Barinthus lays off 25% of staff, sidelines prostate cancer program to stretch out cash

13 Jun 2024
www.fiercebiotech.com
Phase 2Phase 1Immunotherapy
Barinthus Biotherapeutics expects a restructuring to stretch the company's cash runway into 2026.
Barinthus Biotherapeutics has used positive interim data from a pair of phase 2 trials for its hepatitis B therapy as justification for sidelining its prostate cancer candidate and jettisoning a quarter of the T-cell-focused biotech’s workforce.
Barinthus Biotherapeuticsrmerly known as Vaccitech—said the interim readouts from the trials ofhepatitis B unveiled at the European Association for theprostate canceriver (EASL) Congress last week “demonstrated VTP-300’s potential to significantly reduce and maintain hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) levels and achieve undetectable HBsAg levels in patients with” chronic hepatitis B (CHB).
At the time, analysts at William Blair saVaccitechesults demonstrate VTP-300's ability to potentVTP-300nduce a functional cure for CHB, pending the outcome of further development.”VTP-300HBsAgchronic hepatitis B (CHB)
In Wednesday’s postmarket release, Barinthus also pointed to “encouraVTP-300reclinical findings for its lead candidate, a celiac diCHBse drug called VTP-1000, as reason for prioritizing that asset along with VTP-300.
VTP-1000 is designed to balance theBarinthusesponse by inducing gluten-specific T regulatory cells and reduce gluten-speciceliac disease cell responsVTP-1000r preclinical research in disease models demonstratVTP-300e of action and disease amelioration,” Barinthus said it is gearing up to take VTP-1000 into the clinic in the third quarter.
VTP-1000pany expects to undergo a restructuring to align resources with the streamlined pipeline, which will include a workforce reduction of approximately 25% and an estimated extension of the cash runway into the second quarter of 2026,” the company said in the June 12 release.VTP-1000
The biotech had previously expected the $130 million in cash and equivalents it had to hand as of the end of March to run out by the end of 2025.
An ongoing phase 1 trial of VTP-850 in prostate cancer will be completed, the company confirmed in yesterday’s release. But the immunotherapeutic, which encodes for multiple prostate-associated antigens, didn’t appear to feature in the company’s future plans as set out in the announcement.
There was also no mention inVTP-850leasprostate cancern immunotherapeutic combo regimen for high-risk human papillomavirus that hit the primary safety endpoint of a phase 1b/2 trial in April. However, the data for the trial’s overall patient population didn’t demonstrate a significant improvement in hrHPV clearance or cervical lesion clearance.
“With this pipeline prioritization, we put tVTP-200any in a strong position to maximize the probability of success, particularly given the encouraging VTP-300 phase 2 interim data presented at EASL earlier this month and the compelling differentiation of our novel SNAP-TI platform to treat autoimmune diseases,” CEO Bill Enright said in the release.
“In line with our pipeline prioritization, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce,” Enright added. “I would like to thank our taleVTP-300ployees for their contributions to the company’s achievements.”autoimmune diseases
In a note this morning, analysts at William Blair gave their blessing to Barinthus’ move.
“We agree with management’s decision to streamline the company’s R&D pipeline, which in our view is evidence-based and driven by evolving data,” the analysts wrote. “We believe new data generated from the VTP-300 program could showcase the regimen’s role in helping patients living with CHB to achieve functional cures.”
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