Arsenal Biosciences announced a strategic shift to focus the company on the development of in vivo CAR-T cell therapies, reducing its workforce to just a “core team.”
While the company initially utilized its proprietary biology toolkit to rewrite the programming of T-cells to overcome the challenges presented by solid tumors, it now believes it can apply these capabilities to expand the reach of cell therapy to more patients with chronic disease.
“We plan to apply our foundational understanding of T-cell biology and compositions to in vivo, where we believe our technology will advance the field and help patients win,” said Ken Drazan, M.D., co-founder, chairman and CEO of ArsenalBio.
A year after closing an oversubscribed $325 million Series C financing round in September 2024 — making it one of the top cell therapy fundraisers of the year — ArsenalBio announced it would lay off approximately 50% of its workforce as the company transitioned to clinical-stage. The reduction, which consisted of about 100 employees, left the company with 127 employees.
The current round of layoffs will result in “a substantial reduction” according to ArsenalBio, which confirmed to media outlets that 99 employees will lose their jobs.
The company’s pipeline now includes an early clinical asset geared towards prostate cancer, as well as a preclinical asset with an undisclosed indication. In January 2025, BMS exercised its exclusive license option for ArsenalBio’s AB-4000 series, the lead collaboration program generated under a multi-program solid tumors agreement.
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