The layoffs will help extend the company’s cash runway from the second half of 2026 into 2028.
Less than two months after Illumina spun off Grail, the company is laying off about 350 employees, it announced on Tuesday. The reduction represents about 25% of its workforce as of June 30, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Illumina completed the spinoff on June 24.
Grail, which focuses on cancer diagnostics, is also pulling back on planned 2024 hires, according to the filing. A Grail spokesperson told STAT via email that about 150 open roles were eliminated.
The force reduction is part of a restructuring plan designed to reprioritize resources to focus on the company’s core multicancer early detection (MCED) business and reduce overall spend as Grail works toward completing registrational studies and its premarket approval application submission for galleri, according to the SEC filing.
In its announcement, Grail noted that it is:
- Substantially decreasing investment in product programs beyond its Galleri blood tests
- Reducing the size of its commercial organization
- Focusing field-based activities on the most productive provider territories
- Streamlining investments in its enterprise business, which includes the company’s employer and life insurance businesses
In addition, the company noted in the announcement, it is reducing general and administrative expenses to reflect the focus on its MCED opportunity.
Grail expects its cost reductions to extend its existing cash runway from the second half of 2026 into 2028, according to the announcement. The company also expects $27 million in savings, net of anticipated severance and benefits costs.
Grail noted in the SEC filing that it estimates it will incur an $18 million to $23 million restructuring charge in the third quarter that primarily consists of severance, benefits, payroll taxes and other termination-related costs, excluding an estimated net benefit in stock-based compensation due to the reversal of previously recorded stock-based compensation expenses related to award cancellations.
