Caribou Biosciences Cuts Staff and Narrows Pipeline to Focus on Oncology CAR-T Therapies

Caribou Biosciences, a California-based biotechnology company, has announced significant restructuring measures, including a 32% reduction in workforce and a strategic narrowing of its pipeline. This move, aimed at extending the company's cash runway, represents the second round of cuts in less than a year for the allogeneic cell therapy developer.

Pipeline Reprioritization and Clinical Trial Updates

The company is homing in on two lead allogeneic cell therapy candidates, CB-010 and CB-011, both currently in phase 1 trials. CB-010, a CD19-targeted therapy, is being evaluated for B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, while the anti-BCMA candidate CB-011 is in trials for multiple myeloma.

As part of the restructuring, Caribou is discontinuing development of CB-012, an allogeneic anti-CLL-1 CAR-T cell therapy for relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia. The phase 1 trial for CB-012, which began in February 2024 and had previously received FDA fast track designation, will be terminated.

Additionally, Caribou is halting a phase 1 trial testing CB-010 in lupus and ending all preclinical research activities. The company has also pushed back the timeline for announcing results from the ongoing CB-010 and CB-011 trials, now expected in the second half of 2025 instead of the first half.

Financial Implications and Industry Context

The restructuring measures are expected to cost Caribou between $2.5 million and $3.5 million but will extend the company's cash runway by one year to the second half of 2027. This decision comes amidst a challenging period for the cell and gene therapy sector, with 20 layoff rounds reported in the first quarter of the year alone.

Rachel Haurwitz, Ph.D., President and CEO of Caribou, acknowledged the difficulty of the decision, stating, "To ensure Caribou is strongly positioned to emerge from these challenging times and deliver these potentially value-generating datasets, we have made the difficult decision to strategically prioritize our resources on CB-010 and CB-011 for oncology indications."

The latest cuts at Caribou follow a previous workforce reduction of 12% in July 2024, which also saw the termination of the company's natural killer (NK) cell therapy program. This trend of downsizing and pipeline prioritization is not unique to Caribou, as evidenced by recent developments at other companies in the sector, such as Carisma Therapeutics, which has ceased all research and development activities and is now pursuing strategic alternatives.