Aileron Therapeutics’ unraveling has entered its endgame. An early look at phase 1b data persuaded the biotech to call it quits on development of its sole drug candidate—and lay off most of its remaining staff to hunker down while searching for an exit.
In 2017, Aileron raised $56 million in an IPO to fund clinical development of ALRN-6924, a stapled peptide that it originally pitched as a way to reactivate p53-mediated tumor suppression. Almost six years later, the biotech has finally given up on ALRN-6924, throwing in the towel after its pivot to focus on the prevention of chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression failed to bear fruit.
Aileron decided to terminate the phase 1b chemoprotection breast cancer clinical trial and stop further development of ALRN-6924 after taking a look at initial data from the study. The analysis revealed people experienced grade 4 neutropenia and alopecia after receiving ALRN-6924 and chemotherapy.
The finding suggests ALRN-6924 has failed to work as Aileron hoped. The biotech designed the study to show the candidate protects multiple healthy cell types from chemotherapy without protecting cancer cells. To test that hypothesis, Aileron selected the incidence of grade 2 alopecia and grade 4 neutropenia, common side effects of chemotherapy, as two of its endpoints.
In light of the disappointing data, Aileron has decided to lay off six of its remaining nine staff over the coming weeks. The step continues the long-running reduction of the biotech’s head count. Aileron ended 2018 with 23 full-time employees but thinned its ranks over the following two years.
The remaining three staff will work with financial services company Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. to find a strategic alternative for the biotech. An acquisition, merger, business combination or sale of assets are all theoretically on the table. Aileron ended September with $25.5 million in the bank. Beyond that, the biotech has a Nasdaq listing, a peptide drug technology and ALRN-6924 to offer to potential buyers.