The new CEO of NuPathe (NASDAQ:PATH)followed through on his pledge to cut costs at the biopharmaceutical startup by reducingits workforce by half, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The cuts, which would amount to the loss of 18 jobsfroma staff of 43, come just three months before a PDUFA date for NP101 when the US Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to give a thumbs up or thumbs downforthetransdermal drug delivery patch to treat migraine headaches.The staff reduction is part of a series of cost-cutting measures the company has initiated to meet the conditions of a financing deal for $28 millionto give the company enough to operate through the fourth quarter of next year.

In July Armando Anido told MedCity Newshis number one priority was securing cash to ptovide sufficient resources to launch of the migraine patch.

Anido replaced Jane Hollingsworth, who started the company in 2006, and had previously suceeded her at Auxilium Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AUXL).

In addition to the job cuts, the company is also delayingthe fling of an investigational new drug application for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia until it canfind a partner to co-develop the drug.

The cuts comeroughly one year after NuPathe received a complete response letter for its migraine patch. The companyaddressed concerns raised by the letter earlier this year.

The Zelrix transdermal patch transmits sumatriptan with an electrical charge through the skin in a drug-delivery method known as iontophoresis. The delivery method was selected because nausea is one of the symptoms migraine headache sufferersexperience, and can make oral medication a challenge.

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