NexImmune became the latest in a row of companies to announce layoffs as a cash-reduction measure this year, as it is reducing its workforce by 53% as of 5 September 2023.
The US-based company will lay off 25 of its full-time employees along with its CFO, John Trainer, but Trainer will stay as a consultant. NexImmune had reported a significant reduction in its cash reserves in the last six months. As per the company’s Q2 financials, it only had $16.3m remaining as of 30 June, compared to $34.6m on 31 December 2022.
The company also has paused the development of its three adoptive T cell therapies that use T cells harvested from tumours, which are then activated and expanded before reinfusion to target and destroy cancer cells.
NEXI-002 is in a Phase I/II trial (NCT04505813) for treating relapsed refractory multiple myeloma, but trial enrolment was paused in 2022 to ‘prioritise resources’. NEXI-001 is in a Phase I/II clinical trial (NCT04284228) for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) while NEXI-003 is being evaluated in the Phase I study (NCT05582590) in patients with relapsed or refractory locally advanced or metastatic HPV-related oropharyngeal cancers. These clinical trials have also been paused, as per the company’s website.
NexImmune CEO Kristi Jones stated: “The workforce reduction protects our 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’s pipeline also includes Aim Inj, an "off-the-shelf" antigen-specific injectable immunotherapy, currently in pre-clinical development in multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and other autoimmune disorders.
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