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Planegg/Martinsried, November 26, 2024. Medigene AG (Medigene, FSE: MDG1, Prime Standard), an oncology platform company focused on the research and development of T cell receptor (TCR)-guided therapies for the treatment of cancer, announced today an update of its corporate strategy to refocus its capital allocation on R&D programs with highest potential for return on invested capital resulting in an organizational realignment. This strategic refocus supports the Company’s short-, mid-, and long-term vision of generating optimal 3S (sensitive, specific and safe) TCRs for the development of multiple off-the-shelf TCR-guided therapies while creating value for patients, investors and partners.
The organizational realignment will include a workforce reduction of approximately 40% effective in 2025 as well as other cost-reducing measures in line with the refocused R&D activities. Medigene intends to retain employees essential for supporting these activities as well as the Company’s ability to continue to deliver on its obligations for its existing partners, which will remain unaffected.
“Medigene has continuously prioritized projects and optimized the allocation of our resources to the R&D work and programs that we believe create the most value for patients and shareholders. While we have successfully advanced our lead TCR-T therapy MDG1015 to IND approval, we have decided to delay the MDG1015 clinical trial and pause all further development of our other autologous cell therapy programs, whilst we continue to seek future financing and partnerships to re-initiate their further development. This enables us to keep our strategic options open while focusing near term on our ability to generate 3S TCRs for TCR-guided therapies, and in advancing our TCR-guided T cell engager (TCR-TCE) MDG3010 program in collaboration with WuXi Biologics,” said Selwyn Ho, CEO at Medigene.
“The decision to reduce personnel to match our new focus has been a difficult decision to make, but this is a necessary step to ensure the long-term success of Medigene. As we implement these changes, we are grateful to all our employees for their dedication, passion and commitment in advancing TCR-guided therapies to patients and we will support all our employees through this difficult process.”
Medigene remains confident in the potential of MDG1015, a first-in-class, third-generation T cell receptor-engineered T cell (TCR-T) therapy targeting NY-ESO-1/LAGE-1a. This innovative therapy, co-expressing the costimulatory switch protein PD1-41BB, is designed to address a significant unmet medical need in the treatment of solid tumors. As such, the Company will temporarily delay the start of its IND approved, clinic-ready MDG1015 Phase 1 clinical trial while actively seeking partnerships and additional financing options to advance this program into the clinic.