Auto-injectable drug maker Aktivax cuts 70 jobs, shuts two sites as it trims scale-up plans

Aktivax Pharma is shutting most operations, closing two out of three facilities and laying off 70 employees due to what the drug auto-injectable manufacturer refers to as “unexpected circumstances.”

“Unfortunately, some of our planning assumptions were not realized and we had to curtail our scale-up plans for the time being, which has led us to reduce our workforce until conditions change,” CEO Amir Genosar said in a statement to Endpoints News.

Amir Genosar

Layoffs by the Government-funded company will be spread across three sites in Colorado. Its headquarters at Broomfield and one of two sites at Fort Collins will close, as per a company letter to the state’s WARN Act coordinator. Affected roles include engineers, technicians and directors. The first staff separation occurred on Aug. 25.

Aktivax will continue to operate as a CDMO and is working on advanced packaging for biologics and mRNA treatments, Genosar’s statement said. The layoffs were first reported by the Denver Business Journal.

Aktivax, which has been working with the US government for the past 10 years, manufactures auto-injectable drug products. Its portfolio includes poisoning antidotes and treatments for uncontrolled bleeding.

In Oct 2022, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) awarded Aktivax a seven-year contract worth $45 million, with the potential to rise to $220 million, to supply emergency pralidoxime chloride auto-injectors for nerve agent poisonings. In the same month, the company received FDA approval for its drug container for sterile injectables.

Earlier, in March 2020, the US government additionally awarded Aktivax $24.5 million to develop a scopolamine hydrobromide autoinjector to manage organophosphate nerve agent exposure. Also, in the same month, BARDA awarded the company $16 million to develop a pralidoxime chloride auto-injector.

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