Atsena prioritizes retinal gene therapy pipeline, trims staff as existing investors refuel the biotech 

At­se­na Ther­a­peu­tics has re­duced its staff, is look­ing for a part­ner and has reeled in more cash from ex­ist­ing in­vestors, the gene ther­a­py biotech told End­points News.

The North Car­oli­na start­up an­tic­i­pates 12-month re­sults from its first Phase I/II clin­i­cal tri­al by year’s end and be­gan a sep­a­rate Phase I/II study of its sec­ond gene ther­a­py in Au­gust, but has re­cent­ly laid off em­ploy­ees to con­serve cash, which in­cludes a re­cent in­sid­er-led Se­ries B, the com­pa­ny said, with about $24.5 mil­lion of $32 mil­lion raised so far, per an SEC fil­ing. CEO Patrick Ritschel de­clined to dis­close the size of the work­force re­duc­tion.

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