Caribou Adjustments Course Once more, Lays Off 32% of Workforce

Caribou Biosciences’ newest pivot to immunology just isn’t going to plan. The cell and gene remedy firm is shedding almost one-third of its workforce and ending work on its lupus pipeline, in line with an SEC submitting Thursday. That leaves the biotech with simply two remaining property, each allogeneic, or “off-the-shelf,” CAR T merchandise for a wide range of totally different cancers.

Caribou had introduced plans to make a transfer into the autoimmune area late final 12 months, after getting Quick Observe designation for its CAR T remedy CB-010 for systemic lupus erythematosus. In January, it introduced a Part I trial testing CB-010 for lupus nephritis and extrarenal lupus however by no means dosed a affected person.

Now, the corporate is pivoting again to its roots in most cancers. CB-010 is being examined for B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, whereas CB-011 is being trialed in a number of myeloma.

“To make sure Caribou is strongly positioned to emerge from these difficult instances and ship these doubtlessly value-generating datasets, now we have made the troublesome determination to strategically prioritize our sources on CB-010 and CB-011 for oncology indications,” Caribou president and CEO Rachel Haurwitz mentioned in a assertion Thursday.

Caribou can be stopping a Part I trial for CB-012 for relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia, as a result of “further knowledge could be wanted to advance this program, taking time and sources that may be devoted to CB-010 and CB-011,” as the corporate put it in its assertion.

The workforce discount will price Caribou between $1.8 and $2 million, and winding down the lupus trials one other $0.7–$1.5 million. Caribou estimates the modifications might be finalized by June and that with money, money equivalents and marketable securities, it has a $212.5 million runway to final into the second half of 2027.

Following the fee financial savings and workforce reductions, Caribou is now planning Part I readouts for each medication within the second half of 2025.