Today, a brief rundown of news from Evotec and Vistagen, as well as updates from Immutep, Pierre Fabre Laboratories and Ultragenyx that you may have missed.
Evotec is laying off more staff, announcing Wednesday it will cut 800 jobs as part of a broader strategic shift. The downsizing for the German contract development and manufacturing firm is the latest phase of a transformation that’s been significantly reducing its physical footprint. The company first began restructuring in 2024 amid a slowdown in early-stage research spending that saw it exit the gene therapy business. It’s since rejected a buyout offer from Halozyme Therapeutics, expressing confidence in its future as an independent company. — Delilah Alvarado
Vistagen is also cutting back, revealing in a regulatory filing this week that its board had approved plans to reduce its workforce by about 20%. Vistagen said the layoffs are intended to provide “disciplined cash management” while prioritizing testing of its lead drug, a kind of nasal spray it’s developing for social anxiety disorder. The company will report Phase 3 results in the first half of 2026 and expects to have enough cash to operate into 2027. Vistagen had 59 full-time employees as of Dec. 31. — Ben Fidler
Shares of Immutep lost more than 80% of their value Friday after a Phase 3 study testing its lead drug in frontline lung cancer was halted early. According to Immutep, a group of independent trial monitors recommended stopping the study — which added its therapy eftilagimod alfa to Merck & Co.’s Keytruda and chemotherapy and compared the three-drug regimen to Keytruda and chemo alone — for futility. The company will now “reassess” its financial priorities once it fully reviews the data, it said in a statement. — Ben Fidler
The Food and Drug Administration will meet with Pierre Fabre Pharmaceuticals to discuss the agency’s rejection of the company’s cell therapy Ebvallo. U.S. regulators in January spurned Ebvallo for a second time, reversing an earlier position by claiming that the evidence generated by Pierre Fabre and partner Atara Biotherapeutics wasn’t sufficient — one of several times drug companies have recently accused the FDA of shifting previous guidance. Pierre Fabre said it will provide an update on the meeting’s outcome the second quarter. Ebvallo was approved in Europe in 2022 for a deadly complication of organ and stem cell transplantation linked to Epstein-Barr virus infections. — Delilah Alvarado
An experimental gene therapy from Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical hit its first main goal in a Phase 3 study testing it against a rare metabolic disorder. When compared to a placebo, the therapy, DTX301, helped significantly reduce levels of ammonia in the blood in patients with ornithine transcarbamylase, or OTC, deficiency. The study will continue to its second main endpoint, which will test how well treatment can reduce the need for other drugs and certain dietary restrictions. While the program isn’t a “core focus for investors,” it’s still a needed “clinical win” for Ultragenyx, wrote Leerink Partners analyst Joseph Schwartz. One of Ultragenyx’s drugs for a rare bone disease recently failed in testing, triggering a share sell-off and a restructuring. The FDA also rejected a gene therapy the company is developing for Sanfilippo syndrome. — Ben Fidler
