Seres Therapeutics (Nasdaq: MCRB) is preparing to be acquired. Or at least that’s certainly what it looks like.

The company’s CDI infection treatment drug VOWST just won FDA approval earlier this year. Earlier this morning, it announced the initial sales of VOWST in its third quarter totaled $7.8 million.

That exceeded its internal sales expectations and appears to be off to a great start. Seres went on to quantify the drug’s inaugural quarter of commercial sales:

• 1,513 completed prescription enrollment forms for VOWST were received, including 1,215 in the third quarter; of those 934 have culminated in new patient starts, including 837 in the third quarter.
• Prescription enrollment forms have been submitted by 698 unique healthcare providers (HCPs) since launch, with approximately 70% from gastroenterology and the remainder from other specialties; 129 HCPs have prescribed VOWST to more than one patient.
• VOWST demand has been observed across the recurrent CDI patient pool, including first recurrence, which is the largest rCDI patient segment.

Yet in the very next breath, Seres immediately rained on its own parade. It announced it would be restructuring its entire organization and laying off 41% of its employees.

It feels the need to do so in order to “substantially reduce expenses and prioritize the commercialization of VOWST“. And due to the challenging environment for drug developers, it believes “concentrating our resources on VOWST offers an attractive opportunity for targeted revenue growth, while operating in a more capital efficient manner.”

As a bit of context, Seres co-developed VOWST with its partner Nestle Health Services. Nestle is a much larger organization, who had the financial resources needed to fund the trials. Now, Nestle also has the sales force and relationships with doctors to get the drug prescribed.

What This Means for Investors

We share what Seres’ recent announcements will mean for investors.

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