Cellectis’ pivot from allogeneic CAR-Ts to in vivo therapies is set to come at the expense of 70% of its workforce.
The Paris-based company announced in September that it had scrapped both of its clinical-stage allogeneic CAR-Ts: lasme-cel in a pivotal phase 2 for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia; and the phase 1-stage eti-cel in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
“In 2026, despite our continued conviction in the promise of allogeneic CAR T-cell therapies and strong physician interest in lasme-cel and eti-cel, the commercial and clinical landscape for B-ALL and NHL changed materially,” the company explained at the time.
Instead, Cellectis decided to follow many of its cell therapy-focused peers and switch to in vivo. It channeled resources to two preclinical candidates: HEAL-101, an in vivo base editing candidate targeting APOC3 for severe hypertriglyceridemia; and HEAL-201, an in vivo epigenetic editing candidate targeting PCSK9 for severe hypercholesterolemia.
Fierce was unable to get clarification from the company at the time on whether any of Cellectis’ employees would be impacted by the pivot. But in the biotech’s third-quarter earnings documents on Friday, the company disclosed that seven in 10 of Cellectis’ staffers could be out of a job.
“The realignment of the company’s operating model is ongoing,” Cellectis explained in the release.
“In connection with this initiative, the company currently expects its global headcount to be reduced by up to 70% from its pre-transition level over the course of 2026 and 2027, subject to the completion of the applicable French works council consultation process and the compliance with applicable French and U.S. labor law requirements.”
Cellectis entered 2026 with 229 full-time employees, spread across a headquarters and a manufacturing facility, both in Paris, as well as an R&D facility in New York and another manufacturing facility in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Cellectis CEO André Choulika, Ph.D., said in this morning’s release that the biotech’s teams are now “fully committed to our new in vivo gene editing chapter.”
Choulika pointed to preclinical data unveiled at the European Society of Cell and Gene Therapy last month in Germany, which suggested that HEAL-101—an in vivo base editing candidate targeting APOC3 for severe hypertriglyceridemia—edited the human APOC3 gene at rates up to 70% in a humanized liver model.
“These results support the continued development of HEAL-101, and the initiation of an investigator-initiated trial in China is on track with the goal of delivering first clinical data for HEAL-101 in the second half of 2027,” the CEO added.
Cellectis is also expecting to launch a separate phase 1 study in China in 2028 for HEAL-201, an in vivo epigenetic editing candidate targeting PCSK9 for severe hypercholesterolemia.
Momentum has been shifting away from allogeneic cell therapies for a while, with companies switching allegiance to in vivo approaches, including using gene editing to generate CAR-T cells within a patient’s body.
One of the most notable signs was when leading cell therapy organization Kite Pharma, a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences, scrapped a $2.3 billion allogeneic deal with Shoreline Biosciences last year and instead started pumping money into in vivo, purchasing Interius BioTherapeutics for $350 million and inking a deal with Pregene Biopharma worth as much as $1.6 billion.
A wider Big Pharma shopping spree in the space has also seen AbbVie buy Capstan Therapeutics for $2.1 billion, Bristol Myers Squibb acquire Orbital Therapeutics for $1.5 billion, AstraZeneca pick up EsoBiotec for $1 billion, and Eli Lilly scoop up both Kelonia Therapeutics and Orna Therapeutics.
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