Updated version 1-EyePoint to lay off half its staff following failure of second late-stage clinical trial for experimental drug

Supplementary stock movement and analyst commentary

Reuters, October 19 - EyePoint EYPT.O said on Monday that after a second late-stage clinical trial failed, the company will cut about 53% of its workforce and halt clinical research of an experimental drug it developed for an age-related eye disease.

Its shares plummeted over 75% in premarket trading.

• The trial targeted patients with wet age-related macular degeneration, comparing EyePoint’s Duravyu with Regeneron’s REGN.O blockbuster eye drug Eylea. Wet age-related macular degeneration is one of the main causes of blindness among the elderly.

• EyePoint said that although patients treated with Duravyu showed improved vision, the drug did not prove to be better than standard treatment in preserving eyesight.

• According to regulatory filings, as of February 27, the company had 214 full-time employees in the United States

• This setback comes shortly after (link) a similar failure in August this year, when Duravyu failed to meet primary goals in the same late-stage clinical trial.

• JonesTrading analyst Debanjana Chatterjee noted that despite strong secondary endpoint results, given this failure, she “does not see an immediately viable regulatory path for the drug in the wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) space.”

• EyePoint expects that despite incurring about $9 million in severance costs, by cutting jobs and halting the clinical trial, it can save about $30 million each year.

• The company added it will shift focus to developing Duravyu for another retinal disease, diabetic macular edema, with late-stage clinical trial results expected to be announced by the end of 2027.

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