Business & Tech

Amylin Scores With Bydureon Diabetes Drug, Then Is Told Bye-Bye

La Jolla-based operations to close in 2015 after recent purchase by Bristol-Myers Squibb.

La Jolla’s Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. could be likened to bipolar disorder victim—going from the highest highest to the lowest lows.

At the local Connect Most Innovative New Product Awards in December, Harry Leonhardt, a senior vice president of Amylin, accepted an award in the medical products category for the company’s diabetes drug, Bydureon.

But as the San Diego Daily Transcript recounted last week, Leonhardt said: “The timing of this award for us is bittersweet. While others remain, many of us here today will be winding down our time at Amylin in the coming days and weeks.”

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That’s because Amylin will close its 266,000-square-foot headquarters at 9625 Towne Centre Drive by early 2015, “leaving behind hundreds of laid off employees and a plethora of empty office and lab space,” the Transcript reported.

The San Diego Business Journal reported how Bristol-Myers Squibb, which acquired Amylin last year in a multibillion-dollar deal, employs 420 in San Diego. 

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“Some of the San Diego employees will be considered for relocation, and the others will receive severance,” Business Journal said.

 “We are eliminating redundant positions in order to simplify our operations, reduce costs and increase our efficiency,” said Frederick Egenolf, Bristol-Myers Squibb spokesman, told the Transcript via email.

“By the end of 2014, we plan to have all work being done in San Diego transitioned to other Bristol-Myers Squibb sites,” Egenolf was quoted as saying.

A small number of employees will close down the San Diego facilities by the end of first quarter of 2015, he said.


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