EDP1815 discontinued after failure to reach primary endpoint in atopic dermatitis

Key takeaways:

• Evelo has discontinued development of EDP1815 for atopic dermatitis following a failure to reach the primary endpoint.
• Evelo will reduce its workforce and shift focus toward EDP2939.

Evelo Biosciences has announced that it will cease further development of EDP1815 for atopic dermatitis following its phase 2 study results that showed the primary endpoint was not met, according to a company press release.

“In the fourth cohort of the study of EDP1815 in atopic dermatitis, consistent with the first three cohorts, the primary endpoint was not met,” Simba Gill, PhD, CEO of Evelo, said in the release. “Given these results, we will cease further development of EDP1815 in atopic dermatitis, following a wind-down of the study.”

The primary endpoint was an outcome of at least a 50% improvement from baseline in EASI score compared with placebo at week 16. According to the release, results in this fourth cohort showed that only 37.9% of EDP1815-treated patients achieved this endpoint compared with 44.7% on placebo.

In light of the discontinuation, the company is “reducing our workforce to save costs,” Gill said.

The company will now focus its efforts on the development of the next generation extracellular vesicle (EV) platform and on EDP2939, the company’s first EV candidate that is currently in a phase 1/2 study for the treatment of psoriasis.

“We believe EDP2939 may have greater potential activity than EDP1815 in psoriasis, with similar tolerability,” Gill said. “The phase 2 study of EDP2939 in moderate psoriasis is now fully enrolled, and we expect to report topline results early in the fourth quarter of this year.”