Biotechnology company Ikena Oncology on Thursday said it would lay off staff and reallocate resources toward two experimental cancer drugs.
The oncology company is prioritizing the two candidates, dubbed IK-930 and IK-595, over its drug discovery work. As a result, it will trim 35% of its workforce, or about 20 employees, by the end of March. The company had 57 full-time employees at the end of last year.
“We are laser focused on driving IK-930 and IK-595 forward in the next year to interpretable and clear data reads as we continue to build value for investors,” Ikena CEO Mark Manfredi said in a statement.
With IK-930, Ikena is testing two different formulations, both of which are in clinical testing. Data on the treatment as a monotherapy are expected in the second half of 2024. IK-930 is meant to interfere with signaling along a cellular pathway known as “Hippo.”
Dosing of its other prioritized candidate, IK-595, began in December. Ikena plans to continue enrolling people with RAS- and RAF-mutant cancer and is planning other cohorts in different indications.
Ikena said it ended the year with $175 million in cash. The reorganization will extend its cash runway into the second half of 2026.
While biotech investors and executives are newly optimistic, the effects of the sector’s long-running downturn are still being felt.
Over 10,000 jobs were cut last year by small and mid-size companies, according to data collected by BioPharma Dive. Already this year, a dozen biotechs have announced layoffs, while the German pharma Bayer has signaled plans for “significant” cuts.
