Arena BioWorks has laid off 30% of its workers 19 months after launching with $500 million and visions of bringing the Bell Labs model to biotech.
Massachusetts-based Arena emerged in January 2024, backed by five billionaires and led by high-profile scientists who helped attract almost 100 researchers. The organization offered its team members the chance to engage in the basic biological research that is typically performed at universities without the frustrations associated with working and securing funding at bureaucratic institutions.
This week, some of the people who joined Arena are out of work. A spokesperson said the company has implemented organizational changes that impacted 22 employees, about 30% of the workforce, as part of the deprioritization of cell and gene therapy work.
The spokesperson said sharpening Arena’s focus on small molecules and biologics at the expense of the advanced therapies is the best way for the organization to achieve its goal. The company's overall mission is unchanged, the spokesperson said, with Arena continuing to focus on “translating human biology and mechanisms of disease into breakthrough medicines.”
Arena made the “measured decision” to lay off staff “from a position of financial and scientific strength,” the spokesperson said. The company is now accelerating its lead exploratory and discovery programs.
The changes follow events that have shaken confidence in gene therapies, including the deaths of two recipients of Sarepta Therapeutics’ Elevidys and the commercial struggles of products such as bluebird bio’s Lyfgenia and Zynteglo, Roche’s Luxturna and Pfizer’s now-withdrawn Beqvez.