Nucleic acid therapy developer Exicure said its agreements with Ipsen to develop therapies for rare, neurologic disorders and a separate agreement with AbbVie to to develop treatments for hair loss disorders, have been terminated.
Photo: Matthias Schroff, CEO of Exicure
Exicure said as a result of the terminations, it will regain the right to pursue these conditions independently. Ipsen, though, retains the right re-enter into the collaboration with Exicure in Huntington’s Disease and Angelman’s Syndrome.
The news comes following a series of setbacks for Exicure that include an announcement in September that the company would wind down is preclinical programs and suspend all research and development activity as it cut its workforce by 66 percent.
The company’s CEO resigned in February after two months on the job as several top executives and board members also left the company. That came after the board conducted an independent internal investigation that found the company’s former group lead of neuroscience misreported raw data from experiments related to its Friedreich ataxia program.
As of the end of the third quarter, the company said it had $16.8 million in cash, enough to fund operations until the second quarter of 2023.
“I want to thank both AbbVie and Ipsen for their support and partnership in these joint decisions. They were both tremendous companies to be associated with and extremely helpful and collaborative in developing and advancing the terminated discovery programs,” said Matthias Schroff, CEO of Exicure. “In addition to these actions, Exicure is exploring strategic alternatives focused on maximizing stockholder value.”
Author: Rare Daily Staff
Stay Connected
Sign up for updates straight to your inbox.