After scrapping development of its diabetic macular edema treatment avoralstat last month, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals is shuttering all internal discovery programs to focus on external innovation and partnerships.
The company called the decision a “strategic evolution” in a June 29 release, which will result in the closure of its Discovery Center of Excellence facility in Birmingham, Alabama by the end of this year. BioCryst didn’t specifically address Fierce’s query about how many employees will be affected by the closure, instead stating that the biopharma is “deeply grateful to our Birmingham colleagues for their foundational contributions to BioCryst’s science.”
“We are committed to supporting everyone affected through this transition,” the company added in its response to Fierce. “Our commercial business and clinical programs are unaffected and continue as planned.”
BioCryst had already announced in May that it was focusing on rare diseases and moving away from eye disease treatments, and today’s update added that a strategic review found investing in external innovation would be the best use of the company’s resources.
BioCryst CEO Charlie Gayer noted the company is committed to building a sustainable rare disease pipeline beyond its current lineup. That includes its approved oral hereditary angioedema (HAE) treatment Orladeyo, its phase 3 asset navenibart, also for HAE, and BCX17725, a KLK5 inhibitor in phase 1 trials for the treatment of a rare, severe autosomal recessive genetic disorder called Netherton syndrome.
The North Carolina-based biotech said top-line data from its phase 3 study of navenibart are expected in the third quarter of 2027 and that proof-of-concept data for BCX17725 are expected by the end of 2026.
“While our internal discovery programs have played a foundational role in building the business we are today, we believe that our next phase of growth and value creation will come from a more agile, targeted approach to research,” Gayer said in a statement. “By leveraging external capabilities and partnerships, as well as our powerful rare disease commercialization engine, we can expand our opportunity set and bring new rare disease therapies to patients faster and in a more capital-efficient manner.”
According to the release, the change will save BioCryst around $30 million in operating expenses, as it lowered its adjusted operating expense guidance from $450 million-$470 million to $420 million-$440 million.
BioCryst expects to generate between $635 million and $660 million in revenue this year, nearly all of which will be generated by Orladeyo. But the drug has competition in the kallikrein inhibitor space courtesy of KalVista Pharmaceuticals’ Ekterly, which was approved last year for patients with HAE and was seen as the big prize of Chiesi Group’s acquisition of the company, which was announced this spring.
