Gene editing company Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA.US) will lay off 27% of its employees and halt the NTLA-3001 project.

U.S. gene editing company Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA.US) announced that it plans to focus its resources on developing candidate drugs NTLA-2002 and nex-z, and will stop the development of NTLA-3001, leading to a reduction of approximately 27% of its workforce. NTLA-2002 is used to treat hereditary angioedema, nex-z is used to treat ATTR amyloidosis, and NTLA-3001 was being developed to treat lung diseases associated with -1 antitrypsin deficiency. In addition to NTLA-3001, the company will also stop certain projects at the research stage. Intellia Therapeutics stated that it believes NTLA-2002 and nex-z have the "greatest opportunity to create significant short-term value." The company added that it expects expenses related to reorganization to be approximately $8 million in the first quarter of 2025. According to a statement, Intellia Therapeutics had approximately $862 million in cash, cash equivalents, and investments at the end of 2024, which should be enough to fund operations until the first half of 2027. Intellia Therapeutics also announced that its Chief Scientific Officer, Laura Sepp-Lorenzino, is retiring. She will continue to serve as the company's senior scientific advisor for the remainder of the year. Immunology and cell therapy head, Birgit Schultes, will assume the role of Chief Operating Officer starting on January 13th. Additionally, the company stated that it plans to complete the formation of its commercial leadership team by the second half of 2025.