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Cambridge company is laying of 180 people, 65% of its workforce

Editas Medicine says the move is a “critical pivot to optimize its cost structure."

MIT professor and brain researcher Feng Zhang, center, is a co-founder of Editas Medicine. The company is laying off about 180 workers. Courtesy Photo

By Lindsay Shachnow

December 16, 2024

1 minute to read

A Cambridge-based biotechnology company announced Thursday its plans to lay off about 65% of its workforce over the next several months.

Editas Medicine, Inc., a gene editing company, said the layoffs, which will affect about 180 people, is a “critical pivot to optimize its cost structure,” according to a press release.

The company is also transitioning to focus fully on in vivo gene editing — a method of modifying genes inside a living organism — and ending its development of a reni-cel program, an experimental sick-cell disease treatment, after an extensive search did not yield a commercial partner for the company.

“Two years ago, we laid out our strategy and objective to become a leader in in vivo programmable gene editing,” President and Chief Executive Officer of Editas Medicine said in a statement. “Based on these advances, we are transitioning to a fully in vivo company.”

As part of this reduction in workforce, several members of the Editas management team will be leaving the company over the next six months, including Editas Medicine’s Chief Medical Officer Baisong Mei, and members of the company’s board of directors Emma Reeve and Meeta Chatterjee. Jessica Hopfield has been named Chair of the Board, effective Dec. 31, 2024.

“We want to extend our deepest appreciation to patients, investigators, clinical sites staff, and our employees who have shown tremendous dedication and commitment to developing a potentially transformational medicine like reni-cel,” O’Neill said in the statement. “We also want to express specific gratitude to the patients in our clinical trials and their caregivers whose dedication to disease research for their community makes us even more committed to accelerating our efforts towards an in vivo program for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia.”