After five years, Nido Biosciences has reached the end of the road, closing its doors after its lead neurological disease candidate disappointed in a midstage study.
Founded by 5AM Ventures’ 4:59 Initiative in 2020, Nido publicly emerged in 2023 with $109 million in hand and support from Big Pharma Eli Lilly and biotech VC Bioluminescence Ventures, among others. The Massachusetts-based biotech’s lead asset, dubbed NIDO-361, took aim at Kennedy’s disease, a rare inherited neuromuscular disorder.
Now, the company is winding down after the small molecule delivered underwhelming results, with the biotech expected to fully shutter in “early 2026,” according to a LinkedIn post from CEO Jeremy Springhorn, Ph.D.
“Just a handful of employees” will be impacted, a Nido spokesperson told Fierce Biotech. The spokesperson did not elaborate on the timing of the closure.
NIDO-361 was evaluated in a global phase 2 trial for patients with Kennedy’s disease—also known as spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA). The late-onset rare condition is characterized by gradual muscle weakness and atrophy, developing over decades. The X-linked disease impacts males more severely than females.
Nido’s asset was designed to correct transcriptional dysregulation and restore healthy cell function.
The disappointing trial findings are “a very hard outcome for all of us,” Springhorn wrote, adding that it’s especially difficult when “considering the hope this program held for SBMA patients and their families.”
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When Nido was unveiled in 2023, the biotech also touted another unnamed program focused on a novel target that was thought to hold broad potential across neurodegenerative and peripheral inflammatory diseases, according to the company.
The biotech was built around a functional genomics discovery platform based on human cell lines to identify new therapeutic targets for multiple diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal disorders.
