The latest Repare Therapeutics layoffs will include its chief medical officer and could leave the biotech with fewer than 35 employees as it works to advance two Phase I clinical programs.
Less than a year after cutting about 25% of its workforce, Repare Therapeutics has divulged it will axe approximately 75% of its staff, including its chief medical officer, according to an SEC filing Tuesday. The Montreal-based biotech had 179 employees as of Feb. 24, 2024, according to an April SEC filing, meaning that once the latest layoffs are complete, it may have fewer than 35 people remaining.
In addition to its corporate headquarters in Montreal, Repare has a location in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company did not specify in the SEC filing if the layoffs will affect one or both sites. Repare informed affected employees Monday and expects to mostly complete the reorganization by the fourth quarter.
Maria Koehler, executive vice president and chief medical officer, will depart on March 31. Repare intends to keep her on in a consulting capacity for three months after her separation date, according to Tuesday’s SEC filing.
The latest layoffs were expected, as the company in January announced planned headcount reductions, although without offering details about the cuts. Repare also shared then that it had reprioritized its pipeline to focus on advancing its Phase I clinical programs: PLK4 inhibitor RP-1664 and Polθ ATPase inhibitor RP-3467. In addition, the company will seek partnering opportunities across its portfolio, including for lunresertib and camonsertib, known as Lunre+Camo, which it was evaluating in patients with endometrial cancer and platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.
Repare in January expected that the late-stage clinical funding savings combined with planned cost and headcount reductions would extend its cash runway into mid-2027. In Tuesday’s SEC filing, it noted that the layoffs should save the company about $21 million annually.
The company is evaluating RP-1664 as a monotherapy in adult and adolescent patients with TRIM37-high solid tumors and expects to start a Phase I/II expansion trial in pediatric neuroblastoma in the third quarter. A final trial readout is expected in mid-2026.
Repare is evaluating RP-3467 alone and in combination with olaparib, a poly-ADP ribose polymerase inhibitor, in a Phase I trial for patients with various cancer types, with a topline readout anticipated in the third quarter.
The company announced its previous staff cuts in August, disclosing it would lay off about 25% of its workforce, with most cuts coming from its preclinical group. Repare noted that the layoffs were tied to a strategic reprioritization of its research and development activities to focus on advancing its portfolio of clinical-stage oncology programs.
Regarding its latest workforce reduction, the company expects to incur one-time cash charges of about $7.3 million due to severance payments and related costs.
