By Colin Kellaher

Sage Therapeutics is slashing a third of its workforce as part of a move to focus on sales of its Zurzuvae depression drug and reprioritize its early-stage pipeline.

Sage on Thursday said the moves will affect more than 165 employees, representing about 33% of the Cambridge, Mass., company's total workforce and roughly 55% of its research-and-development staff.

Sage said the reorganization, which it expects to complete by the end of the year, will extend its cash runway and includes the departure of several top executives, including finance chief Kimi Iguchi.

The reorganization comes after Sage earlier this month said its dalzanemdor drug candidate had failed in a mid-stage study in Alzheimer's disease following a similar failure in Parkinson's disease earlier this year. Sage expects to report topline data from a Phase 2 study of dalzanemdor in Huntington's disease later this year.

Sage said it expects to post a charge of $26 million to $28 million related to the reorganization.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 17, 2024 07:37 ET (11:37 GMT)

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