Ribon Therapeutics rids preclinical work, trims staff to focus on two clinical PARP inhibitors

Ribon Therapeutics, a biotech looking to make next-generation oral PARP inhibitors, has ended preclinical and platform work to focus on two clinical programs.

“Cuts across the organization” were made to the approximately 60-employee biotech, chief business officer Gary Sutton confirmed to Endpoints News in an email. He declined to disclose the number of employees impacted by the layoffs.

Gary Sutton

“We greatly appreciate the contributions from our team and came to our decision after carefully considering what was best for our clinical programs and the patients they could potentially serve,” Sutton said.

The Cambridge, MA-based biotech has two oral small molecules in the clinic: RBN-2397 for solid tumors in Phase I/II and RBN-3143 for moderate to severe atopic dermatitis in Phase Ib. Ribon also sold off a preclinical CD38-targeting small molecule inhibitor for immunological and fibrotic diseases last year. Boehringer Ingelheim paid an undisclosed upfront and is on the hook for biobucks of an amount kept under wraps.

Most existing PARP inhibitors, including the first — AstraZeneca and Merck’s multi-indicated Lynparza — go after PARP1 and PARP2. But those can come with dose limiting blood toxicities. Ribon is going after different members of the enzyme class: PARP7 in oncology and PARP14 in inflammatory diseases.

Dubbed BEACON+, the biotech’s platform is used to create small molecule modulators of NAD+ utilizing enzymes, which are thought to play roles in metabolic pathways, aging, the immune system, and DNA repair, among other functions.

Big Pharmas have expressed interest in the startup’s work since its 2015 founding. Large drugmakers and/or their venture arms have backed the biotech, including Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Celgene, Takeda, AbbVie and Bristol Myers Squibb. Pfizer contributed $25 million, the company disclosed in January, saying the money would bankroll more drug discovery and development out of the biotech’s platform.

Prakash Raman

Prior to the Pfizer investment, the biotech had raised about $175 million through Series A and two Series B rounds. Aside from strategic backers, it’s also been financed by Deerfield, US Venture Partners, The Column Group and others.

The biotech is led by president and CEO Prakash Raman, who joined in early 2022 after leading business development for Flagship Pioneering. Sutton, Ribon’s business chief, also joined from Flagship last summer.

therapeutics
small molecules
biotech