Neurology biotech Voyager Therapeutics has laid off 30 employees, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts-based company confirmed to Fierce Biotech.
The layoffs come after the November announcement, tucked in Voyager’s third-quarter earnings report, that Novartis has discontinued two discovery-stage programs from the pair’s ongoing team-up, returning the rights to Voyager.
Programs for Huntington’s disease, spinal muscular atrophy and another undisclosed target were unaffected by the decision, Voyager said at the time.
“Voyager evaluates its business needs on an ongoing basis to ensure it has the appropriate workforce and expertise to support its business goals,” the spokesperson explained Wednesday.
At the time of publication, Voyager had not responded to Fierce’s questions about the number of employees left at the company or whether the layoffs are related to Novartis’ decision to discontinue the programs. The biotech employs between 51 and 200 people, according to its LinkedIn page.
Voyager has one clinical asset, a tau-targeting antibody in a phase 1 study for Alzheimer’s disease. The biotech plans to launch another asset, a tau-silencing small interference RNA molecule called VY1706, into clinical trials next year, according to Voyager’s third-quarter earnings report.
The company is also pursuing a gene therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis but had to delay its efforts on that front earlier this year to find a new payload.
Also in November, Voyager took off on a new research collaboration with Transition Bio to discover and develop small molecules for neurodegenerative diseases. Voyager paid its new partner a single-digit million-dollar upfront payment, with additional payments up to $500 million possible if certain milestones are met.
As of Sept. 30, Voyager had $229 million stored in its cargo, according to the earnings report.