Sail Biomedicines is shrinking its crew for the second time this year. The Flagship Pioneering-backed biotech is laying off about 36 employees as the company sharpens its focus on immunology, a company spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Biotech.
“Sail Biomedicines has made organizational changes to align resources with the company’s next phase of growth as we focus on our immunology pipeline,” the spokesperson said.
A prime focus will be the company’s in vivo CAR-T cell therapy program, which uses targeted nanoparticles and circular RNA molecules that the company calls endless RNA or eRNA.
“This decision will enable Sail to concentrate resources on progressing this vanguard program, which has shown strong early promise and is on a path toward the clinic, along with its partnered programs and broader programmable eRNA platform,” the spokesperson added. “Sail remains well-positioned to execute on its mission and design and deploy fully programmable medicines to transform patient care.”
The programmable medicine company first let some wind out of its sails in April after a review of the biotech's organizational structure, laying off 12 staffers and leaving about 125 people still employed. That move was made to ready Sail’s pipeline for the clinic, the company said at the time. As of now, none of Sail's programs have yet to make it into human trials.
Sail’s lead asset is an in vivo CAR-T for autoimmune diseases called SAIL-0804. The biotech shared preclinical data for SAIL-0804 in May at the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy meeting, reporting that the cell therapy successfully depleted B cells in a mouse model. The goal of the therapy would be to remove disease-causing B cells from patients with autoimmune diseases so that the immune system can “reset” with new, healthy cells.
The Boston-based biotech said in May that these preclinical data “support Sail’s nomination of SAIL-0804 as its first development candidate and advancement into IND-enabling studies.”
Focusing on immunology means shifting away from the company’s other therapeutic areas of infectious disease, rare disease and metabolism. As of July 18, these programs are still listed on Sail’s website.
Sail began its journey in rough seas, the result of a 2023 merging of prior Flagship companies Laronde and Senda Biosciences. That merger came in the wake of allegations that troubled data lurked under the surface of Laronde’s $440 million series B in 2021. An investigation by Stat and The Boston Globe found a “bad assay” and poor note-taking in some of the company’s key preclinical research.