Aclaris Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Wayne, Pa., has announced that it will no longer continue the development of zunsemetinib. Zunsemetinib, one of the company’s two lead clinical development assets, showed disappointing results in a Phase 2b study focused on treating moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis. As a result, Aclaris has determined that further development of zunsemetinib is not viable.
In addition to halting the development of zunsemetinib, Aclaris has also decided to discontinue the enrollment process for a Phase 2a trial of zunsemetinib in psoriatic arthritis.
Despite this setback, Aclaris is optimistic about other ongoing projects. The company is eagerly anticipating the results of its Phase 2b study trial of ATI-1777 in atopic dermatitis, which are expected to be available by the end of this year. Furthermore, Aclaris plans to initiate its Phase 2 clinical development program for ATI-2138.
As a result of this announcement, trading in shares of Aclaris has been halted before the market opened on Monday. The company’s shares had closed at around $4.76 on Friday.