NexImmune to lay off over half of its employees

NexImmune will reduce its workforce from 47 to just 22 full-time employees and has also paused enrolment for three of its trials.

Phalguni Deswal September 01 2023

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.

Cell & Gene Therapy coverage on Pharmaceutical Technology is supported by CytivaEditorial content is independently produced and follows the highest standards of journalistic integrity. Topic sponsors are not involved in the creation of editorial content.

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