Homology Medicines has joined the growing list of biotechs hitting a wall in 2023, with the gene therapy-focused company blaming the “current financing environment” for the move to lay off 87% of staff and seek a buyer for its R&D assets.
Those assets include two gene editing candidates in phase 1 trials for the rare inherited disorders phenylketonuria (PKU) and Hunter syndrome. The Massachusetts-based biotech had also been preparing a C5 monoclonal antibody for a hoped-for clinical trial in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.
As well as laying off the majority of its workforce, the company is stopping all development programs beyond its obligations in ongoing trials. The aim is to “significantly reduce the company’s ongoing operating costs” and Homology expects the drastic changes to extend the biotech’s cash runway into 2026.
The company ended March with $150 million in cash and equivalents, which as of May was assumed to fund all operations into the fourth quarter of 2024. At the time, Homology had sounded upbeat, saying it was looking “forward to announcing the first gene editing data in people with PKU” from its drug HMI-103.
Homology offered a snapshot of that data alongside its restructuring announcement, which showed that the nuclease-free gene editing candidate was “generally well tolerated” among the three participants dosed so far. Two of these patients also saw a meaningful reduction in the level of phenylalanine in their blood, the company noted.
“We are pleased with the initial data from the first dose level in our PKU gene editing trial, which support dose-escalation,” CEO Albert Seymour, Ph.D., said in a post-market release Thursday. “However, given today’s tough financing conditions and the expected clinical development timeline for HMI-103, we believe the best path forward for our shareholders is to evaluate all strategic options for the company and our pipeline.”
Gene therapy companies have been especially susceptible to layoffs in 2023, with Capsida Biotherapeutics and Avrobio announcing workforce reductions of 25% and around 50%, respectively, in July alone. Previous months have seen Encoded Therapeutics and PTC Therapeutics make less severe changes, while Takeda’s decision to move away from early-stage work in adeno-associated virus-based gene therapies could come at the expense of up to 186 Massachusetts-based roles.