NEW YORK – PMV Pharmaceuticals said on Thursday that it plans to lay off roughly 30 percent of its workforce in a move intended to prioritize developing its investigational agent, PC14586, for cancers harboring p53 mutations.
The layoffs are expected to save PMV enough money in operating expenses to extend its cash runway through the end of 2026. The move is meant to help the firm focus on developing its lead candidate and maintaining its research and discovery efforts.
The Princeton, New Jersey-based firm has been studying PC14586 in a Phase I/II clinical trial in patients with advanced solid tumors harboring the p53 Y220C variant. The investigational agent is designed to reactivate the ability of the p53 protein to suppress tumors.
In 2022, the firm collaborated with Merck to study PC14586 plus Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in this same patient population.
PMV has been planning to launch a Phase II clinical trial of PC14586 during the first quarter of 2024, and in tandem with its layoff announcement Thursday, the firm said it is still on track to do so.
As of the end of 2023, PMV had $229 million in unaudited cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. The firm believes it will need to pay about $1.4 million in severance and benefit costs tied to the layoffs.
"This is a difficult but necessary step to ensure that PC14586 is developed as efficiently as possible to benefit patients," PMV CEO and Cofounder David Mack said in a statement.