Immune to Cut Staff, Take Charge

Immune Response Corp. said Monday that it will fire 30% of its staff and take a 3-cents-a-share charge in the second quarter after a trial of its drug candidate failed to show that it’s better than existing treatments.

The company said it will dismiss 43 employees after Warner-Lambert Corp., which is helping develop Immune Response’s AIDS drug Remune, agreed to complete clinical trials that both hope will show the product is effective.

They’re continuing to develop Remune because an analysis of 10% of the 2,500 patients in the halted trial showed signs that the product reduced the HIV in their blood.

The expectation is that a change in the trial’s design could enable researchers to come up with evidence that the experimental drug works, analysts said.

Shares of Carlsbad, Calif.-based Immune Response fell 13 cents to close at $5.63 on Nasdaq.