aibioCentury Therapeutics plans about 51% workforce cut as CFO and chief development officer leave
Tickers IPSC
Century Therapeutics (Nasdaq: IPSC) expects to cut headcount by approximately 51% and record about $3.7 million in severance charges. Its CFO and Chief Development Officer will leave in July 2025.
Key facts
- Company
- Century Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: IPSC)
- News type
- Distress
- Primary source
- Century Therapeutics, Inc. Form 8-K filed July 7, 2025 (SEC EDGAR)
Century Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: IPSC) said its board approved a reduction in force that it expects to cut employee headcount by approximately 51%. Its Chief Financial Officer and Chief Development Officer are also leaving. The company reported the changes in a Form 8-K filed July 7, 2025.
The workforce reduction
On July 1, 2025, the Board of Directors approved the reduction in force (RIF) as part of a broader effort to right size the organization to focus on programs with the highest potential for transformational value. The company expects to implement a net reduction of its employee headcount by approximately 51%.
Century estimates it will incur charges of approximately $3.7 million for severance and other employee termination-related costs. The filing says these costs consist primarily of cash expenditures related to severance payments. The company estimates the workforce reduction will be substantially completed by the end of the third quarter of 2025.
The company cautions that its estimate of costs, and the timing, are subject to a number of assumptions and that actual results may differ. It may also incur additional costs not currently contemplated due to events that may occur as a result of, or that are associated with, the actions described.
Executive departures
In connection with the RIF, the Board approved the departure of two executives on July 1, 2025. Morgan Conn, Ph.D. will leave his position as Chief Financial Officer effective July 11, 2025. Adrienne Farid, Ph.D. will leave her position as Chief Development Officer effective July 31, 2025.
The filing says each departure will be a termination without Cause as defined in the executive Employment Agreement between the company and each executive. Those agreements are dated September 20, 2024 for Dr. Conn and May 26, 2021 for Dr. Farid.
Following the effectiveness of Dr. Conn's departure, Douglas Carr, the company's Senior Vice President, Finance, will serve as interim Principal Financial Officer.
About Century
In its annual report on Form 10-K filed March 19, 2025, Century describes itself as a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing allogeneic pluripotent stem cell therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer. Allogeneic means the cell products are derived from healthy donors for use in any patient, rather than from an individual patient. The company says its natural killer and T cell programs are built on induced pluripotent stem cells, which it says can self-renew indefinitely and differentiate into any cell type.
Its lead clinical product candidate is CNTY-101, a CAR-iNK cell therapy with six precision gene edits. The 10-K says it was being tested in a Phase 1 clinical trial for patients with B-cell mediated autoimmune diseases. In March 2025, the company announced that it had discontinued its ELiPSE-1 Phase 1 trial of CNTY-101 for patients with lymphoma for strategic reasons. It said emerging data from that trial did not meet its threshold to be considered transformational in that patient population. The 10-K also says Century announced a re-prioritized pre-clinical pipeline in March 2025. The platform uses CRISPR mediated precision gene editing to incorporate multiple transgenes and disrupt target genes, along with proprietary Allo-Evasion technology intended to prevent rejection of its cell products by the host immune system.
Losses and funding
The 10-K reports net losses of $126.6 million for 2024 and $136.7 million for 2023, and an accumulated deficit of $782.3 million at December 31, 2024. Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash ended 2024 at $61,213 thousand. In 2024 the company raised $17,829 thousand from its at-the-market program, net of issuance costs, and $56,593 thousand from a PIPE, net of issuance costs. The 8-K does not say how long the remaining cash will last after the cuts.
Who is involved
President and Chief Executive Officer Brent Pfeiffenberger, Pharm.D. signed the 8-K. The 10-K signature page lists Morgan Conn, PhD as Chief Financial Officer and Douglas Carr as Senior Vice President, Finance & Operations and principal accounting officer.