Beam to lay off 20% of workforce as part of restructuring plan
19 Oct 2023
Gene TherapyPhase 1Cell TherapyPhase 2
Shares in Beam Therapeutics slid 11% on Thursday after it disclosed plans to let go of around 100 employees, or 20% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring plan. The gene-editing company is also reassessing its research efforts, noting that the priority will be on its experimental sickle-cell disease (SCD) treatment and its programme for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD)alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD).
"From the beginning, [our] strategy has been to develop base-editing technology broadly across a diverse portfolio of programmes and delivery modalities, and our science and pipeline continue to progress across the board," stated CEO John Evans. However, he said that "in this challenging market environment…we need to make the difficult decision to focus our resources on those clinical programmes and research areas we believe have the highest potential for near-term value creation."
Seeking partners for CAR-T programmes
The company says it will be prioritising development of its ex vivo and in vivo SCD programmes, including the autologous haematopoietic cell therapy BEAM-101, which is in Phase I/II testing, as well as its engineered stem cell antibody paired evasion (ESCAPE) strategy, and in vivo delivery to hematopoietic stem cells. Focus remains on Beam's preclinical in vivo base editor BEAM-302 for the treatment of AATD as well.
Meanwhile, the company plans an initial trial for BEAM-301, a liver-targeting lipid nanoparticle formulation of base editing reagents designed to correct the R83C mutation, the most common disease-causing mutation associated with a severe form of glycogen storage disease 1a. It is also looking to generate a "focused clinical dataset" for its off-the-shelf, quadruplex-edited CAR-T candidate BEAM-201 for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, while scouting for potential partners to help advance this and other ex vivo CAR-T programmes. The company is currently running a Phase I trial of BEAM-201, after it was put on clinical hold by the FDA last year and subsequently lifted in December.
Hepatitis B programme paused
Meanwhile, Beam said that its hepatitis B virus programme will be "paused and designated for partnering given the requirement of specialised development and commercial capabilities." The company noted that it will focus its near-term investments on certain in vivo editing capabilities in the liver targeting both rare genetic and common disorders, as well as "select opportunities" in haematology and immunology/oncology.
Beam said the workforce reduction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter. Once all the cost-cutting measures are put in place, it anticipates that savings from the plan, as well as its balance of cash and equivalents of $1.1 billion, will be sufficient to fund operations until 2026, compared to a previous projection of at least 2025.
For more details,please visit the original website
The content of the article does not represent any opinions of Synapse and its affiliated companies. If there is any copyright infringement or error, please contact us, and we will deal with it within 24 hours.
Organizations
Targets
Hot reports
Get started for free today!
Accelerate Strategic R&D decision making with Synapse, PatSnap’s AI-powered Connected Innovation Intelligence Platform Built for Life Sciences Professionals.
Start your data trial now!
Synapse data is also accessible to external entities via APIs or data packages. Leverages most recent intelligence information, enabling fullest potential.