BenevolentAI has begun a “significant organizational restructuring” that will lead to layoffs. The company framed the changes as a return to “its founding TechBio mission” after years in which it aspired to be a fully fledged biotech with a wholly owned, late-phase pipeline.
Going forward, BenevolentAI will focus on developing “more adaptable, standalone products tailored to meet [its] partners’ drug development needs.” The company took in-house candidates as far as phase 2 under its previous model—and had ambitions to run pivotal trials—but now plans to “significantly reduce [its] balance sheet risk by partnering ... earlier-stage assets sooner in their development cycle.”
The impact of the changes—which include a potential delisting of the stock—on employees are unclear. BenevolentAI said it will reduce roles but is yet to talk numbers publicly. After the latest changes, the company estimates its cash will keep it going into 2027.
Originally called Stratified Medical, BenevolentAI pitched itself as an artificial intelligence company that could advance scientific discovery in its early years. By 2018, the company was claiming to have built a “bioscience machine brain, purpose-built to discover new medicines and cures for disease.” The claims went over well with investors, driving the valuation of the company up to $2 billion.
When BenevolentAI went public via a rare European SPAC deal in 2022, the company outlined plans to take some assets into late-phase trials itself while outlicensing other candidates between the IND stage and the end of phase 2. The transition of BenevolentAI into an AI-enabled biotech was well underway.
The management team at BenevolentAI’s SPAC expected the company’s platform and use of biomarkers to enable it to beat the industry’s average R&D success rates. The theory took a hit last year when the company’s topical pan-Trk inhibitor flunked a phase 2a trial.
BenevolentAI outlined plans to lay off up to 180 people, reduce its lab footprint, pause some programs and ax its lead candidate in the wake of the setback. More cuts arrived in April, when the company laid off 30% of its remaining staff, closed its U.S. office and dropped plans to launch software products. The changes extended BenevolentAI’s cash runway into the third quarter of 2025.
The company has been pursuing deals that could add to its cash, but management told (PDF) investors in September that “the complex nature of such agreements, demanding meticulous negotiation and precise strategic alignment, may make it challenging ... to sign an agreement in the current fiscal year.” With a deal yet to materialize, BenevolentAI has taken more drastic action to ensure its future.