In a one-two gut punch af­ter kid­ney drug CRL, Ake­bia slapped with par­tial hold and will lay off 42% of staff

Snakebit af­ter a sur­pris­ing CRL for its lead pipeline pro­gram last week, Ake­bia Ther­a­peu­tics is fac­ing an­oth­er road­block at the FDA — and lay­offs are now on the way.

In a fil­ing with the SEC on Thurs­day morn­ing, Ake­bia said that on April 1, three days af­ter re­ceiv­ing its CRL for vadadu­s­tat to treat ane­mia due to chron­ic kid­ney dis­ease in adults, the FDA is­sued a par­tial clin­i­cal hold on the drug’s pe­di­atric stud­ies. As a re­sult, Ake­bia will sus­pend all vadadu­s­tat stud­ies in chil­dren.

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