Ferring Pharmaceuticals is halting work on two trials of a phase 1 infertility candidate that together had enrolled 416 patients.
The Celestial-1 and Celestial-2 trials, testing the pairing of choriogonadotropin beta (coded as FE999302) with Ferring’s own approved fertility med Rekovelle, have been terminated as part of “a broader portfolio assessment,” according to a notice in the federal clinical trial database. The decision was not the result of any safety concerns, the notice says.
The Celestial trials were testing whether FE999302 could improve pregnancy rates when combined with Rekovelle, which is a form of follicle-stimulating hormone.
The decision reflects “the desire to focus on programs that can bring timely and meaningful benefit to patients,” Ferring wrote in the database.
“We continuously assess and prioritize our pipeline,” a Ferring spokesperson told Fierce Biotech, noting that the terminations are not related to the Swiss pharma’s reorganization last October. Ferring laid off 500 employees, around 7% of its workforce, as part of that streamlining.
The spokesperson did not respond to follow-up questions from Fierce on the status of FE999302 going forward.
Those October job cuts were meant to align with Ferring’s so-called Enterprise Model to “sharpen strategic focus, improve cost efficiencies, flexibility, and free up resources for reinvestment in innovation, whilst promoting [Ferring’s] financial stability and sustainable growth,” the company said at the time.
Not long after announcing the workforce reduction, Ferring revealed it was slowing down commercial efforts for Rebyota, the first fecal microbiota product to be approved by the FDA, as it explored strategic options for the drug.
These decisions followed an earlier layoff round and the shuttering of a research site in 2023.
Related
With the newly terminated trials, Ferring appears to have no ongoing clinical work in reproductive medicine, save for an observational study of Rekovelle in Asian countries. Several infertility studies listed in the company’s pipeline have been completed.
Additionally, a study testing Rekovelle’s ability to improve male fertility, called Adam, was scrapped in 2024 due to slow enrollment, while an investigational treatment for inadequate milk production vanished from the pipeline in 2023.
When canceling Adam, Ferring said that the move “was not due to safety concerns nor changes in Ferring’s reproductive medicine strategy or interest in developing treatments for male infertility,” according to the clinical trial database.
Ferring reported record revenue of more than 2.5 billion euros in 2025, largely powered by the pharma’s flagship fertility drug Menopur.
