Vertex is trimming its Rhode Island footprint on the back of a scrapped “cells plus device” program in diabetes, leaving 125 staffers out of a job.
The layoffs are at the company’s Providence, Rhode Island site, according to a recent state Worker Adjustment And Retraining Notification (WARN) report. Vertex operates a cell and genetic therapies R&D campus in the city with three buildings, which will be “consolidated into our 225 Carolina Avenue location,” leaving around 60 employees remaining in Providence, a company spokesperson told Fierce Biotech in an emailed statement.
The headcount reduction was attributed to the cancelled development of Vertex’s VX-264, a “cells plus device” therapy prospect for type 1 diabetes. The approach involved creating insulin-producing cells and surgically implanting them into patients.
In March, Vertex reported that a phase 1/2 study that had been looking to determine if the candidate prompted an increase in peak C-peptide during eating did not meet its efficacy endpoint with C-peptide increases “not observed at levels necessary to deliver benefit” at a 90-day analysis. C-peptide is a biomarker of insulin production.
With that, the Boston-based drugmaker announced it would no longer be advancing VX-264 further into clinical trials, although the company planned to conduct further analyses to “better understand the findings.”
“As a result, certain roles related specifically to the VX-264 program have been eliminated,” the spokesperson said of the layoffs.
Despite the loss with VX-264, the company “remains committed to bringing transformative therapies” to people living with type 1 diabetes and is still pursuing another islet cell therapy to prove it in the form of zimislecel. The therapy is being studied in a more specific type 1 diabetes patient population of those with severe hypoglycemic events, also known as insulin shock, and impaired awareness of hypoglycemia, a dangerous condition in which patients have less ability to spot low blood sugar symptoms.
Zimislecel is currently being assessed in an ongoing phase 3 study with global regulatory submissions expected for 2026. Vertex is already investing in building out its manufacturing and commercial capabilities to prepare for the launch, the company said in a March update. The biopharma estimates that the therapy could initially serve a market of about 60,000 patients with severe diabetes.
Rhode Island hosts one of Vertex’s several cell and genetic therapies R&D sites, with others scattered across Massachusetts. The company also has research spots in California and Washington state.