CAR-T biotech reduces staff as it hunts for capital to enter clinic next year

An eight-year-old Bay Area biotech looking to wade into the CAR-T cell therapy field has laid off staff to keep the lights on long enough to get into the clinic next year.

Chimera Bioengineering, a relatively small startup measured by the dozen, had raised about $26 million according to an April 2022 update, but ran into “difficulty” closing a new round of funding, which led the company to lay off 40% of its staff, according to an affected employee’s post on LinkedIn.

Vlad Hogenhuis

The biotech confirmed there was a downsizing but declined to say how many employees were impacted. Chimera is looking at raising $20 million, CEO Vlad Hogenhuis told Endpoints News via an emailed statement.

“In spite of these headwinds,” Hogenhuis wrote, “we remain enthusiastic about the potential of our GOLDCAR platform to extend efficacy of CAR-T for solid tumors, remain engaged with investors to close a new financing $20 million round, and with the raise, remain deeply committed to bringing our lead program CBIO-007 into the clinic for solid tumor patients in early 2024.”

Gus Zeiner

At the time of his arrival last year, Hogenhuis emphasized the potential of Chimera’s CAR-T to improve efficacy and limit toxicity. The biotech is advised by experts at UCLA, UCSF, Stanford and others, like BridgeBio leader Neil Kumar. Co-founders include CSO Gus Zeiner, operating chief Ben Wang and Antheia CEO Christina Smolke.

As Chimera sets its sights on its first clinical trial next year, it’ll face a backlog at FDA, as the US regulator tries to keep up with an influx of new cell and gene therapies to assess. A few CAR-T cell therapies have been approved by the FDA, all taking from a patient’s own cells: Abecma, Breyanzi, Kymriah, Tecartus, Carvykti and Yescarta.

The green lights are for various blood cancers, but the field is still working toward expanding the application into solid tumors.

Prior to joining as chief executive at Chimera, Hogenhuis led operations at rare disease drugmaker Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals from 2018 to 2020 after multiple SVP roles at GSK and Merck. He’s also on the board of Rezolute, Dutch company GATT Technologies and IHP Therapeutics, which had explored the idea of testing a “Phase III ready” molecule for patients hospitalized with acute respiratory distress syndrome and SARS-CoV-2, per internet archives, but now lists sickle cell disease as the focus on its website.

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