Valeant to Cut Addyi Sales Force - Drug Discovery and Development

In response to six months of disappointing sales of female libido drug, Addyi, Valeant Pharmaceuticals has terminated its sales force — which means that 140 contract workers will be laid off.

The Canadian drugmaker plans to relaunch its sales effort later this year with a team it will assemble internally, according to Bloomberg sources.

In addition to the Addyi contract workers, Valeant is dismissing 140 workers across its dermatology, gastrointestinal and women’s health divisions, in a restructuring effort. Valeant has approximately 22,000 employees.

“While the former team did a great job getting regulatory approval for Addyi, and despite our best efforts with respect to commercialization, sales of Addyi have not met our expectations yet,” Valeant CEO J. Michael Pearson told employees in a memo obtained by Bloomberg.

Addyi won FDA approval in August 2015 amid controversial claims that the drug works minimally better than a placebo, and has substantially harmful side effects.

Sales of Addyi never really took off, partly due to limited insurance coverage for the pill, reported Bloomberg.

Valeant has recently dealt with several issues: Its CEO is leaving after the company reported weak fourth-quarter results. Valeant’s business practices of extensively increasing the costs of acquired drugs have been questioned. And the company is seeking to waive a default and loosen restrictions on its debt.