LucidQuest Strategic Insights (lqventures.com) >>> Gene&Cell Therapy >> Atara Biotherapeutics to lay off 73 California employees by the end of the year: Atara Biotherapeutics is laying off 73 workers in California at the end of the year, a little less than a month after announcing a restructuring and a failed Phase II trial in multiple sclerosis. In November, Atara said it would be “undertaking a strategic restructuring” and reducing its workforce by 30% and expected its cash to fund the company into the third quarter of 2025. The biotech also reported a net loss of $69.8 million, or $0.66 per share, for the third quarter this year. According to a California WARN notice, 72 workers will be laid off at one location in Thousand Oaks, and one employee at a second location in the same city with an effective date of Dec. 31. Atara announced another thinning plan in 2022 when it laid off 77 employees at three different sites in California. This round of layoffs comes after the company said on Nov. 1 in its third quarter financial results that the restructuring would allow Atara to focus on its tab-cel (tabelecleucel) with Pierre Fabre Laboratories, its allogeneic CAR-T programs and the advancement of ATA188, its cell therapy candidate for progressive multiple sclerosis. But then on Nov. 8, Atara said that ATA188 flunked its Phase II study, missing the primary endpoint of disability improvement after 12 months as well as fluid and imaging biomarkers. The company said at the time of the trial flop that it would instead put the money toward its CAR-T pipeline and its partnership with Pierre Fabre, which is expected to bring in $30 million in cash upfront and another $100 million in potential regulatory milestones. Atara said it expects preliminary clinical data for its allogeneic T-cell therapy, ATA3219, in relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the second half of 2024 as well as “progressing efforts” toward a potential trial evaluating another autoimmune disease. #lucidquest #genetherapy #celltherapy
