Cancer biotech Viracta Therapeutics has closed its doors, laying off all employees and winding down operations.
The San Diego-based company’s board approved the shutdown Feb. 3, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents filed Feb. 5. The company is currently seeking potential strategic alternatives for its development programs.
Earlier this week, Viracta CEO and President Mark Rothera stopped serving in his position. He was joined by several other leaders, including Chief Financial Officer Michael Faerm and Chief Medical Officer Darrel Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.
The board has instead appointed Craig Jalbert, principal of accounting firm Verdolino & Lowey, as the company’s CEO to guide the wind-down. Jalbert will be paid $50,000 each year for three years for his work.
The biotech anticipates incurring a one-time payment of $100,000 associated with the workforce termination, according to the SEC filing.
The writing had been on the wall for Viracta. The precision oncology company was delisted from Nasdaq on Feb. 4 after failing to comply with the $1-per-share minimum requirement.
In early January, the biotech closed its phase 2 lymphoma trial in order to “explore strategic alternatives.”
A few months earlier, the company parted ways with 42% of its staff to keep money flowing to its lead program, a combination of the HDAC inhibitor nanatinostat and the antiviral valganciclovir.
In August 2024, the biotech had posted phase 2 data for the combo in 21 patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) whose cancer was Epstein-Barr virus-positive. That study saw overall and complete response rates (ORR/CRR) of 33% and 19%, respectively. In the 10 second-line patients, the ORR was 60% and the CRR was 30%. The readout was enough for Viracta to go all-in on PTCL, halting work for the asset in solid tumors and laying off around 23% of the company’s employees at that time.