After layoffs this fall, Mythic Therapeutics is winding down, putting all its assets up for sale and terminating its only clinical trial.
“The company is in the process of winding down and selling assets, and several are still available,” Brian Fiske, Ph.D., Mythic co-founder and chief scientific officer, told Fierce Biotech in a statement.
The oncology biotech ended a phase 1 study in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in early November, according to a Dec. 16 update posted to ClinicalTrials.gov. The trial was assessing Mythic’s investigational antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidate, coded MYTX-011, among more than 200 patients with advanced NSCLC.
While the study was set to wrap up at the end of October, it was terminated due to a “business decision,” according to the federal trial registrar.
“Mythic Therapeutics pursued various capital solutions during 2025 to fund its continued operations, and despite the promise of MYTX-011, such efforts were not successful,” Fiske explained.
“MYTX-011 demonstrated a highly differentiated safety profile at the RP2D, with promising anti-tumor activity observed in several NSCLC segments. Higher doses were being tested to further expand the addressable population before ceasing the study,” he added.
The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company is now auctioning off its R&D equipment starting Jan. 15, according to a listing by Heritage Global Partners, an advisory firm for asset auctions and liquidations.
In mid-November, Mythic started seeking offers for the sale of its intellectual property and assets, including MYTX-011 and its ADC platform called FateControl, according to public notice bulletin DailyDAC. The platform technology is designed to boost ADC uptake in cancerous cells while avoiding payload release in normal ones, according to the biotech.
The biotech emerged in 2021 with $103 million in hand and a goal of developing ADCs for indications that previously weren’t able to be treated by the drug class. The startup was backed by Viking Global, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners and Foresite Capital, among others.
Signs of trouble emerged earlier this year when the company announced an undisclosed number of layoffs.
“These past two weeks have been some of the most difficult in Mythic’s 8-year journey to bring the transformative impact of ADCs to more patients,” reads a company LinkedIn post shared in September. “We said goodbye to colleagues and friends who contributed greatly to our mission and more. They helped us define who we are as a company, and what it means to impact patient care.”
“For our team that is continuing—we will be united in a single purpose, to realize our mission by bringing MYTX-011 to more patients,” the biotech added.
The ADC had secured FDA fast track status back in 2023, with early data shared at this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago.
Mythic isn’t the only biotech closing its doors as the year comes to an end. Asthma-focused Areteia Therapeutics is shuttering mere months after reporting a phase 3 win for its oral biologic, Endpoints News reports.
In September, the biotech provided a peek at the study, dubbed Exhale-4, revealing that the trial hit its primary endpoint among patients with inadequately controlled moderate-to-severe eosinophilic asthma.
The study’s main measure looked at the average lung function of study participants between weeks 20 and 24. Lung function was significantly better in people who took the high dose of Areteia’s dexpramipexole twice a day than in patients who received placebo.
At the time, the company's press release lacked information on how the low dose performed on the primary endpoint.
Nonetheless, Areteia's trials Exhale-3 and Exhale-2 were recently terminated because “the benefit-risk profile no longer supports further development in the intended patient population,” according to ClinicalTrials.gov. Exhale-4 is still listed as active, but that status was last updated in September. The Exhale studies are the only trials listed on Areteia's pipeline.
While Exhale-4 looked at improving lung function over a 26-week period, the other trials were 52-week examinations of asthma attack frequency and lung function.
Areteia decided to shut down based on a benefit-risk analysis, a person familiar with the company’s plans told Endpoints News under the condition of anonymity. In addition, the Triangle Business Journal reports that Areteia's CEO and CFO have left the biotech.
The reported closure has been shrouded in mystery, with the biotech’s previous public relations firm no longer representing the client and internal contacts not returning inquiries.
Areteia was one of the industry’s biggest fundraisers in 2022, securing a $350 million series A that it later expanded to a total of $425 million.
The company was created by Knopp Biosciences and private equity group Population Health Partners, with further backing from Bain Capital Life Sciences, GV, Arch Venture Partners and Sanofi, among others.