Bolt Biotherapeutics revamps as it drops lead cancer asset, changes CEO and trims headcount

Bolt Bio­ther­a­peu­tics is reshuf­fling to cut costs and ex­tend its cash run­way to the sec­ond half of 2026.

The Cal­i­for­nia biotech said Tues­day af­ter­noon that it is drop­ping its lead on­col­o­gy as­set, as well as stag­ing an ex­ec­u­tive team re­vamp and slash­ing its em­ploy­ee count in half.

Bolt will cease de­vel­op­ment of an im­mune-stim­u­lat­ing an­ti­body con­ju­gate (ISAC), dubbed trastuzum­ab im­botolimod or BDC-1001, af­ter the com­pa­ny found it was un­like­ly to meet a pre­de­fined suc­cess cri­te­ria. The can­di­date was in a Phase 1/2 tri­al in sol­id tu­mors, but had lack­lus­ter re­sults in 2021. BDC-1001 com­pris­es a HER2-tar­get­ing biosim­i­lar of Her­ceptin con­ju­gat­ed with a TLR7/8 ag­o­nist.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.