Galera Therapeutics to reduce workforce by approximately 70%

“As we explore a potential approval path for avasopasem, we are taking decisive actions to extend our cash runway,” said CEO Mel Sorensen. “Unfortunately, this necessitates reducing our workforce by approximately 70%. We are grateful for the many contributions our talented team has made over the years and their commitment to avasopasem.” Galera’s restructuring plan includes a wind-down of commercial readiness efforts and headcount reductions across several departments. The company will focus resources to define the path forward for avasopasem and to progress the ongoing clinical trials for rucosopasem. Rucosopasem is the company’s second product candidate in development to augment the anti-cancer efficacy of stereotactic body radiation therapy for patients with non-small cell lung cancer and locally advanced pancreatic cancer. “We will continue our focus on completing enrollment of our rucosopasem GRECO trials,” continued Sorensen. “Our GRECO-2 trial is a 220-patient trial in locally advanced pancreatic cancer intended to build upon the positive results observed in our placebo-controlled pilot trial, where we saw meaningful improvements in multiple endpoints including overall survival and tumor outcomes. There is an urgent need for novel therapies to extend survival in patients with pancreatic cancer, and we believe rucosopasem’s unique mechanism of action in combination with SBRT could offer a transformative treatment option.” Galera estimates that its balance of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of June 30 was $38.8M. The company now expects that its current cash will be sufficient to support operations into Q2 of 2024.