By Lisa Seachrist

Washington Editor

WASHINGTON — Alpha-Beta Technology Inc. has restructured and cut its work force by 37 percent in an attempt to reduce operating costs and focus on preparing to file a product license application (PLA) for its lead product, Betafectin PGG glucan, a non-antibiotic infection-fighting glucose polymer.

The move comes seven weeks after the Worcester, Mass., company's stock fell 43 percent following mixed results for Betafectin in its Phase III pivotal trial.

"It's always a difficult thing to do," said Bill Romeo, vice president of finance at Alpha-Beta. "But ultimately it's going to strengthen Alpha-Beta by allowing us to focus on getting an approval for Betafectin and to conserve on cash."

Romeo said the staff reduction occurred at all levels of the company and in all programs, but the largest decrease came in manufacturing and manufacturing development programs. The company estimates the restructuring, in addition to the fact it isn't running a pivotal trial, will reduce costs from roughly $7 million per quarter to $4.5 million.

Equivocal results from the pivotal trial of its anti-infective immunomodulator Betafectin served as the impetus for the restructuring.

In early August, the company announced Betafectin, which was being studied for prevention of serious post-operative infections, reduced those infections by nearly 40 percent in non-colorectal gastrointestinal surgeries. However, the drug appeared to have no effect for patients who underwent colon resections, large bowel surgery and colorectal cancer surgery.

Because small bowel, gastric, biliary and pancreatic surgeries are much more invasive procedures and are often performed in cancer patients who are already immunocompromised, the company intends to file a PLA for an indication in those surgeries.

Romeo told BioWorld Today Alpha-Beta is designing a clinical trial to confirm Betafectin's efficacy for non-colorectal gastrointestinal procedures and is in discussion with the FDA over how best to design the study. The company still doesn't know if it will need to perform the trial before it files a PLA or if it can file and complete the study in a post-market environment.

"Restructuring was the prudent thing to do in order to ensure the overall success of Betafectin," Romeo said.

Alpha-Beta's stock (NASDAQ:ABTI) closed Friday at $3.375, down $0.219. As of June 30, 1997, the company had $24.8 million cash. *