Another Massachusetts biotech has reached the end of the road. NextRNA Therapeutics has begun winding down operations with a “heavy heart,” the company’s co-founder, president and CEO Dominique Verhelle, Ph.D., said in an Aug. 9 LinkedIn post.
NextRNA was focused on long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), a form of RNA that does not make proteins but instead regulates gene expression in various ways.
“As a nascent area of biology, we knew this would not be an easy journey,” Verhelle said. “But we persisted nonetheless because we believed that tackling unsolved scientific challenges and unmet patient needs requires pioneers who are willing to blaze new paths regardless (and unknowing) of the ultimate outcome.”
The Boston biotech is shuttering one year after inking a two-program oncology pact with Bayer worth up to $547 million in upfront and milestone payments. One of the programs was a preclinical lncRNA-targeting small molecule, while the other was undisclosed.
NextRNA's wind-down was precipitated by a delay in hitting a milestone in the Bayer deal, which would have extended NextRNA’s cash runway, as well as overall weak market dynamics, Verhelle told Endpoints News on Aug. 11. The company employs 27 staffers, Verhelle said to Endpoints.
The Bayer deal “helped shine a brighter light on the potential that lncRNAs represent as a new class of oncology targets,” Verhelle said on LinkedIn. “As our company’s journey draws to a close, I believe our efforts will help pave the way for others to explore this exciting space and its potential for patients.”
For its part, Bayer is continuing the work even without NextRNA by the Big Pharma’s side, a spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Biotech.
“Bayer remains fully committed to exploring the program we were working on in collaboration with NextRNA, further supporting our innovative portfolio in oncology,” the spokesperson said.
NextRNA launched in 2022 with $56 million in seed and series A funding. The biotech was based on the work of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Carl Novina, M.D., Ph.D., whose lab has made a number of discoveries related to the biology of lncRNAs and their role in cancers.
The shuttered biotech joins a suite of others that have shut down this year, including fellow Massachusetts outfits Lyndra Therapeutics, Octagon Therapeutics, iTeos Therapeutics and HC Bioscience, another company trying to advance a novel form of RNA into therapeutic use.