Rome Therapeutics is on the ropes, with the preclinical biotech planning layoffs for the end of the month, evaluating strategic options and ditching its physical headquarters to go entirely virtual, a company spokesperson confirmed with Fierce Biotech.
“Due to the current challenging market conditions, Rome’s leadership and our board of directors are actively exploring strategic options to enable the continued advancement of our novel science and programs, all of which aim to address significant unmet patient needs,” the spokesperson said.
Boston-based Rome currently employs 14 people, though an undetermined number of them will be laid off at the end of this quarter in efforts to reduce spend, the spokesperson added. At the same time, the biotech is expected to forgo its brick-and-mortar location and transition fully to a "virtual model."
After the workforce reduction, several employees are expected to remain onboard at Rome until the company determines "the best strategic alternative" for the biotech and its programs, according to the spokesperson.
Rome debuted in 2020 with $50 million and a goal to drug previously hidden parts of the “dark genome.” The biotech followed up the next year with a $77 million series B fundraise that later tacked on an additional $72 million with the backing of major players like Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb.
Rome’s pipeline is built on twin franchises, one composed of reverse transcriptase inhibitors and another pursuing tumor antigens. The closest asset to clinical development is an inhibitor of the LINE-1 reverse transcriptase that successfully lowered autoantibodies in mouse models of autoimmune disease in 2023.