Oct 19 (Reuters) – Beam Therapeutics (BEAM.O) said on Thursday it would focus on developing experimental treatments for sickle cell disease and lay off about 20% of its current workforce, or 100 employees, as part of a restructuring plan. employees.
The gene-editing specialist expects to incur one-time charges of approximately $6.6 million as a result of the layoffs, which are scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter.
The company said it expects the program to generate cost savings and bring its cash balance to $1.1 billion as of June 30, enough to fund operations through 2026, compared with its previous forecast of at least 2025.
Beam is currently in early-stage clinical trials of its blood cancer treatment BEAM-201, which was put on hold by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year due to a lack of sufficient data.
Its experimental sickle cell disease treatments include early-stage drug candidate BEAM-101, which activates fetal hemoglobin, the main form of hemoglobin present in the fetus during pregnancy.
The company will also focus on developing experimental treatments for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a condition that increases the risk of lung disease and other conditions, and glycogen storage disease, a rare metabolic disorder.
Both therapies are being evaluated in preclinical studies.
Beam will pause development of hepatitis B virus candidates currently being evaluated in laboratory studies and explore opportunities to collaborate with them.
The company’s shares fell 12.7% in early trading.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Beam was founded by David Liu, Feng Zhu and J Keith Joung, who are considered pioneers of the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR gene-editing technology.
Reporting by Bhanvi Satija and Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar
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