Turnstone Biologics is reducing its head count by 60% and shaking up its C-suite in order to keep the cash flowing to its sole clinical-stage candidate.
The biotech already narrowed the focus of the selected tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy in August to colorectal cancer, head and neck cancer and uveal melanoma, deprioritizing its work in cutaneous melanoma and breast cancer.
In order to focus its resources on the phase 1 program, dubbed TIDAL-01, the company has today announced a reduction in staff head count of around 60%. The restructuring has impacted Turnstone’s leadership, with a number of C-suite positions changing hands.
Michael Burgess, Ph.D., will retire as Interim chief medical officer—while continuing to serve as a member of Turnstone’s board—to be replaced by Ines Verdon, M.D., who currently serves as senior vice president of clinical development.
Vijay Chiruvolu, Ph.D., has completed their agreed term of service as interim chief technology officer, according to the company, and these responsibilities will be taken on by Michael Fitch, Ph.D., in his new role as senior vice president of manufacturing.
Meanwhile, Vice President of Finance Wendy Worcester will take over the responsibilities of Chief Financial Officer Venkat Ramanan, Ph.D., who is stepping down.
Turnstone, which went public via an $80 million IPO last year, ended June with $62.4 million at hand, which it had expected to last into the third quarter of 2025. Today’s changes should stretch out the company’s cash into the second quarter of 2026.
TIDAL-01 has been undergoing two phase 1 trials, including the STARLING study evaluating the therapy for the treatment of breast cancer, colorectal cancer and uveal melanoma. Meanwhile, an investigator-sponsored trial with the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute has been focused on cutaneous and non-cutaneous melanomas.
Turnstone said today’s restructuring meant TIDAL-01 would remain the focus at the expense of its preclinical programs, which include another selected TIL program called TIDAL-02, and a combination of TIDAL-01 and viral immunotherapy.
“Following a comprehensive evaluation of our business operations, we have decided to prioritize our pipeline and sharpen our clinical focus,” Turnstone CEO Sammy Farah, Ph.D., said in the release. “As a result, we have made the decision to streamline our team, align resources towards manufacturing and clinical development, and optimize our cost structure.
“We expect these changes will extend our cash runway by three additional quarters, further enabling us to build upon our encouraging initial phase 1 data, which demonstrated the potential of our selected TILs in high unmet need solid tumors and potentially generate near-term value for our shareholders, while continuing to shape a strong company for the future,” Farah added.