NexImmune is handing out pink slips again. Running close to the end of its cash runway, the immunotherapy biotech is halving its head count to support investment in its nanoparticle platform.
Like many biotechs, NexImmune has made a series of cuts over the past year, first stopping enrollment in a multiple myeloma trial to prioritize two cell therapies and later switching its focus from those assets to a different injectable nanoparticle platform. The biotech laid off around 30% of its staff as part of the pivot away from cell therapies 10 months ago.
Now, NexImmune is reducing its head count again. The latest layoffs will leave the biotech with a team of 22 full-time employees, down from 47 today and the 74 it had back in March 2022. Chief Financial Officer John Trainer is among the people leaving the biotech. Timothy Stover, NexImmune’s corporate controller, will become the principal financial officer.
In a statement, NexImmune CEO Kristi Jones said the layoffs protect “core capabilities to advance novel therapeutic candidates and our multiplex validation of functional antigen-specific T cell responses while giving us additional flexibility to manage our business.”
NexImmune ended June with $16.3 million, a sum it forecast would fund operations into the fourth quarter. The biotech said the latest layoffs are intended to cut its costs and extend its cash, but the press release lacks an updated runway. NexImmune expects to hand over $2.3 million in severance pay and other related termination benefits in connection with the reduction in workforce.
The coming months lack catalysts that look likely to radically change investor perceptions of NexImmune, with additional preclinical data on the nanoparticle platform among the main milestones. NexImmune’s share price dropped below $1 almost one year ago and has trended down ever since, falling 81% in the past 12 months just 22 cents.