As part of a strategic reorganization intended in part to support the ongoing launch of its postpartum depression drug, Sage Therapeutics is cutting more than 165 employees.
About a week after announcing it’s discontinuing the development of dalzanemdor in Alzheimer’s disease comes news that Sage Therapeutics will lay off over 165 employees, or about 33% of its workforce.
The workforce reduction is part of a strategic reorganization of the company’s business operations, according to Sage’s Oct. 17 announcement. The cuts will include roughly 55% of the Cambridge, Massachusetts–based biotech’s R&D workforce and five members of its leadership team. The company expects to mostly complete the layoffs by the end of 2024.
According to Sage, the reorganization is meant to support the ongoing launch of Zurzuvae in postpartum depression and focus pipeline development efforts for drug candidate dalzanemdor in Huntington’s disease ahead of a clinical study expected later this year. It’s also intended to extend Sage’s cash runway, although the company did not specify for how long. The biotech expects a nonrecurring charge of about $26 million to $28 million associated with the reorganization, mostly incurred in the fourth quarter.
Sage launched Zurzuvae in partnership with Biogen in late 2023 and announced strong results: $1.6 million in sales that it split with its partner. Approved in 2023, Zurzuvae is the first pill cleared for postpartum depression. The FDA did not greenlight it for use in major depressive disorder.
Dalzanemdor, meanwhile, has had multiple challenges. Most recently, it missed the primary endpoint in a Phase II LIGHTWAVE study in Alzheimer’s disease, failing to significantly improve intelligence versus placebo, Sage announced Oct. 8. The company noted that a Phase II trial of the candidate in Huntington’s disease, DIMENSION, was ongoing.
However, analysts were unimpressed when dalzanemdor in June cleared the Phase II SURVEYOR study and showed statistically significant improvements in the Huntington’s Disease-Cognitive Assessment Battery composite score. One analyst, William Blair, noted it did not “view the small numerical changes as definitive.”
Also, in April, Sage reported that dalzanemdor failed the Phase II PRECEDENT trial in Parkinson’s disease, where it was unable to elicit significant improvements in the WAIS-IV Coding Test versus placebo. Sage scrapped its Parkinson’s program for the candidate.
The biotech’s leadership changes include letting go of five employees:
- Kimi Iguchi, chief financial officer
- Matt Lasmanis, chief technology and innovation officer
- Anne Marie Cook, senior vice president and general counsel
- Heinrich Schlieker, senior vice president of technical operations
- Amy Schacterle, senior vice president of R&D strategy and business management
