Aura Biosciences is refocusing under its recently installed CEO, laying off 20% of its employees and overhauling its C-suite as the Boston biotech narrows its focus on ocular oncology.
Natalie Holles, who took over as CEO in April, inherited a company focused on developing precision therapies to treat solid tumors. The biotech, which ended February with 113 full-time employees, was running a phase 3 study of its lead candidate as a vision-sparing therapy in adults with early choroidal melanoma, while overseeing earlier-stage studies of the asset in settings including bladder cancer.
Months into the job, Holles has repositioned Aura as an ocular oncology company. The biotech talked up the “encouraging” early clinical profile of its lead candidate, belzupacap sarotalocan (bel-sar), in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) trial, but is nonetheless pulling back from the indication.
Aura plans to complete data collection in the phase 1b/2 NMIBC trial through the protocol-defined 12-month follow-up period, preserving “optionality for value creation in the context of future potential strategic discussions.” But the biotech will focus its resources on bel-sar in eye cancer indications.
Investigators have completed enrollment in the phase 3 bel-sar trial in early choroidal melanoma, putting Aura on track to report topline data in the second half of next year. Aura will use cash freed up by the retreat from NMIBC to “support more robust clinical data generation” on bel-sar in more ocular oncology indications, namely choroid and cancers of the eye surface.
Aura is shrinking its headcount by 20% as part of the changes. The biotech warned that the cuts, which will cost $2.9 million to $3.2 million, “resulted in the loss of longer-term employees, the loss of institutional knowledge and expertise, and the reallocation and combination of certain roles and responsibilities across the organization, all of which could adversely affect our operations.”
The changes extend to the C-suite. Aura unveiled new chief operating, chief regulatory and quality, and chief people officers. The three arrivals were matched by three departures, with Aura’s chief financial and business, chief legal and chief technology officers all stepping down. An existing employee will serve as chief financial officer on an interim basis.
Aura’s new-look C-suite will benefit from an extended cash runway. The biotech now calculates it has the cash to fund operations into the first half of 2029, compared to the second half of 2028 under the prior spending plan.