
Northwest Bio still hanging on; Five Prime's latest round of layoffs claims 70
→ Penny stock Northwest Biotherapeutics is still hanging on. The company, which is developing DCVax for solid tumor cancers, has announced that they’ve reached a settlement with the SEC. The company has agreed to pay a fine of $250,000 “in connection with past weaknesses in its internal controls” and the company will neither admit nor deny any violations under the settlement.
→ Long-sliding biotech Five Prime Therapeutics will layoff 70 employees as part of a corporate restructuring as it struggles to find its footing. The oncology-focused company has been in free-fall since late 2017, when its Bristol-Myers Squibb-partnered drug cabiralizumab showed weak efficacy and a troubling safety profile in early-stage pancreatic cancer. In January, they cut 41 jobs, about a fifth of its workforce at the time, and in September they tapped William Ringo as interim CEO after Aron Knickerbocker resigned. On Thursday, Ringo announced the layoffs. “The company will retain a small research group focused on advancing three wholly-owned, late-stage research assets and will increasingly rely on outsourcing and contracted capabilities,” the company wrote.
→ Israeli biotech Therapix Biosciences — a company that is investigating the use of cannabinoid-based drugs in the reduction of symptoms in adults suffering from Tourette’s syndrome — has revealed updates on its planned merger with Destiny Biosciences. According to the letter of intent, “the parties agreed to allow until October 31, 2019, to complete the definitive agreement before abandoning the transaction.” Therapix’s board of directors said that it is willing to give Destiny additional time to reach a decision. Destiny is currently carrying out a valuation analysis of the merger.