Idorsia may have negotiated a $35 million payday ahead of a potential licensing deal for its hypertension drug Tryvio, but that won’t be enough to save the 270 roles the company is looking to cut.
Most of the affected roles—the exact number of which will depend on a consultation with employee representatives—will be located in R&D as well as support functions at the company’s Allschwil, Switzerland, headquarters.
Some of these staffers could potentially be allowed to “continue their efforts to make [Tryvio] a success,” according to the release, should the heavily trailed licensing deal come to fruition. Tryvio, the first approved medicine to target the endothelin pathway as opposed to the typical methods of other antihypertensive therapies, received the nod from the FDA in March to treat high blood pressure when combined with other antihypertensive drugs.
“The company is committed to minimizing the number of potential redundancies through natural attrition, retirement, transfer along with [Tryvio] and other measures,” Idorsia explained in a Nov. 27 release. The layoffs will likely be concluded before year-end, the company said.
As for the ongoing deal for the global rights to Tryvio, Idorsia isn’t revealing the name of the potential suitor. However, Idorsia is due an exclusivity fee of $35 million, which will extend the biotech’s cash runway into 2025. Should the negotiations bear fruit, Idorsia will then be in line for an undisclosed upfront fee, milestone payments and tiered royalties of sales.
The biotech is focused on signing on the dotted line before the end of the year, said CEO André Muller, who explained that the deal is a “first and crucial step in our plan to put Idorsia in a financially sustainable position and on the road towards profitability.”
“In addition, we are implementing initiatives which include cost-containment measures, and steps to restructure our outstanding debt,” the CEO said in a statement. “I am confident that our plan is achievable within the next few months, and that will allow us to shift our focus back to our products.”
“Simply put, we must contain our ambition and restrict our investments until we are generating the revenues from both proprietary and partnered products that will sustain our activities,” Muller added.
Idorsia ended September with 92 million Swiss francs ($104 million) in cash and equivalents.
The Swiss biopharma, which also manufactures insomnia med Quviviq, has been walking a financial tightrope for the last couple of years. Despite laying off 300 employees last year, Idorsia secured short-term salvation in February 2024 via a $350 million upfront payment from Viatris in exchange for the global rights to two phase 3 candidates.