To operate with current cash reserves for approximately two more years without the need for additional equity financing, biopharmaceutical company Synta has announced a workforce reduction of 90 positions, to a total of approximately 130 positions.

Workforce reductions have been made across the organization while maintaining strength in core capabilities of discovery and development to support the goals of new partnerships and achieving clinical proof of concept by 2010, without the need for further capital, the company said.

Safi Bahcall, President and CEO of Synta, said: “This restructuring is unfortunately a necessity in light of the results of our Phase 3 clinical trial of elesclomol in metastatic melanoma. These decisions are never easy, and my heartfelt sympathies go out to these employees and their families.

“However, we needed to act now to ensure that Synta has the resources, independent of external financial conditions, to continue to advance our most promising pipeline compounds and research programs. These programs have generated substantial interest among our scientific and medical collaborators, as well as potential pharmaceutical industry partners, and we share our collaborators’ excitement for their future potential.”

Synta has five programs in clinical or preclinical development and several others in the discovery stage, representing diverse mechanisms, chemical structures, and market opportunities.