Ad­verum lays off 38% of staff as it en­ters new tri­al for oc­u­lar gene ther­a­py af­ter last year's safe­ty woes

Ad­verum is mov­ing for­ward with its eye dis­ease gene ther­a­py that caused headaches in April 2021, but is do­ing so with few­er staff on board.

The biotech is lay­ing off 78 em­ploy­ees, or about 38% of its work­force, in or­der to con­serve cash and keep the lights on in­to 2025, ac­cord­ing to an SEC fil­ing.

The Red­wood City, CA, biotech said Wednes­day it has amend­ed the IND for a Phase II study of its gene ther­a­py in wet age-re­lat­ed mac­u­lar de­gen­er­a­tion (AMD). The tri­al of AD­VM-022 will kick off this quar­ter, CMO Richard Beck­man said in a state­ment.

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