SHERIDAN, WYOMING - December 19, 2025 - Voyager Therapeutics is laying off 30 employees after partner Novartis discontinued two undisclosed discovery-stage programs under the companies' gene therapy collaboration, underscoring how quickly platform-driven R&D bets can be reprioritized even inside marquee pharma partnerships.
Commercial partnerships can shift overnight
Voyager disclosed last month that Novartis had stepped away from two early programs tied to their ongoing relationship, without naming the assets or detailing the rationale. The biotech framed the change as manageable, stating that Novartis' decision will "not impact Voyager's cash runway guidance." Still, the workforce reduction signals that operational resets often follow partnership scope changes-especially when programs are preclinical and the near-term value is concentrated in a smaller set of advancing assets.
What remains in scope under the Novartis deal
Voyager and Novartis partnered in January 2024, with Novartis paying $100 million upfront and committing up to $1.2 billion in potential milestones spanning preclinical, development, regulatory and commercial triggers, alongside tiered royalties on future net sales. Under that arrangement, Novartis gained access to Voyager's programs for spinal muscular atrophy and Huntington's disease. Voyager has indicated those partnered projects-plus another program for an undisclosed target-are still moving forward, even as the two discontinued discovery efforts fall away.
Pipeline focus turns to clinical-stage Alzheimer's readouts
Outside of the Novartis collaboration, Voyager's lead internal program is VY7523, an anti-tau antibody in Phase I development for Alzheimer's disease. The company has said topline results released in March showed the asset was well-tolerated with no serious adverse events, and that serum concentrations rose in a dose-proportionate manner. Voyager also reported last month that dosing was ongoing in the final cohort of a multiple ascending dose study-an important near-term execution milestone as investors and partners scrutinize whether neuro-focused pipelines can produce differentiated clinical signals.
Beyond VY7523, Voyager is advancing earlier gene therapy programs aimed at silencing tau and apolipoprotein E, both positioned for Alzheimer's disease but not yet in the clinic.
Sector context: cost discipline meets platform risk
Across biopharma, workforce reductions have remained a common lever as companies extend cash runways, narrow portfolios, or align cost structures with the probability-weighted value of their pipelines. For platform biotechs in particular, partnership concentration can create asymmetric exposure: a single partner's portfolio review can trigger real operational consequences, even when the remaining deal economics and marquee indications stay intact.
For Voyager, the near-term story is less about the headline reduction and more about whether the continuing Novartis-backed programs and Voyager's own Alzheimer's assets can keep advancing on timelines that support milestones, follow-on financing flexibility, and strategic optionality.
For more information on Voyager's pipeline and programs, visit https://www.voyagertherapeutics.com/.