Celgene spinout Celularity has left an ax dangling over a “substantial portion” of its workforce. While the cell therapy firm is “hopeful” it can avoid significant layoffs, it has told many staffers their jobs are on the line as it pursues an updated strategy.
New Jersey-based Celularity notified staff about the upcoming shake-up after reviewing its key initiatives. As part of the review, the developer of placental-derived allogeneic cell therapies has pulled back from two cancer programs while continuing to work on other oncology prospects, including a CD19 CAR-T candidate and a Crohn’s disease program.
The two deprioritized programs target glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and HER2-positive gastric cancer. After talking to investigators about using unmodified natural killer (NK) cells in GBM, a hard-to-treat type of brain cancer, Celularity has rethought its plans.
The company left the door open to more work on GBM, vowing to “continue to strategically enhance its NK platform, including modified and unmodified NK cells, to address some of the very significant challenges posed in treating this devastating disease,” but dropped its plans to move into the clinic “at this time.”
The biotech issued a similar statement about its strategy for gastric cancer. While deprioritizing the study, the company said it “continues to optimize its modified and unmodified NK cell platform” and believes “genetically modified NK cells will be an important option to improve the current standard of care.”
Dropping the programs leaves Celularity focused on a slimmed-down set of candidates. The biotech will continue to assess placental-derived mesenchymal-like adherent stromal cell (MLASC) therapy in Crohn’s with its next-generation candidate while pursuing partnering opportunities. It also plans to investigate the MLASC therapy in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.
On the oncology side of the pipeline, Celularity expects to move its CD19 CAR-T candidate into the clinic this year and continue to work with Imugene on another T-cell program. The biotech is also continuing to gather clinical trial data on its unmodified NK cells in acute myeloid leukemia.
Fierce Biotech has contacted the company for more information about the potential layoffs. Celularity ended 2021 with 225 full-time employees.