NEW YORK – Editas Medicine at market close on Thursday announced it was laying off 65 percent of its staff and implementing other cost-cutting measures, including discontinuing a clinical-stage ex vivo gene-editing candidate, as it undergoes a "strategic transition" toward being an in vivo gene-editing company.
Earlier this year Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Editas said it would seek a partner or licensing deal to further develop renizgamglogene autogedtemcel (reni-cel) as a treatment for severe sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia. At the time, Editas said this was necessary to focus its resources on advancing in vivo therapies in its pipeline.
However, despite reporting promising results at the American Society of Hematology's annual meeting in San Diego this week, Editas on Thursday said it would discontinue the ex vivo gene-editing treatment candidate because it was unable to identify a commercial partner. Editas said it will "work closely" with clinical trial sites and regulators to determine a path forward for patients enrolled in ongoing trials.
Editas also on Thursday said it intends to achieve human proof of concept for its in vivo programs in about two years. "Recent scientific breakthroughs by the Editas team have convinced us that the timelines around the near-term viability of in vivo CRISPR-edited medicines have accelerated meaningfully," Editas President and CEO Gilmore O'Neill said in a statement. "Based on these advances, we are transitioning to a fully in vivo company."
The firm said it has achieved preclinical in vivo proof of concept of editing efficiency in multiple tissues, including editing in hematopoietic stem cells and the liver, for potential treatments for sickle cell and beta thalassemia. The company intends to share additional preclinical data and further development timelines in Q1 2025.
The company said it will cut 180 jobs during the next six months to "align workforce and resources" around its in vivo pipeline, which will extend the company's cash runway into Q2 2027. Several members of the management team, including Editas Chief Medical Officer Baisong Mei, will also leave the company.
Editas expects to incur $55 million to $70 million in costs related to discontinuing reni-cel and $14 million to $18 million in costs related to the workforce reduction through June 2025, the company reported in an 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Two members of its board of directors, Emma Reeve and Meeta Chatterjee, have also resigned, though Editas in the SEC filing said these resignations were "not the result of any disagreement with the company." Jessica Hopfield has been named the new board chair, replacing Reeve.