Reel­ing Oph­thotech evis­cer­ates staff, lay­ing off up to 135; Boom­ing Re­gen­eron adds more space

Four days af­ter Oph­thotech stock $OPHT cratered in the wake of a Phase III de­ba­cle for its wet, age-re­lat­ed mac­u­lar de­gen­er­a­tion drug Fo­vista, the biotech’s back with a re­struc­tur­ing plan that in­cludes lay­ing off up to 135 staffers and ter­mi­nat­ing much of the clin­i­cal tri­al work now un­der­way. The sec­ond 12-month stage of the Fo­vista Phase III has been ter­mi­nat­ed, along with its clin­i­cal work com­bin­ing Fo­vista with an­ti-VEGF drugs in its ex­pan­sion tri­als. It will con­tin­ue a late-stage study com­bin­ing Fo­vista with Eylea or Avastin. When the re­struc­tur­ing is over, the New York-based biotech will have a staff of on­ly 20 to 30 em­ploy­ees.

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