After moving the manufacturing of a CAR T drug that was part of its ImmPACT Bio acquisition to Washington, Lyell Immunopharma is closing its Los Angeles manufacturing facility, eliminating dozens of jobs there.
Five months after acquiring the cell therapy company ImmPACT Bio, Lyell Immunopharma has disclosed that it is shutting down the Los Angeles manufacturing facility that was part of the deal and letting go of 73 people at the site. The layoffs are effective June 2, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notice.
San Francisco–based Lyell is moving manufacturing of IMPT-314, a drug it acquired from ImmPACT Bio, to its Bothell, Washington, manufacturing facility, according to an April 1 SEC filing. IMPT-314 is a dual-targeting CD19/20 CAR T cell candidate for hematologic malignancies, including B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Lyell had 300 overall employees as of Dec. 31, according to a March 11 SEC filing, which means the layoffs, once complete, could leave the company with around 225 people on staff.
In connection with the staff cuts, the biotech expects to incur aggregate expenses of between $3 million and $4 million related to severance, benefits, payroll taxes and other workforce reduction costs, according to the April SEC filing. Lyell noted that those costs should be recognized primarily in the second and third quarters of this year. It also stated that it expects its net cash use of $175 million to $185 million in 2025 will provide cash runway into 2027 “through multiple value-creating clinical catalysts.”
The company reported a net loss of $343 million for the year ending Dec. 31, 2024, and a net loss of $234.6 million in 2023.
Lyell acquired ImmPACT in part to strengthen its clinical-stage pipeline of CAR T cell therapies, according to the biotech’s Oct. 31 announcement of the deal’s closure. The company noted at that time that it would accelerate development of IMPT-314. In the March SEC filing, Lyell said it expects to start two pivotal clinical programs for the drug: one in mid-2025 and another by early 2026.
