By Christy Santhosh
(Reuters) -Lykos Therapeutics will lay off 75% of its workforce, or about 100 staff, and founder Rick Doblin will depart the board, the corporate mentioned on Thursday, days after the U.S. FDA declined approval for its MDMA-based PTSD therapy.
Lykos, previously often called MAPS Public Profit Corp, mentioned it was bringing in David Hough, former vp for analysis and growth at Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:), to guide and oversee scientific growth of the MDMA capsules.
Hough spearheaded the event of J&J’s nasal spray, Spravato, used to deal with despair together with an oral drug.
He joins Lykos days after the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration declined to approve its midomafetamine-, or MDMA-based therapy for post-traumatic stress dysfunction, citing restricted knowledge.
Generally often called ecstasy or molly, MDMA has lengthy been seen by advocates as a possible therapy for psychological well being problems.
The regulator’s determination was in step with the suggestions of its advisers, who flagged issues with the trial design and a scarcity of documentation round whether or not individuals had abused the experimental drug.
The corporate mentioned it deliberate to ask the FDA to rethink its determination and would try a resubmission to hunt approval for the MDMA capsules.
Jeff George, chairman of the Lykos board, mentioned Hough was “the proper individual” to guide the essential work of partaking with the FDA for the resubmission.
Doblin mentioned he would proceed to advocate for world entry to MDMA, including that resigning from the corporate’s board allowed him to talk freely.
“This alteration permits Rick Doblin to concentrate on the broader work of MAPS and Lykos to maintain a slim concentrate on doing the scientific and regulatory work,” Lykos instructed Reuters.
The corporate mentioned the remaining 25% of its workforce would concentrate on creating the MDMA-based capsules and interesting with the FDA about subsequent steps within the resubmission course of.
