Bolt Biotherapeutics is reshuffling to cut costs and extend its cash runway to the second half of 2026.
The California biotech
said
Tuesday afternoon that it is dropping its lead oncology asset, as well as staging an executive team revamp and slashing its employee count in half.
Bolt will cease development of an immune-stimulating antibody conjugate (ISAC), dubbed trastuzumabimbotolimod or BDC-1001, after the company found it was unlikely to meet a predefined success criteria. The candidate was in a Phase 1/2 trial in solid tumors, but had
lackluster results
in 2021. BDC-1001 comprises a HER2-targeting biosimilar of Herceptin conjugated with a TLR7/8 agonist.