Cyteir Therapeutics announced Thursday afternoon that it is laying off 70% of its workforce and deferring research and development (R&D) in other areas as the company focuses on clinical activities around ovarian cancer.

Cyteir is embarking on a strategic prioritization plan that centers on CYT-0851, an investigational monocarboxylate transporter inhibitor, that is being examined as a potential treatment for ovarian cancer.

The company plans to expand its evaluation of CYT-0851 in combination with capecitabine, an oral medication that aims to slow or stop the growth of cancer cells. Cyteir said it expects to enroll additional patients in the first half of 2023.

The deferral of R&D relates to the suspension of all preclinical research, including drug discovery projects focused on identifying inhibitors of DNA damage repair.

The moves are expected to extend Cyteir’s cash runway into 2026, according to Cyteir CEO Markus Renschler, MD. At the end of 2022, the company had $147 million in cash and cash equivalents.

The one-time employee severance packages and benefit costs are expected to total between $2.5 million to $3 million. 

Renschler said in a statement that CYT-0851 represents the “greatest likelihood of success and an opportunity” to assist patients with ovarian cancer, which is why the company is pivoting its resources to support the oral treatment. 

“This strategic prioritization and the difficult decision to reduce our workforce is expected to extend our cash runway into 2026 and, if supported by the data and regulatory feedback, allows us to advance CYT-0851 into a potentially registrational trial as early as the second half of 2024,” he said in a statement. “I personally would like to thank all of our dedicated employees and express my gratitude for their hard work in advancing our pipeline, and I wish them the best in the future.”

Numerous layoffs from healthcare organizations have proliferated the industry in recent months.

Notably, Verily announced last week it would trim 200 jobs as part of a strategic refocus.
At the end of 2022, MEI Pharma announced it would lay off 30% of its workforce linked to zandelisib development while Otonomy, the hearing loss biotech, and TherapeuticsMD both announced plans to lay off their respective workforces.