Bay­er drops an Io­n­is-part­nered drug af­ter sink­ing $240M in­to its de­vel­op­ment

Bay­er is punt­ing an Io­n­is Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals-part­nered drug back to the biotech, giv­ing up on a pro­gram on which it had spent more than $200 mil­lion.

The Ger­man phar­ma com­pa­ny is wash­ing its hands of the Io­n­is-de­vel­oped fe­s­om­ersen, a spokesper­son con­firmed to End­points News, de­spite hav­ing in­vest­ed $240 mil­lion as part of a 2015 li­cens­ing deal. Bay­er spokesper­son Pamela Co­hen told End­points the move “fol­lows our com­pa­ny’s de­ci­sion to fo­cus on the fur­ther de­vel­op­ment of asun­dex­i­an,” a blood thin­ner on the verge of Phase III stud­ies.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER