases. The shares rose another five cents, or 1.6 percent, Thursday after the news.