
Millendo braces for deep cuts after its last clinical effort ends in defeat and a last search for a way to end things
Turn out the lights, the party is over at Millendo Therapeutics.
Nine months after pulling the plug on a pivotal study of their lead drug, the Ann Arbor, MI-based biotech is shuttering its sole remaining early-stage study for their NK3R antagonist MLE-301. And they’re sounding a bleak note, planning some deep cuts for the remaining staff while the board goes about the business of finding a way to gain some value out of this for shareholders.
At the top of the alternative strategies on the table: A sale or merger of the company, or what’s left of it.
The biotech is washing its hands of a drug aimed at treating menopausal vasomotor symptoms. After looking over the results from their dose-ascending Phase I, researchers found little reason to remain optimistic — especially given the competitive landscape of NK3R drugs.
This is the drug Millendo — long helmed by Julia Owens — turned to after its Phase IIb trial for livoletide went belly up last spring.
The stock $MLND, which has erased virtually all of its once high-flying value, dropped 14% Tuesday morning,
Company chairman Carol Gallagher summed it up in a statement:
The board has continued to support the company’s ongoing plans and execution efforts; however, at this time the board believes that it is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders to actively seek a broad range of strategic alternatives, including a sale or merger of the company in order to maximize shareholder value.