On Wednesday, Wilmington-based PPD released 80 employees from their downtown headquarters, but the company does not plan any more cuts.

“Demand for our services in North America has been lower than we expected. Over the past year, we have taken steps to cut unnecessary expenses, drive efficiencies and reorganize in ways to best address the needs of our clients,” said Louise Caudle, a spokesperson with PPD, in a statement.

The clinical research organization is one of Wilmington’s largest employers, with about 1,600 employees. Further cuts were made across the company’s North America locations, for a total of 270 people released.

The company has 5,800 employees in North America and about 10,000 worldwide.

“Although the current CRO market is challenging and required us to take this action, we remain very optimistic about the long-term prospects for the CRO industry as a whole and our company in particular,” Caudle said. “We have an extremely talented global work force of dedicated clinical research professionals and a strong backlog of global business, as noted above. With these assets and our financial strength, we believe we are well-positioned to ride out these troubling economic times and have no other plans for additional reductions in force.”