Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
NEWS
Reata Pharmaceuticals was acquired by Biogen Inc. in September 2023.
Patient advocacy groups aided in the development of the very first marketed drugs for certain rare diseases, including progeria and Friedreich’s ataxia.
After a slow start to 2023 in an uncertain economic climate, biopharma mergers and acquisitions are on the rise.
The layoffs, set to take effect in late November, will impact about a third of Reata’s headcount. The workforce reduction comes just weeks after Biogen completed its $7.3 billion Reata buy.
Following a sweeping cost-cutting plan announced earlier this week, including an 11% workforce reduction, Biogen is acquiring Reata Pharmaceuticals to bolster its neurological and rare disease pipeline.
The FDA greenlit Reata Pharmaceuticals’ omaveloxolone (Skyclarys) as the first and only treatment for Friedreich’s ataxia, a rare, life-limiting neuromuscular disorder.
The FDA is expected to cap off February with a trio of verdicts, including one for a heart failure treatment and another potential first approval for a rare, neurodegenerative disease.
There are currently no disease-modifying treatments for Friedreich’s ataxia. That could change when the FDA makes a decision about Reata Pharmaceuticals’ omaveloxolone on Feb. 28.
Mergers and acquisitions are expected to be a key theme in the pharmaceutical industry in 2023.
Lately, there has been heightened attention to briefing documents in the CNS space, a notoriously tricky area to get drugs approved, which can affect company stock prices.
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