Cell programming biotech bit.bio is slimming its workforce by 25% as the company pivots to focus on biomedical tools instead of therapeutics development.
The decision was driven by “shifting market conditions” and the need to focus on bit.bio’s “core strengths,” a spokesperson told Fierce Biotech in an emailed statement.
The U.K. biotech declined to comment on the specific number of employees impacted by the redundancies.
“While the therapeutic potential of our technology is promising, the current market environment requires a more focused approach to ensure sustained growth and innovation,” the spokesperson’s statement said.
The biotech hosts several discovery programs, including an autoimmune cell therapy partnership with Bayer’s BlueRock Therapeutics.
Now, the company is pivoting to focus on its product portfolio of ioCells, or human cells programmed from induced pluripotent stem cells. The science is designed to reduce variance, unreliability and timelines for researchers, according to bit.bio.
The product portfolio is powered by a cell programming technology called opti-ox, another one of the company’s priorities, according to the spokesperson.
“We remain focused on strengthening our core business and delivering highly defined human cells to researchers and drug developers to drive scientific discovery,” the spokesperson said.
The biotech is using a $30 million financing round from December to expand its human cell product catalog, enhance data packages and protocols, and partner with biotech and pharma companies on its opti-ox-enabled product line.
Bit.bio emerged in 2016 as a spinout from the University of Cambridge and is backed by Arch Venture Partners, Charles River Laboratories, Foresite Capital and M&G, among others.
Editor's note: Bit.bio contends that is not a cell therapy biotech, but rather a synthetic biology company.