Impax cuts 110 jobs, expects to save $15 million

Impax Laboratories Inc said it cut about 110 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce, mainly in its Hayward, California plant, more than four months after U.S. health regulators denied approval to the company's Parkinson's drug citing concerns about the manufacturing practices at the plant.

The company said in early March that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had re-inspected the facility and made 12 observations, three of which had been raised previously.

The FDA denied approval to Impax's experimental Parkinson's disease drug, Rytary, in January.

Impax, which has more than 100 generic products, first received a warning letter on the plant in June 2011.

The job cut is expected to help the company save about $15 million. Impax would take a related charge of about $2.4 million in the second quarter, it said.

The company has 1,125 employees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

"The reductions became necessary as a result of lower production volumes at the Hayward facility due to the transfer of products to the company's more cost-efficient Taiwan plant, previously announced product discontinuances and delayed product launches," Impax said in a statement.

Impax will also cut 20 contract sales jobs due to a delay in the approval of Rytary.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc , who had the rights to develop and market the drug outside the United States and Taiwan, ended the collaboration in April due to regulatory and launch delays in the countries.

Impax shares were up 1 percent at $18.96 in early trading on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Pallavi Ail in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)