Four months after the critical failure of a closely-watched Phase III study, Sage Therapeutics is bringing out the ax to execute a major restructuring.

Out go 340 staffers, slightly more than half of the workforce at the biotech. Most of those job cuts are being focused on their Zulresso (brexanolone) CIV injection commercial operation and “related SG&A support functions.”

The company $SAGE is circling the wagons around existing sites where they dose Zulresso, abandoning any plans to expand while essentially relegating the therapy to novelty status. Mizuho reduced its peak sales estimate to $20 million. And Sage is doubling down on their failed depression drug, where the real upside lay.

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In the first look at Phase III data for lecanemab, Eisai and Biogen’s follow-up Alzheimer’s drug to the embattled Aduhelm launch, results show the drug passed with flying colors on a test looking at memory, problem solving and other dementia metrics.

One of the most-watched Alzheimer’s therapies in the clinic, lecanemab met the study’s primary goal on the CDR-SB — Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes — giving the biotech the confidence to ask for full approval in the US, EU and Japan by next March 31. The experimental drug reduced clinical decline on the scale by 27% compared to placebo at 18 months, the companies said Tuesday night Eastern time and Wednesday morning in Japan.

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The FDA’s decision on Amylyx’s ALS drug is set to come out sometime Thursday. In a space with few drugs, any approval would be a major landmark.

But elsewhere in the ALS field, things are a bit more tepid.

Thursday morning, Biohaven announced that its drug verdiperstat failed its arm of an ALS platform trial led by Massachusetts General Hospital. According to a press release, the drug did not meet its primary endpoint — improvement on an ALS functional status test — or any key secondary endpoints at 24 weeks. The trial had enrolled 167 patients, giving them either verdiperstat or placebo twice a day.

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Eyelid mite disease may be “gross” but it’s also fairly common, affecting about 25 million people in the US.

Called demodex blepharitis, it’s a well-known condition among eyecare professionals, but they often don’t always realize how common it is. Tarsus Pharmaceuticals wants to change that with a new awareness campaign called “Look at the Lids.”

The campaign and website debut Thursday — just three weeks after Tarsus filed for FDA approval for a drug that treats the disease.

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This story goes all the way back to 2014.

In November of 2014, Johnson & Johnson acquired Alios BioPharma, an infectious disease biotech that was co-founded by Lawrence Blatt and Leonid Beigelman.

Following J&J’s 2014 acquisition, Blatt and Beigelman would become employees at J&J’s Janssen arm, with Blatt being the global head of infectious diseases and vaccines and Beigelman being Janssen’s VP of medicinal chemistry. But Blatt and Beigelman left Janssen in 2017, starting Aligos one year later.

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