Shares of the pharmaceutical company PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PTCT) crashed in pre-market trading at the time of publishing on Wednesday after the company announced that as part of a “strategic portfolio prioritization,” the company will discontinue preclinical and early research programs in gene therapy but will continue to develop and commercialization of Upstaza, the first-ever approved gene therapy directly administered to the brain.
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The company expects that this strategic prioritization is likely to reduce its operating expenses by 15% for the rest of this year. In addition, the company also announced the departure of its CFO, Emily Hill and she will cease to be a CFO with immediate effect. PTC Therapeutics will also reduce around 8% of its workforce and is likely to incur employee severance and benefit costs of around $7 million.
In another disappointing development, the company also announced topline results from the MOVE-FA trial of vatiquinone in patients with Friedreich ataxia. This trial did not “meet its primary endpoint of statistically significant change in mFARS score at 72 weeks in the primary analysis population.” However, vatiquinone did show “significant benefit on key disease subscales and secondary endpoints.”
Analysts remain sidelined about PTCT stock with a Hold consensus rating based on four Buys, six Holds, and two Sells.
