Aslan Pharmaceuticals had bold ambitions to challenge Sanofi and Regeneron’s immunology blockbuster Dupixent, but now the cash-strapped biotech has run out of road.
The California and Singapore-based biotech, which had cash and equivalents of $18.4 million as of the end of March, said it had “conducted a thorough review of all strategic alternatives” before deciding it had no option but to file for voluntary liquidation.
For the biotech’s staff, it means all positions have been terminated “effective immediately,” the company said.
The appointed liquidators will be responsible for winding up Aslan’s affairs, as well as searching for options for the biotech’s two main assets: the IL-13-targeting eblasakimab and the dihydroorotate dehydrogenase inhibitor farudodstat.
Despite some mixed data on doses last year, Aslan had maintained high hopes for eblasakimab to challenge Sanofi and Regeneron’s atopic dermatitis blockbuster Dupixent.
As recently as May, the biotech was pointing to positive interim data from a small, 22-patient phase 2 study that it said “showed unprecedented efficacy data compared to prior atopic dermatitis studies with biologics.”
Aslan also said at the time that it was on track for a full readout for this study by the end of 2024, with an interim readout from a mid-stage trial of farudodstat in alopecia areata expected in the second quarter. The company didn’t give an estimate on how long it expected its $18.4 million to last, but the operational burn rate of $7.4 million for the first three months of the year suggested more money was needed soon.
Despite these plans, the writing appeared to be on the wall for Aslan on Monday, when the company announced that it wouldn’t appeal Nasdaq’s decision to delist the biotech. In the past year, Aslan’s stock has shed 95% of its value, dropping from $22 per share in July 2023 to a closing price on Tuesday of just $1.10.