Metagenomi sheds 25% of workforce
Metagenomi sheds 25% of workforce, including CEO, to focus on preclinical hemophilia program
A quarter of Metagenomi’s employees, including the company’s CEO, are set to lose their jobs after the gene editing biotech decided to focus resources on its preclinical hemophilia A program.
The centerpiece of the company's “strategic evolution” outlined in its third-quarter earnings release is the hemophilia A program, dubbed MGX-001, and other preclinical candidates. Metagenomic backed up this decision by pointing to curative factor VIII activity demonstrated in a study of nonhuman primates.
The aim is to get MGX-001—which utilizes a highly specific and efficient MG29-1 nuclease—into the clinic and hopefully obtain evidence that MGX-001 could become a one-time treatment for hemophilia A.
Alongside the hemophilia work, Metagenomi is also exploring whether a similar approach of site-specific genome integration will work on other secreted protein disorders and is continuing to work in cardiometabolic indications as part of $3 billion biobucks collaboration with Ionis Pharmaceuticals.
To bankroll this work, the biotech is laying off 25% of its workforce, which the company said would stretch the $184.1 million it ended September with into the fourth quarter of 2027.
Even the upper levels of Metagenomi’s leadership aren’t immune to the structural shakeup, with CEO Brian Thomas, Ph.D.—who is also one of the company’s founders—to be replaced in the top job by current President and Chief Operating Officer Jian Irish, Ph.D.
Thomas will remain on Metagenomi’s board of directors, according to the release.
“In light of the encouraging preclinical MGX-001 hemophilia A results we reported today, we made the decision to strategically reprioritize our pipeline and discovery efforts to focus resources on driving forward our lead program for hemophilia A and pursuing programs that leverage our most advanced, signature gene-editing capabilities,” Irish explained in the Nov. 11 post-market release.
“As part of this initiative, we are streamlining our organization to optimize our R&D efforts and cost structure,” the incoming CEO added. “I want to express my deepest gratitude to every member of the Metagenomi team, including those who were impacted by the workforce reduction, for their invaluable contributions toward advancing our mission.”
Metagenomi joined the Nasdaq with an almost $94 million IPO last year in a rare recent example of a preclinical company going public. However, the company’s stock has since shed almost 80% of the $15 price at which it debuted in February 2024, with the shares closing trading yesterday at $2.20.
Last year also saw Moderna back out of its own $3 billion biobucks pact with the biotech, leaving Metagenomi with the rights to a preclinical primary hyperoxaluria type 1 program. The biotech ultimately decided not to take the program forward by itself.
