Having recently trimmed back its pipeline to a sole cancer candidate, Pyxis Oncology has now reduced its head count to match.
The Boston biotech is shrinking its workforce by "approximately" 20%, it revealed in a full-year earnings release, with the company’s general and administrative and preclinical group bearing the brunt of the layoffs. Pyxis’ C-suite isn’t immune from the changes, with Chief Medical Officer Ken Kobayashi, M.D., stepping down and his role tacked onto that of President and CEO Lara Sullivan, M.D.
The workforce changes reflect Pyxis’ decision in December to shelve a clinical-stage monoclonal antibody targeting Siglec-15 to focus on its lead antibody-drug conjugate, called micvotabart pelidotin.
In November, the biotech shared “encouraging” phase 1 dose-escalation results on the ADC—which was originally in-licensed from Pfizer—in a range of solid tumors, including in tough-to-treat head and neck cancer.
“Given the positive micvotabart pelidotin data, it is critical that we ensure the flawless execution of our clinical programs on the fastest possible timeline,” Sullivan said in this morning’s release. “To support this goal, we have streamlined our organization to allocate resources in a way that gives us the greatest opportunity to deliver on our mission and bring meaningful therapies to patients who need them most.”
Pyxis entered the year with $128.4 million, which the company expects to last into the second half of next year.
Since emerging in 2019, Pyxis’ pipeline grew with a $152 million series B and an in-licensing deal with Pfizer for ADCs PYX-201 and PYX-203 in March 2021. The biotech also touted a third ADC, PYX-202, that was licensed from LegoChem Biosciences in 2020.
The company then went public and has endured the brunt of biotech’s bearish market for the last few years.
Last November, in efforts to save cash, Pyxis cut down its workforce by 40% following an all-stock acquisition of Apexigen, a deal valued at around $10.7 million. Pyxis has since out-licensed three of Apexigen’s programs, with micvotabart pelidotin now the only clinical candidate remaining in the company’s internal pipeline.