Novartis has discontinued two undisclosed programs under its current partership with Voyager, the biotech announced last month. Projects under the deal for spinal muscular atrophy and Huntington’s disease continue to advance.
Reeling from losing a powerhouse partner, Voyager Therapeutics is parting ways with 30 employees, Fierce Biotech reported on Wednesday, citing a company spokesperson.
The layoffs come after Voyager last month revealed that key partner Novartis has abandoned two discovery-stage programs under their ongoing gene therapy collaboration. The biotech at the time did not indicate what specific programs the pharma was discontinuing or why. Nevertheless, Voyager insisted that Novartis’ decision will “not impact Voyager’s cash runway guidance.”
It is unclear how many employees will remain at Voyager after the layoffs, or when they will take effect. Voyager also did not specify how much is expected to be saved from this workforce reduction. By the end of 2024, the biotech had 172 full-time employees, according to its annual report.
Voyager and Novartis partnered in January 2024, with the pharma paying $100 million upfront and promising up to $1.2 billion in preclinical, development, regulatory and sales milestones. Under this deal, Voyager is also entitled to tiered royalties on future net global sales. Novartis gained access to Voyager’s programs for spinal muscular atrophy and Huntington’s disease under the agreement.
According to the biotech’s announcement last month, both of these projects, along with another program for an undisclosed target, are ongoing.
Beyond these Novartis-partnered programs, Voyager is working on its lead asset VY7523, an anti-tau antibody in Phase I development for Alzheimer’s disease. Topline findings released in March showed that the investigational therapy was well-tolerated, with no serious adverse events. VY7523 serum concentrations also increased in a dose-proportionate manner, Voyager said at the time.
Last month, the biotech said that dosing was ongoing in the final cohort in a multiple ascending dose study in Alzheimer’s.
Aside from VY7523, Voyager is also working on various gene therapies to silence tau and apolipoprotein E. Both of these programs are being proposed for Alzheimer’s disease, though have yet to enter the clinic.
Beyond Voyager, the last few months have been difficult for biopharma employees as companies continue to trim their headcounts. Also on Wednesday, Mythic Therapeutics moved to shutter and discontinue its sole clinical trial, leaving an undisclosed number of employees jobless. Last week, Geron Corporation terminated around a third of employees, with the savings diverted to boost commercial execution for the approved cancer drug Rytelo.
