Big Pharma-backed Nuvig Therapeutics has halted one of two trials for its sole clinical asset after determining the program wouldn’t be able to advance quickly enough.
The Palo Alto biotech stopped development of the fusion protein NVG-2089 for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) earlier this year “because the cost and expected enrollment timeline in CIDP would limit our ability to move the program forward as quickly as we would like,” said CEO David Woodhouse, Ph.D., in a statement to Fierce.
CIDP is a rare autoimmune disease where the body attacks the protective myelin sheaths that coat nerve cells, ultimately causing tingling, loss of feeling and weakening of the arms and legs.
While the phase 2 trial for CIDP has stopped enrolling, another midstage study for immune thrombocytopenia—a separate autoimmune disease where the body attacks platelets, interfering with blood clotting—is ongoing.
The CIDP trial had enrolled 14 patients since its April 2025 launch, according to the federal clinical trials database.
“This was not a safety-related decision,” Woodhouse said. “We remain committed to developing NVG-2089. The ITP study is continuing, and we expect to share data from both the CIDP and ITP studies in the coming months, along with more information about the next indication we plan to pursue.”
This decision comes with no plans for layoffs or restructuring. Aside from NVG-2089, the rest of Nuvig’s pipeline is preclinical.
Several FDA-approved options exist for patients with CIDP, including argenx’s Vyvgart Hytrulo and Takeda’s HyQvia, which both scored nods for the disease in 2024.
Nuvig first hit the scene in 2022 with $47 million and a goal of transforming autoimmune disease treatment with protein therapeutics that target specific facets of disease biology. The biotech’s original backers included Novo Holdings and Bristol Myers Squibb, while the venture funds of fellow drugmakers Sanofi and Bayer joined in for the startup’s $161 million series B in December 2024.