Acelyrin is in the rough.
The drug developer that deployed a strategy of in-licensing or acquiring “diamonds in the rough” is now facing a harsh reality and halting most plans on its lead late-stage asset izokibep, scrapping an earlier-stage experimental medicine and laying off 33% of its workforce, according to a quarterly update announced post-market on Tuesday. Acelyrin had 130 full-time employees as of March 15 and about 40 staffers will be impacted, recently-appointed CEO Mina Kim told Endpoints News.
Acelyrin is now zeroing in on one drug that it hopes will enter Phase 3 testing early next year: the injectable lonigutamab for thyroid eye disease. It hopes to compete with Amgen’s Tepezza in the autoimmune eye disease, which has also attracted R&D investment from a crowded field of other biotechs like argenx, Immunovant, Viridian and others.
The moves come amid a shape-shifting moment for the company. Three months ago,
