Aban­doned by J&J, fad­ed hep C star Achillion ax­es staff and maps path to PhII read­outs

Five months af­ter J&J threw in the tow­el on a big Phase III pro­gram for an­oth­er hep C cock­tail, its for­mer part­ner — and once high-fly­ing biotech — Achillion $ACHN is slash­ing staff and mount­ing a sur­vival plan around a re­struc­tured pipeline.

One in 5 work­ers are be­ing pink slipped, which will leave 70 staffers at New Haven, CT-based Achillion.

The plan is to stay fo­cused on com­ple­ment al­ter­na­tive path­way work with a lead drug, ACH-4471, in Phase II for both C3 glomeru­lopa­thy and parox­ys­mal noc­tur­nal he­mo­glo­bin­uria. That oral fac­tor D in­hibitor should read out for C3G or IC-MPGN in the 3rd quar­ter.

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