If last year was marred by continual stories of biotechs laying off staff and pruning back their pipelines to survive, then this week’s news suggests the new year hasn’t quite brought the fresh start the industry was hoping for.
In a postmarket announcement yesterday, cell-therapy-focused Century Therapeutics announced it is de-prioritizing investment in CNTY-103, a CD133-targeting, chimeric antigen receptor, iPSC-derived NK (CAR-iNK) cell therapy candidate in preclinical development for glioblastoma. A discovery program for hematologic malignancies will also be discarded.
Instead, the biotech will focus on its lead product CNTY-101, a CD19-targeting allogeneic cell therapy in phase 1 trials for relapsed/refractory B-cell lymphoma as well as a pair of gamma delta T-cell therapy candidates in preclinical development for B-cell malignancies and solid tumors.
The reprioritization will allow the company to close its lab operations in Seattle and Hamilton, with research work consolidated in Philadelphia. While it means a quarter of the company’s workforce will be heading to the exits, the biotech explained that this will give it a cash runway of at least three years.
The staffing shake-up even extended to the top ranks of the company, with R&D chief Hy Levitsky, M.D., Ph.D., resigning effective the end of the month.
“As our confidence in the disruptive potential of our technology platform and prioritized pipeline programs continues to increase, we have implemented these cost-saving measures to rightsize the organization and further extend our cash runway to enable achievement of key milestones,” CEO Lalo Flores, Ph.D., said in a release. “As a result, we are losing many valued colleagues, which is an incredibly difficult decision, and we would like to thank each of them for their contributions.”
It was a similar story at Elevation Oncology, which announced this morning that it was pausing investment in seribantumab. The fully human IgG2 monoclonal antibody, which is designed to bind to human epidermal growth factor receptor 3, had been on course to deliver further interim data from its phase 2 study in patients with solid tumors harboring NRG1 gene fusions.
The company touted initial findings from the trial at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting as showing positive clinical proof-of-concept data. But now, the biotech has shelved the antibody unless or until a partner is found.
Elevation’s focus will be on EO-3021, an antibody-drug conjugate targeting Claudin18.2 that’s entered phase 1 trials for solid tumors. Elevation acquired the ex-China rights to the drug from CSPC Megalith Biopharmaceutical for $27 million in July.
Unfortunately, it’s a journey that 30% of Elevation’s existing workforce will no longer be required for. Again, the workforce shake-up didn’t stop at the boardroom door, with CEO Shawn Leland also departing.
The situation was terminal for Nabriva Therapeutics, which has now shut shop entirely. The Irish biotech had already resorted to laying off 40% of staff and suspending its early-stage R&D projects in November.
But the commercial refocus wasn’t enough to stay afloat, and the company announced this morning that it’s winding down operations as it looks for a buyer for its marketed assets like the antibiotic Xenleta.
This latest spate of news caps off a couple of days that also saw Fate Therapeutics announce a raft of changes including layoffs, pipeline culls and ending a Johnson & Johnson collaboration. Meanwhile, Graphite Bio threatened “operational efficiencies to extend its cash position” after the first patient dosed with its lead gene therapy candidate experienced a serious adverse event.