Microbiome-biotech Finch Therapeutics announced this week its plans to let go of approximately 37% of its employees, saying the decision is “a part of an ongoing strategic review of its business and portfolio.”
Just last week, Finch shared the news that Takeda was returning two investigational IBD drug candidates that the two had jointly developed over the last five years. In 2017, Takeda gave Finch an initial payment of $10 million for FIN-524 and FIN-525, two bacterial cocktail drugs, and later in 2021, Finch even announced that Takeda would be taking over the primary development of one of the candidates, FIN-524, changing its name to TAK-524. Now, Finch has regained custody of the drugs.
In the recently filed SEC document, the Finch also said that the recent discontinuation of its IBD collaboration with Takeda, coupled with the current capital market environment has pushed the company to restructure.
Finch Therapeutics says it will continue to leverage its Human-First Discovery platform to develop orally administered biological drugs, focusing on targeted microbiome therapeutics. Currently, the company lead candidate is CP1-1, which is in its late-stage clinical development phase and has received Breakthrough Therapy and Fast Track designations from the FDA. CP1-1 is intended for the prevention of recurrent C. difficile infection, which typically occurs after the use of antibiotic medications.