Nkarta, all-in on autoimmune cell therapy, streamlines workforce

Nkarta has revealed a restructuring and workforce reduction of 34% (53 positions) to extend its cash runway by more than one year to enable clinical milestones for its natural killer (NK) cell therapy in autoimmune diseases.

The restructuring will involve reducing the executive leadership team by over 50% and freezing some of the company’s future hires.

Nkarta hopes the cuts will position the San Francisco-based company to achieve multiple value-generating milestones and set the stage for an efficient regulatory pathway for its lead asset, NKX019.

“We believe that this decision is necessary in today’s challenging financial and competitive environment to fulfill Nkarta’s vision of bringing potentially life-saving cellular therapies to people with autoimmune disease,” said Nkarta CEO Paul J. Hastings.

NKX019 is an allogeneic, off-the-shelf, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) NK-cell therapy candidate engineered to deplete CD19-positive cells in B-cell mediated autoimmune disease. The approach leverages the potential advantages of NK cell therapy, including deep and rapid B-cell killing, a lower risk of cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity, the opportunity for potential fludarabine-free lymphodepletion to reduce toxicity, the added utility of on-demand dosing allowing for better accessibility, and the opportunity for repeated dosing as needed.

When Nkarta announced its IPO in 2020, the company was focused on cancer. In October 2023, Nkarta announced the expansion of its pipeline to include autoimmune disease following the FDA clearance of its IND application for NKX019 in lupus nephritis. A year later, the company revealed that it would forgo future development of NKX019 in non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and instead focus its efforts on autoimmune diseases.

Nkarta is now evaluating NKX019 in multiple autoimmune conditions, dosing its first lupus nephritis patient in November 2024 and opening enrollment for a systemic sclerosis, idiopathic inflammatory myopathy and ANCA-associated vasculitis trial in December 2024.