EyePoint, the Watertown eye-drug developer that spent years building toward a late-stage readout in wet age-related macular degeneration, is cutting about 53% of its workforce after its first Phase 3 trial in that disease missed its main goal. The company says it will now put its remaining money behind a single program in diabetic macular edema, or DME, with results not expected until late 2027.
The cuts are the latest in a run of downsizing at Greater Boston drug developers this fall. For readers following the region’s employers, the decision shows how one trial result can reshape a mid-sized biotech, and how those decisions show up in state layoff filings and in local job counts.
What EyePoint announced
In an Oct. 19 release, EyePoint said its Phase 3 LUCIA trial in wet AMD did not meet its non-inferiority primary endpoint, though it met key secondary endpoints. The company’s board approved a plan to reduce the workforce by about 53% and to end its wet AMD trials early.
EyePoint said most of the reductions will take place in the fourth quarter of 2026, with the plan expected to be complete in the first half of 2027. The company estimated about $30 million in annualized savings and about $9 million in separation-related charges. It reported about $118 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of Sept. 30, 2026.
Chief executive Jay S. Duker said in the release: “Decisions involving a reduction in our workforce are exceptionally difficult.” The company said the restructuring is meant to fund its DME work, which consists of two Phase 3 trials, COMO and CAPRI, that together enrolled 551 patients. EyePoint said it expects topline data from those trials in the fourth quarter of 2027.
A related filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, submitted Oct. 19, says the board approved the plan on Oct. 17.
How many local jobs
EyePoint is headquartered at 480 Pleasant St. in Watertown and has a manufacturing site in Northbridge. A Massachusetts WARN notice, reported by Boston.com on Oct. 26, lists 105 layoffs at EyePoint between the end of this year and early next year. The company’s own announcement gives the cut only as a percentage of staff, and The Boston Report could not independently confirm how the 105 WARN figure maps onto that 53% or how the cuts divide between Watertown and Northbridge.
Federal and state WARN rules generally require larger employers to give advance notice before mass layoffs or plant closings, which is why the state filings often reveal local numbers that company press releases do not.
Part of a wider pullback
EyePoint is not the only Massachusetts drug developer shrinking this season. The Boston Report covered layoffs at Tango Therapeutics and Fractyl Health on Oct. 25, and Boston.com reported Monday that two Massachusetts biotech companies plan to cut roughly half of their workers.
The trend shows up in industry data. MassBio’s 2026 Industry Snapshot, released in August, found that Massachusetts biopharma employment fell 3.1% in 2025 to 113,503 jobs, about 3,600 fewer than the year before. MassBio said it was the first annual decline in more than 20 years of tracking. Research and development jobs fell 3.9%, while biomanufacturing added 238 jobs.
Money, however, has been coming back. The same report counted $3.45 billion in venture capital raised by Massachusetts biopharma companies in the first half of 2026, up 25%, along with eight IPOs and 11 merger and acquisition deals worth $18.0 billion. Total industry wages rose 2.2% to $26.45 billion in 2025.
That split, with more capital but fewer jobs, is the pattern behind many of this year’s announcements: investors are funding programs with clear data, while companies with setbacks cut costs to stretch their cash to the next readout.
What it means for Boston-area workers
Life sciences is one of the region’s signature industries, and cuts at research-stage companies tend to land on scientists, clinical operations staff and support roles concentrated in Cambridge, Boston, Watertown and the western suburbs. Workers affected by layoffs can file for unemployment insurance through the state Department of Unemployment Assistance. The Boston Report’s guide to Massachusetts unemployment benefits in 2026 covers eligibility and how to apply.
For wider context on hiring, see our Massachusetts jobs report for September, the Boston Job Market page and our Boston business and economy hub.
What to watch
- Timing of the cuts: EyePoint said most reductions fall in the current quarter, with the plan finished in the first half of 2027.
- Cash runway: The company’s roughly $118 million in cash and investments, plus about $30 million in yearly savings, has to carry the DME program to data in late 2027.
- The DME readout: Results from COMO and CAPRI, expected in the fourth quarter of 2027, will largely determine the company’s next step.
Photo: Watertown Square, March 2025. Photo by 4300streetcar via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 4.0. Cropped.
Sources
- EyePoint, “EyePoint Announces Strategic Prioritization,” Oct. 19, 2026
- Boston.com, state WARN notice report, Oct. 26, 2026
- MassBio, 2026 Industry Snapshot, Aug. 25, 2026
Additional sources
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