Cell- and gene-therapy-focused ElevateBio has let go of 17% of staffers as part of the company’s second layoff round since raising $401 million nearly two years ago.
“To ensure long-term success and our ability to scale, we took proactive steps to reduce a portion of our workforce and focus our investments on the highest-impact capabilities in our BaseCamp manufacturing business while continuing to expand our gene editing technologies at Life Edit,” an ElevateBio spokesperson told Fierce Biotech via email.
In 2021, ElevateBio purchased genome editing specialist Life Edit Therapeutics for an undisclosed sum. The unit is currently developing a gene editing therapy designed to treat Huntington’s disease, a rare neurodegenerative disorder, and is “seeking partnership opportunities” to accelerate the asset’s clinical development, according to Life Edit’s site.
The ElevateBio company currently touts an R&D partnership with Moderna for in vivo mRNA gene editing therapies as well as a Novo Nordisk pact in base editing therapies for rare and cardiometabolic conditions.
The fresh layoffs were made “to simplify our organizational structures in response to partner needs, strengthening our ability to build a scalable, high-growth business for the future,” the spokesperson said.
The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company declined to comment further on what those specific partner needs were. The biotech also declined to comment regarding the type of roles that were eliminated and how many staffers were made redundant.
ElevateBio now employs just under 400 workers but plans “to continue to hire in our areas of strength throughout 2025,” according to the spokesperson.
The workforce reduction is ElevateBio’s second wave of company-confirmed layoffs since raising a $401 million series D in May 2023.
Even with one of the year’s largest financings in the bag, the business still trimmed staff by 13% a few months later.
“ElevateBio is in a position of strength with the resources to support and scale our growth for many years to come,” a spokesperson told Fierce Biotech in October 2023.
At the time, ElevateBio said it would focus on its BaseCamp genomic medicine process development and manufacturing work, plus Life Edit’s gene editing platform, to scale the company’s “strongest areas of growth.” The biotech had shaved down some preclinical activities in tandem with the layoffs.
BaseCamp is the company’s network of manufacturing facilities that includes a 140,000-square-foot site. ElevateBio’s model combines R&D platforms and cGMP manufacturing in efforts to deliver genetic medicines “from concept through commercialization,” according to the company’s site.
The company had also netted a $525 million series C in 2021 to fuel manufacturing capacity and bankroll more partnerships as the biotech worked on its pipeline. A year earlier, ElevateBio had closed a $170 million series B financing.
“Despite significant headwinds in the biotech and genetic medicine sectors, ElevateBio has grown revenues by more than 200% over the past two years,” the company spokesperson told Fierce Biotech on March 26.
Starting in 2024, ElevateBio removed mentions of “building a highly innovative pipeline of cellular, genetic and regenerative medicines,” from its self-descriptor on press releases.