Sangamo Therapeutics will remove greater than 1 / 4 (27%) of its U.S. workforce—some 120 jobs—and refocus its pipeline on three specialties, because the genomic medication developer works to bounce again from being jilted final month by two biopharma giants that ended collaborations value probably a number of billion {dollars}.
Among the many 120 who’re dropping their jobs is R. Andrew Ramelmeier, PhD, govt vp, technical operations, whose termination takes impact on July 10. Ramelmeier will probably be succeeded by Phillip Ramsey, now vp, efficient Could 29.
Sangamo stated it notified the affected staff Wednesday of the job cuts, which the corporate estimated will price it roughly $5 million to $7 million in one-time bills to be incurred within the second and third quarters.
Nonetheless, Sangamo expects to save lots of roughly $31 million yearly from the job discount and different price cuts.
“At this time’s surroundings necessitates cautious decisions when deciding what number of packages to take ahead without delay,” Sangamo CEO Sandy Macrae, PhD, stated in an announcement. “We’re subsequently asserting a sharpened strategic focus, prioritizing our investments in our most promising packages. This has led to tough, however needed, choices to step away from sure preclinical belongings, shrink components of our infrastructure and redeploy investments in the direction of realizing the total potential of what we consider are our Most worthy packages.”
Going ahead, Sangamo stated, it should focus its growth efforts on three areas. One is its wholly-owned neurology epigenetic regulation portfolio, anchored on a pair of preclinical zinc finger (ZF) transcription issue packages:
- Its flagship program, to deal with power neuropathic ache program by concentrating on the sodium ion channel Nav 1.7, for which the primary knowledge is about to be revealed in Could on the American Society for Cell and Gene Remedy (ASGCT) twenty sixth Annual Assembly in Los Angeles. An IND is predicted to be filed in 2024.
- One to deal with Prion illness, for which Sangamo expects to file an IND submission in 2025.
Kidney transplant cell remedy
One other key space of pipeline growth will probably be its wholly-owned autologous chimeric antigen receptor-modified regulatory T-cell (CAR-Treg) remedy TX200, being developed for the prevention of immune-mediated rejection in human leukocyte antigen A2 (HLA-A2) mismatched kidney transplantation from a residing donor.
Sangamo superior TX200 into the clinic final yr, dosing its first two sufferers in its Section I/II STEADFAST trial (NCT04817774). Throughout Q1, Sangamo efficiently dosed the third affected person, and obtained optimistic regulatory suggestions from two European authorities wanted to speed up dose escalation. By yr’s finish, Sangamo plans to share preliminary knowledge from cohort 1 of the STEADFAST trial.
The corporate stated it has determined to prioritize its near-term autologous portfolio, and switch all remaining allogeneic analysis actions to France, and stop cell remedy manufacturing in the USA—the place Sangamo lately constructed a cell remedy manufacturing facility in Brisbane, CA.
Sangamo’s third program of focus is its Fabry illness candidate Isaralgagene civaparvovec (previously ST-920), a liver-targeted AAV gene remedy. The corporate stated it should meet with FDA officers on the design of a proposed Section III research this summer time, with the expectation that it will probably start the pivotal research by yr’s finish and dose its first affected person early in 2024.
For now, Isaralgagene civaparvovec is beneath research within the Section I/II STAAR trial (NCT04046224), during which 20 sufferers have been dosed thus far (three of them throughout Q1). Sangamo stated it expects to conclude dosing by yr’s finish.
Buyers appeared unfazed by the job and value cuts. Sangamo shares barely budged in buying and selling Thursday, dipping about 1% to $1.60 from $1.61 on Wednesday. Nonetheless, shares rose 5% in after-hours buying and selling Thursday, to $1,68.
Pair of setbacks
Sangamo hopes to get well from a pair of setbacks stemming from what the corporate disclosed in a regulatory submitting was the tip of two collaborations with biopharma giants courting again to 2020.
On March 13, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Analysis instructed Sangamo it was ending their partnership to develop gene regulation therapies for treating three neurodevelopment issues. Novartis paid an upfront $75 million licensing charge to Sangamo, which stood to realize as much as $720 million in milestone funds, plus royalties on internet industrial gross sales.
4 days later, Biogen gave Sangamo discover it was ending its alliance to analysis and develop gene regulation therapies to deal with neurological illnesses. Biogen paid Sangamo $350 million upfront, together with a license charge and an fairness funding in Sangamo—which had been eligible to obtain as much as $2.37 billion in potential milestones, plus royalties on internet industrial gross sales.
Since Sangamo obtained notices of termination from Biogen and Novartis, it has paused additional growth of affected collaboration packages pending the identification of an acceptable capsid for supply. Sangamo added that it has continued to advance the identification and collection of engineered adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids for enhanced central nervous system supply.
Sangamo believes its $241 million in out there money, money equivalents, and marketable securities as of March 31, plus the cash it expects to save lots of, will probably be sufficient to fund its deliberate operations for at the very least the following 12 months.
Sangamo’s money, money equivalents, and marketable securities have dropped 22% from the $307.5 million reported as of December 31, 2022.
