Karyopharm Therapeutics is laying off 20% of staffers as efforts to secure a strategic alternative have turned up short.
The oncology biopharma’s “ongoing careful management of operating expenses” was cited as the reason behind the workforce reduction, according to a July 11 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The layoffs are the second wave this year, following a prior reduction-in-force and a decrease in external contractors that took place in the first quarter, according to a separate SEC report filed in May.
Karyopharm didn’t specify the number of employees impacted by the most recent cuts. As of Feb. 14, the Massachusetts company employed 279 full-time workers, according to the biopharma’s annual report.
At the end of last year, the company recorded an accumulated deficit of $1.6 billion, according to the same annual report.
As part of the search for a strategic alternative, Karyopharm said it has talked with investors for potential financing transactions. While the discussions have yielded no deals, Karyopharm will continue to evaluate its options, which could include a possible merger or sale of the biopharma, in or out of court restructurings; and refinancings of existing debt, according to the July SEC document.
The biopharma’s only investigational pipeline candidate is an oral XPO1 inhibitor dubbed eltanexor, according to its online pipeline. Designed to be a myelodysplastic neoplasms monotherapy, eltanexor underwent phase 1/2 testing that wrapped in the middle of last year.
In an interim data slice, patients with advanced myelodysplastic neoplasms receiving eltanexor showed a 31% overall response rate in the efficacy evaluable population, with a median overall survival of 8.7 months.
The company said its focus is on completing ongoing phase 3 trials for its approved multiple myeloma drug Xpovio in myelofibrosis and endometrial cancer.
For this year’s most recent quarter, Xpovio sales brought in about $30 million in net product revenue, a $5 million drop compared to the first quarter of 2024.
Back in 2023, the biopharma had to cut down its staff by 20% as projected revenue for the blood cancer drug dropped by $15 million.