The future of Irvine-based biopharmaceutical firm Reneo Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: RPHM) is in doubt after it disclosed last month that a clinical trial it oversaw failed to show the hoped-for results.
Reneo was conducting a clinical trial to treat rare genetic diseases, including primary mitochondrial myopathies (PMM).
The disease, which affects about 148,000 in the U.S. and Europe, prevents people from metabolizing food in their bodies, meaning their muscles and other organs don’t fully develop. Children born with the disease often don’t make it out of childhood, Chief Executive Greg Flescher told the Business Journal last year.
The most recent trial using the company’s drug mavodelpar in adult patients with primary mitochondrial myopathies did not meet its primary efficacy or secondary efficacy endpoints, the company disclosed on Dec. 14.
After reporting the unwanted results, shares in the company plunged 83% to a $48 million market cap (Nasdaq: RPHM).
The company currently has over $100 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, it said in a statement.
The company said it would immediately start cost savings initiatives, including suspension of its ongoing mavodelpar development activities and a workforce reduction of approximately 70% of its 55 employees.
