Pliant Therapeutics will be cutting 45% of staffers as part of a “strategic restructuring of its workforce," the biotech announced after-hours May 1.
The move comes as the company looks to deal with the fallout of its recent bexotegrast study.
Back in March, the Californian biotech announced it was discontinuing the Beacon-IPF phase 2b/3 trial of bexotegrast because of safety worries attached to the med.
The drug, an oral, small-molecule, dual-selective inhibitor of the αvβ6 and αvβ1 integrins, had been tested in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
While Pliant said there was evidence of efficacy, the trial’s independent data safety monitoring board as well as an outside expert panel found an “imbalance in unadjudicated IPF-related adverse events between the treatment and placebo groups [which] led to the discontinuation of the trial,” according to a March statement from the company.
Pliant said the top-line data from Beacon-IPF, which it has not yet seen, are expected in the second quarter. The plan is to assess “next steps for bexotegrast’s development” once it gets its hands on the full data.
These plans could include additional dose-ranging phase 2b studies “with lower doses in pulmonary fibrosis and potentially, other non-respiratory indications, including liver diseases,” the company said.
Either way, that will take more time and money, so the company is making the new cuts in an effort to preserve cash and extend its runway.
“While all departments will be impacted,” Pliant said in Thursday’s update, the company's "focus is to maintain the strong late-stage clinical trial execution capability it has built.”
During its quarterly results presentation in March, before these cuts were made, the company said it had $357.2 million. The money was “sufficient to fund operations for the next 12 months and beyond," Pliant said at the time.
Pliant also has several other less advanced assets in the pipeline, including PLN-101095 in cancer and phase 1-ready PLN-101325 for treatment of muscular dystrophies.
“Today’s actions, while difficult, provide us the flexibility to prepare for, and execute on our mission to make a difference in the lives of patients,” said Bernard Coulie, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of Pliant.
“I want to extend my sincere thanks to those impacted by today’s restructuring for their extensive contributions to the advancement of our mission," Coulie said.
Pliant was up 1.2% after-hours Thursday night on the news on a market cap of $99 million.