Following two layoffs in less than three months, Viracta Therapeutics may have around 18 employees left to advance its efforts to bring lead product candidate nana-val to market.
Just months after cutting 23% of its workforce, Viracta Therapeutics let go of 42% of employees as it increased focus on lead product candidate nana-val in lymphoma patients. The Cardiff, California, biotech announced the latest layoffs Nov. 6. An SEC filing that same day stated the cuts were effective Oct. 31.
The company’s board makeup also decreased Oct. 31 with the voluntary resignations of four of its 10 directors, according to the announcement.
Viracta had 40 full-time employees as of March 31, as stated in a May SEC filing. Based on cutting 23% of staff in August and 42% in October, the biotech now has about 18 employees.
According to Viracta, the latest layoffs will “further align resources with current pipeline priorities.” Those priorities involve reprioritizing resources to support nana-val, an oral combination therapy of the company’s proprietary investigational drug, nanatinostat, and the antiviral agent valganciclovir in patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) Epstein–Barr virus–positive (EBV+) peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).
In August, Viracta announced positive Phase II data for nana-val in those patients. In the R/R EBV+ PTCL population, the overall response rate (ORR) was 33% and the complete response rate (CRR) was 19%. In second-line patients, the ORR was 60% and the CRR was 30%.
The company also noted in that August announcement that it plans to begin a randomized controlled trial of nana-val in the second-line treatment of EBV+ PTCL patients in 2025. In addition, it could potentially submit a new drug application filing in 2026 for accelerated approval of nana-val.
As it moves forward with those efforts, Viracta will do so without the four board members who resigned: Jane Barlow, Jane Chung, Sam Murphy and Stephen Rubino. According to the company, that resizing will help reduce costs, streamline operations and bring the board’s size more in line with similarly sized businesses.
In its August announcement, Viracta stated it should have sufficient funds to continue operating into the first quarter of 2025, with cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaling about $30 million as of June 30. That said, the company had a net loss of about $9.8 million in the second quarter.
In addition, Viracta has experienced net losses since inception and, as of June 30, had an accumulated deficit of $284.9 million, according to an Aug. 14 quarterly SEC filing. In that filing, the company noted it expects to continue to incur net losses “for at least the next several years.”
