Layoffs at Medicis top 300, with 117 staffers chosen to stay

The layoff toll at Medicis Pharmaceutical has topped 300, the Phoenix Business Journal reports. Valeant Pharmaceuticals ($VRX), which wrapped up its buyout of the Arizona-based skin drug company last week, has cut 319 staffers--and kept 117--as it integrates Medicis into its own dermatology operations. The company had pegged the layoffs at "a couple hundred."