OPM Cuts Staff, Executive Wages in Wake of Servier Exit

The French biotech company Oncodesign Precision Medicine has been forced to tighten its purse strings as a result of the decision made by Servier to withdraw from a Parkinson’s disease collaboration. OPM was forced to reduce the wages of two senior executives and lay off employees as a result of the loss of a chance to achieve a significant milestone.

Near the end of the previous year, OPM repurchased the rights to OPM-201. In 2022, a fellow French firm Servier participated in a phase 1 study of the LRRK2 inhibitor in healthy participants. However, it decided to withdraw from the experiment before to the release of the study’s concluded findings. OPM, which had a balance of just 5.1 million euros ($5.6 million) at the end of December, had anticipated that Servier would make it a payment that would mark a significant milestone this year.

Philippe Genne, CEO of OPM, explained in a statement that ending the partnership with Servier had significantly affected the company’s financial plans for 2025. He noted that this challenge comes amid a broader decline in investment within their sector, especially for publicly traded firms. As a result, he indicated that OPM would need to make difficult strategic decisions to adjust and navigate through this period.

As a result, OPM laid off five workers in January. After the French stock market had closed on Thursday, the firm disclosed the initial specifics of the redundancies in its annual report. As part of the effort to minimize costs, the chief executive officer and chief scientific officer of the firm both received 50% salary cuts.

OPM hinted at more projected reductions on programs that are not considered priorities but did not provide any other specifics. In a letter that Genne sent to shareholders in January, he cautioned that these difficult circumstances need a more targeted approach to management as well as a realistic and adaptable strategy. The emphasis being placed on cost reduction is consistent with this warning.

By concentrating on the RIPK2 inhibitor OPM-101 and its collaboration with Navigo Proteins to produce radioligands, the biotechnology company was able to reduce its operational expenditures by 19% in 2024. In July, OPM plans on enrolling the first participant in a phase 1b/2a study of OPM-101 in patients with metastatic melanoma who have developed resistance to anti-PD-1.

OPM is looking for an additional partnership for the OPM-201 program. This isn’t the first time the company has found itself in such a situation. OPM-201 is a product of the study that Ipsen financed between 2011 and 2017. As soon as Ipsen left, OPM took the initiative to move the program ahead on its own and, two years later, secured a contract with Servier.