SiliconBeat

Maxygen, the Redwood City biotech company that hired Lazard last October to help it explore “strategic options” about the same time it laid off 30 percent of its staff, announced plans today for a deal with Astellas Pharma of Japan that will transfer most of its research and development operations and personnel to the a new joint venture funded by $10 million co-payments by both companies.

Maxygen will contribute substantially all of its Read the rest of this entry »

A month after it announced plans to cut 30 percent of its staff during the first quarter of 2009 “in order to preserve cash”, Maxygen released details today about bonuses being paid to its top officers, including $200,000 for its chief executive Russell Howard.

Eighty percent of the 2008 cash bonus plan was based on company performance while the remaining 20 percent was “discretionary”. Total performance goals were Read the rest of this entry »

In a move to preserve cash, Maxygen said Wednesday it plans to cut its staff by 30 percent in the first quarter next year, a move that will leave it with some 65 employees when it is completed. The Redwood City biotechnology company said it will stage staggered terminations during the quarter beginning in January in both its operational and general-and-administrative departments. The company said it would provide “outplacement support and a severance package for each affected employee.”

Maxygen has also “retained Read the rest of this entry »

Maxygen, the Redwood City bio-pharmaceutical company, will consolidate its operations by closing its Danish subsidiary and relocating its research-and-development activities to its Silicon Valley location. The move is expected to boost its local headcount by about 25
employees.

Russell Howard, Maxygen’s chief executive, cited the “weakening dollar” for
“significantly” increasing the cost of operating its Denmark facility, in a press release included with the company’s 8-K filing announcing the move.

This year has not been kind to Maxygen shares which have lost about a third of their value so far in 2007. They touched a 52-week low of $6.12 on Nov. 2.

On Monday, the company announced in a filing with the SEC that end of its collaboration
agreement with Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, in their efforts to jointly develop and commercialize MAXY-alpha, Maxygen’s treatment of Hepatitis C virus and Hepatitis B virus. Roche had initiated a Phase Ia trial of the treatment in November 2006, but put a voluntarily hold on further clinical development in September. Based on an evaluation of the data collected by Roche, the two companies agreed to discontinue the clinical development of the drug.

All rights to the MAXY-alpha product revert back to Maxygen, which is currently “evaluating” its plans for the continued development of the drug.

In a November 19 filing, Maxygen said it would see about $7 million in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2007 under its license agreement with Codexis, a company Maxygen spun-out in 2003 that uses Maxygen chemical-research technology to develop applications related to energy development.

Maxygen’s ownership interest in Codexis was reduced to approximately 25 percent following an equity investment in Codexis by Royal Dutch Shell. Shell will expand its collaboration agreement with Codexis for the development of new super enzymes to convert biomass to fuel.