Targanta cutting workforce by 75%

Targanta Therapeutics Corp., which failed on Dec. 9 to gain US regulatory approval for its antibiotic for complicated skin infections, said it would fire 86 employees, or 75 percent of its workforce.

Targanta said it would restructure the focus of the company in light of its failure to win clearance for oritavancin, which would have been its first product, the Cambridge company said.