Gaithersburg vaccine developer Novavax plans to dismiss 30 percent of its workforce after development of a critical vaccine stumbled in the final stages of regulatory review, the company announced as part of an earnings statement this week.

The company indicated it would spend between $3 million and $4 million on severance expenses and other restructuring costs. About 160 people will lose their jobs in Maryland.

“We will miss our colleagues who have helped us get this far and thank them for all their enormous contributions,” chief executive Stanley Erck said in a call with investors. “With hard work and a bit of good fortune, we hope to welcome them back in the future.”

The company’s stock price lost 15 percent of its value the morning after announcing its third quarter earnings on Wednesday.

The company reported a loss of $66.3 million — twice its financial losses last year — on revenue totaling $3.2 million. Such heavy losses are common among biotechnology companies, which spend tens of millions of dollars on research as they push new treatments through the Food and Drug Administration’s onerous review process.

Biotech stocks tend to be especially volatile in part because the difference between wild profits and steep losses can hinge entirely on regulators’ approval.

The downsizing is a blow to economic development boosters in suburban Maryland, who have touted the region’s biotech industry as a key creator of high-paying jobs.

State and local officials in Maryland made a big bet on Novavax this summer when they approved $7.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants and loans to help the company pay for its expansion. The company signed a 14-year lease on a new 150,000 square foot office in Gaithersburg, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said in a statement at the time that Novavax would add up to 850 jobs and retain the 400 it then employed.

That was before disappointing results from a trial of a key vaccine meant to treat Respiratory Syncytial Virus, a common virus that primarily affects infants and the elderly.

The company failed to meet a critical milestone in proving the vaccine’s effectiveness in the last of three phases of regulatory approval, when the vaccine showed “low attack rates and absence of efficacy” in a trial results released in September. Investors soured on the company and its stock price immediately lost more than 80 percent of its value.

This week Novavax said it would continue to operate its pending RSV trial, but was unclear about whether it will start another trial. The company also said it wants to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial for a Zika vaccine, joining host of competing companies testing potential vaccines.

A Novavax spokesperson said company employed 500 people in the United States and 36 in Europe before the job cuts were announced. The cuts will only take place in the United States

In response to questions about whether the company would still be able to reach its job creation targets, a Novavax spokesperson said the downsizing is meant to free up cash as the company reprioritizes its drug pipeline.