BioAtla is laying off 70% of its workforce as the antibody biotech mulls whether to sell off its remaining assets.
Money has been tight at BioAtla for a while, with the San Diego-based company down to $8.3 million in cash and equivalents by the end of September. Salvation appeared at the end of the year via a $40 million special purpose vehicle transaction with tech-bio company GATC Health centering on BioAtla’s ROR-targeted antibody-drug conjugate ozuriftamab vedotin.
But, barely two months later, and BioAtla has announced its board of directors has began a formal process to “explore and evaluate strategic options to maximize shareholder value.” These options run from the sale or licensing of the company’s pipeline to strategic partnerships or “other corporate transactions.”
While the biotech considers its future, the company is shrinking its head count by 70% for “cost-containment measures.” Employees needed for the strategic review will be kept on, BioAtla explained in a March 2 statement.
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The latest round of layoffs comes a year after the company waved goodbye to 30% of its workforce. At the time, BioAtla said it needed to conserve cash while it sought out partners for its array of conditionally active biologic antibodies, including an anti-AXL ADC called mecbotamab vedotin.
In November, the biotech reported overall survival of 21.5 months in patients with treatment-refractory leiomyosarcoma, liposarcoma and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma who received mecbotamab vedotin in a phase 2 study.
BioAtla’s current clinical-stage pipeline also features BA3182, a CAB-EpCAM x CAB-CD3 T-cell engager being evaluated in a phase 1 dose escalation study in patients with unresectable or metastatic adenocarcinoma. The study is due to read out in the coming months, with a phase 2 expansion cohort expected to serve up data in the first half of 2026.