NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – WaferGen Bio-systems announced today a reorganization of its business, which resulted in the elimination of about 20 jobs during the first quarter.
The Fremont, Calif.-based firm said additional cost-cutting measures are being implemented, but it didn't provide details.
According to a recent 10-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, WaferGen ended 2011 with 54 employees, including 52 full-time employees.
The steps taken will reduce the monthly burn rate by 30 percent to about $700,000, WaferGen said, adding that the measures will provide it greater operational flexibility. The company ended the first quarter with approximately $12 million in cash, it said.
WaferGen President and CEO Ivan Trifunovich said in a statement that the firm's focus will be on its core competencies, "engineering and validation of a variety of chemistries to provide an open format for cost-effective gene expression and genotyping analysis, as well as target enrichment" for next-generation sequencing.
In its Form 10-K, WaferGen said its 2011 revenues fell more than four-fold to $522,931 from $2.2 million in 2010. Its net loss for 2011 increased to $13.1 million, or $.55 per share, from a net loss of $12.1 million, or $.35 per share, in 2010.