--- title: "Nkarta to cut 34% of workforce in restructuring" url: "https://aibio.space/news/nkarta-cut-34-percent-workforce-restructuring-expects-cash-runway-2029/" publisher: "aibio.space (Biotech Investor Relations News)" date: "2025-03-26" section: "Distress" tickers: "NASDAQ:NKTX" source: "https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1787400/000095017025045231/nktx-20250326.htm" summary: "Nkarta is cutting 53 positions, about 34% of its staff, at an expected cost of $5.5 million to $6.5 million. It says its $380.5 million of cash and investm" --- By the aibio.space news desk. Sources - [Nkarta, Inc. Form 8-K filed March 26, 2025 (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1787400/000095017025045231/nktx-20250326.htm) - [Nkarta, Inc. exhibit nktx-ex99_1.htm to the March 26, 2025 Form 8-K (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1787400/000095017025045231/nktx-ex99_1.htm) [NKTX](https://aibio.space/companies/nkarta/) 2025-03-26 # Nkarta to cut 34% of workforce in restructuring, expects cash runway into 2029 Tickers [NKTX](https://aibio.space/companies/nkarta/) Nkarta is cutting 53 positions, about 34% of its staff, at an expected cost of $5.5 million to $6.5 million. It says its $380.5 million of cash and investments can fund operations into 2029, while the first clinical data from its lead program are not due until the second half of 2025. ## Key facts - **Company**: Nkarta, Inc. (NASDAQ: NKTX) - **News type**: Distress - **Primary source**: [Nkarta, Inc. Form 8-K filed March 26, 2025 (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1787400/000095017025045231/nktx-20250326.htm) *The White House and its lawn. CC0, via rawpixel. The picture shows the field, not the companies named.* Nkarta, Inc. (Nasdaq: [NKTX](https://aibio.space/companies/nkarta/)) began a reduction in force on March 26, 2025 that it expects to cut about 34% of its workforce, or 53 positions. The company disclosed the move in a [Form 8-K filed March 26, 2025](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1787400/000095017025045231/nktx-20250326.htm), alongside fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results. ## Why the company cut The company says the reduction is meant to decrease costs and create a more streamlined organization. It says that will help it reach clinical milestones for its lead program, NKX019, including clinical data updates expected in the second half of 2025, and preserve its cash afterward. The cost cuts are expected to extend cash runway into 2029. Nkarta had already dropped further development of NKX101 and of NKX019 for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Its main resources now go to NKX019 for autoimmune diseases. The release says the restructuring reaches every level of the organization, including a reduction of the executive leadership team by over 50%. ## Costs, people and departures The company estimates $5.5 million to $6.5 million in expenses, mainly cash severance, benefits, payroll taxes and other termination costs. Most is expected in the first quarter of 2025. Nkarta expects to substantially complete the reduction by the end of 2025, and it warns that actual results may differ materially and that further costs may arise. Alyssa Levin, chief financial and business officer, signed the 8-K. Her employment ends March 31, 2025. She will then consult for up to three months from April 1, 2025, paid at an hourly rate, and either side may end that arrangement on 30 days' notice. Her separation terms, subject to a general release, include nine months of base salary in installments, COBRA premium reimbursement for up to nine months, and up to 12 months to exercise vested options. The company says both agreements will be filed with its quarterly report for the period ending March 31, 2025. ## Cash and the 2024 loss Nkarta held $380.5 million of cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and marketable securities at December 31, 2024. For 2024 it reported research and development expense of $96.7 million, general and administrative expense of $31.5 million, and a net loss of $108.8 million, or $1.60 a share. The fourth quarter alone brought a net loss of $25.9 million, or $0.35 a share, on R&D expense of $23.1 million. The 2029 runway is the company's own estimate and rests on savings the restructuring is expected to deliver. The filing reports 2024 figures only. The company's own risk summary in its annual report warns that it will require additional capital, which, if available, may cause dilution to stockholders, restrict its operations or require it to give up rights to its product candidates. ## The clinical program NKX019 is an allogeneic, off-the-shelf CAR NK-cell therapy that targets CD19-positive cells in B-cell-mediated autoimmune disease. Ntrust-1 enrolls patients with lupus nephritis. Ntrust-2 enrolls patients with systemic sclerosis, idiopathic inflammatory myopathy or ANCA-associated vasculitis. Each trial is designed to enroll up to 12 patients initially. Two investigator-sponsored trials add to the program, one in lupus (up to six patients, at Columbia University Irving Medical Center) and one in myasthenia gravis. The filing sets preliminary clinical data from Ntrust-1 and Ntrust-2 for the second half of 2025. No efficacy results appear in these documents. Chief Executive Officer Paul J. Hastings said in the release that the company remains "confident that the potential safety and accessibility advantages of NKX019 will allow it to occupy an important place in the future treatment of autoimmune disease." The same release describes a highly competitive development landscape in B-cell targeting therapies and says that integrating cellular therapy into outpatient-based specialties has been challenging and has required time and investment. ## What the filings leave out The 8-K and release give no patient numbers or response rates for NKX019, and they do not describe how the company will measure the data it plans to release. The restructuring figures are estimates, and the company says its costs could rise. [Report an error](https://aibio.space/reputation/#correction) ## Companies in this story NKTX Nkarta, Inc. 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Cite as: aibio.space, "Nkarta to cut 34% of workforce in restructuring", 2025-03-26, https://aibio.space/news/nkarta-cut-34-percent-workforce-restructuring-expects-cash-runway-2029/