Gritstone down to bare bones with 40% of workforce cut

California-based Gritstone bio (Nasdaq: GRTS), a biotech company aiming to develop the world’s most potent vaccines, has announced an approximately 40% reduction of its workforce.

The announcement comes following the recently-revealed delay of the proposed CORAL Phase IIb study of prophylactic samRNA vaccines in COVID-19, which resulted in Gritstone missing out on the external funding it previously anticipated beginning in the first quarter of this year, associated with the initiation of the study.

Gritstone, which uses its innovative vectors and payloads to train multiple arms of the immune system to attack critical disease targets, has stressed that its core programs and anticipated milestones remain unchanged. Independently and with its collaborators, the company is advancing a portfolio of product candidates to treat and prevent viral diseases and solid tumors in pursuit of improving patient outcomes and eliminating disease.