enGene cuts about 50% of workforce, reports $285.2 million in cash

The cuts and the departures

enGene Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ENGN) said on June 15, 2026 that it implemented a plan in June to reduce its workforce by about 50%, to streamline operations and preserve cash. The company says it kept the staff needed for LEGEND Cohort 1, the surfactant cohort, FDA meetings, BLA planning and pre-commercial work. Three executives leave effective July 15, 2026: Ryan Daws, Chief Financial Officer, Lee Giguere, Chief Legal Officer, and Alex Nichols, Chief Strategy and Operations Officer. Anthony Cheung, Chief Scientific Officer, stays through September 30, 2026, then moves to a consulting arrangement. Chief Medical Officer Hussein Sweiti stepped down effective June 14, 2026. Board member William Grossman, M.D., Ph.D., is interim Chief Medical Officer. As part of cash conservation, the company stopped enrollment in LEGEND Cohorts 2a, 2b and 3. It will reconsider those cohorts after discussions with the FDA in the second half of 2026.

The trial data behind the filing plan

The efficacy claim rests on LEGEND pivotal Cohort 1, which studies detalimogene without surfactant in high-risk, BCG-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer with carcinoma in situ. The company reports a 54% complete response rate at any time, 67 of 124 patients, with a 95% confidence interval of 45% to 63%. These are interim results presented at the American Urological Association meeting, with a data cutoff of April 21, 2026. Twenty-one patients were still awaiting six-, nine- or 12-month assessments at that cutoff. The "at any time" measure counts any complete response at any point. It does not show how long responses last, and the company says it is still waiting for 12-month complete response data for Cohort 1 and most of the 12-month durability data. The reported progression rate to muscle invasive or more advanced disease is 3.2%. Treatment-related adverse events led to treatment interruption in 2.4% of patients and to discontinuation in 2.4%, according to the company. The surfactant cohort is different. It adds a short bladder rinse with polidocanol, a product the company says is FDA-approved for spider and reticular veins. The support cited for the rinse is preclinical. In murine models the company tested, pretreatment with polidocanol raised mean IL-12 expression tenfold, and in a large mammal model a surfactant rinse increased distribution of detalimogene nanoparticles through the bladder by about 50%. The first patients have been enrolled, and the company may enroll up to 80 patients. No clinical results from this cohort are reported. The company argues that community urology practices, where about 80% of NMIBC patients are treated, would prefer an office-based option like this one.

The money and the timeline

As of April 30, 2026, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $285.2 million. The company calls this "significant operational flexibility." For the quarter ended April 30, 2026, total operating expenses were $32.0 million, against $27.1 million a year earlier. Research and development expenses rose by $2.0 million. The net loss attributable to common shareholders was about $30.2 million, or $0.43 per share, against about $25.8 million, or $0.51 per share. The 10-K for the year ended October 31, 2025 reports research and development expense of $94.5 million, against $38.3 million for the prior fiscal year. The net loss was $117.3 million, against $55.1 million. Cash used in operations was $99.2 million, against $48.3 million. The release gives no cash runway estimate. The company lists its anticipated milestones as 12-month complete response data for all of Cohort 1 and a pre-BLA meeting in the second half of 2026, the start of a BLA filing for detalimogene in the second half of 2026, and a potential FDA approval decision and platform designation in 2027. The company also plans a commercial launch in 2027. Those dates depend on durability data the company has not yet reported and on FDA meetings it has not yet held.

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