BenevolentAI to cut 30% of staff, shutter US office in latest reset

2024-04-23

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AI drug discovery firm BenevolentAI announced a new restructuring initiative Tuesday that will see it reduce its headcount by about 30% and close its US office while maintaining its two largest sites in London and Cambridge, UK. The cuts, which come under the direction of new CEO Joerg Moeller, will trim cash burn by around 20%, extending the company's runway into late in the third quarter of 2025.

A portion of those savings will be reinvested into Phase Ib/IIa development of its oral PDE10 inhibitor BEN-8744, BenevolentAI's lead drug candidate for ulcerative colitis that recently delivered positive Phase Ia data.

To bridge the funding gap to year-end 2025, when it expects to receive "further larger milestones" from existing partner programmes, BenevolentAI indicated that it plans to pursue new drug-discovery collaborations and also out-license at least one of its pipeline assets this year. The company currently has partnerships with AstraZeneca and Merck KGaA as well as Eli Lilly.

BenevolentAI expects to have about 180 employees left by the end of this year, noting that "key skills, experience and capabilities have been retained."

The latest moves follow a restructuring undertaken by BenevolentAI in May of last year when it laid off up to 180 employees, reduced its lab footprint and paused some programmes, while also discontinuing development of its topical pan-Trk inhibitor BEN-2293 after a Phase IIa atopic dermatitis trial was found to be inconclusive.

Those actions, which were expected to extend cash runway into mid-2025, reorganised BenevolentAI into two core business units, one focused on drug R&D and the other a tech business unit offering a suite of AI products for biopharma partners. However, in its latest reset, the company has decided to shutter its software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering that it refers to as Knowledge Exploration Tools, citing "the investment needed to fully commercialise this SaaS product and the estimated timeframe to see a potential meaningful financial return."

In the company's release Tuesday, Moeller said "focusing our organisation on furthering our drug discovery collaborations and progressing our proprietary pipeline is the best way to achieve both the goal, of delivering value creation for our shareholders and delivering innovative medicines."

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