--- title: "Nkarta cuts 34% of workforce (53 positions)" url: "https://aibio.space/news/nkarta-cuts-34-percent-workforce-53-positions-sees-380-5-million-cash/" 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-ex99_1.htm" summary: "Nkarta is cutting 34% of its workforce and freezing some hires, and it says $380.5 million in cash will fund operations into 2029. Its release reports no e" --- By the aibio.space news desk. Sources - [Nkarta, Inc. 8-K (2025-03-26)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1787400/000095017025045231/nktx-ex99_1.htm) - [Nkarta, Inc. 10-K (2025-03-26): business](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1787400/000095017025045262/nktx-20241231.htm) [NKTX](https://aibio.space/companies/nkarta/) 2025-03-26 # Nkarta cuts 34% of workforce (53 positions), sees $380.5 million in cash lasting into 2029 Tickers [NKTX](https://aibio.space/companies/nkarta/) Nkarta is cutting 34% of its workforce and freezing some hires, and it says $380.5 million in cash will fund operations into 2029. Its release reports no efficacy data for NKX019, and the trials enroll small groups. ## Key facts - **Company**: Nkarta, Inc. (NASDAQ: NKTX) - **News type**: Distress - **Primary source**: [Nkarta, Inc. 8-K (2025-03-26)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1787400/000095017025045231/nktx-ex99_1.htm) *The Washington Monument and the city beyond. Photo: Carol M Highsmith, CC0, via rawpixel. The picture shows the field, not the companies named.* Nkarta, Inc. (Nasdaq: [NKTX](https://aibio.space/companies/nkarta/)) reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results on March 26, 2025 and announced a restructuring. It will cut its workforce by 34%, or 53 positions, and freeze some future hires. The company says the reduction affects every level of the organization and cuts the executive leadership team by over 50%. ### The restructuring and the cash Nkarta estimates cash payments from the restructuring at $5.5 million to $6.5 million. It says the cuts extend its cash runway by more than one year. The company held cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and marketable securities of $380.5 million at December 31, 2024. It expects that balance to fund operations into 2029. The cost base was large before the cut. Net loss for 2024 was $108.8 million, or $1.60 per basic and diluted share. Research and development expense was $96.7 million for the year and $23.1 million in the fourth quarter. General and administrative expense was $31.5 million for the year and $7.8 million in the fourth quarter. Non-cash charges of $22.9 million, mainly share-based compensation and depreciation, are included in the annual net loss. The fourth-quarter net loss was $25.9 million. Chief Executive Officer Paul J. Hastings said the restructuring "prioritizes investment in clinical execution." The release does not say how many of the cut positions were in research and how many were in general and administrative functions. ### The NKX019 program NKX019 is an allogeneic, off-the-shelf CAR NK cell therapy that targets CD19, a marker on B cells. The company is testing it in autoimmune diseases, and its two main trials are both open-label, dose-escalation studies. Ntrust-1 enrolls patients with lupus nephritis. Ntrust-2 enrolls patients with systemic sclerosis, idiopathic inflammatory myopathy and ANCA-associated vasculitis. Each trial is designed to enroll up to 12 patients at first. In both trials, patients receive three doses of NKX019 on days 0, 3 and 7 after cyclophosphamide, and no patient receives supplemental cytokines or antibody-based therapy. The company says that design tests the drug's single-agent activity and could lead to a faster path to regulatory approval. The release does not give a control arm, and it gives no follow-up period. A separate investigator-sponsored Phase 1 study in systemic lupus erythematosus is designed to enroll up to six patients. A myasthenia gravis study has also cleared its investigational new drug review. The release gives no response or safety results from any of these studies. Nkarta says the first preliminary clinical update from Ntrust-1 and Ntrust-2 is planned for the second half of 2025. The company says that update is expected to include clinical response with available follow-up from a group of patients. Those numbers will come from very small groups, and the company has not yet reported them. ### The competitive picture Hastings described the field as a "highly competitive development landscape" and said the opportunity for novel B-cell targeting therapies is substantial. He pointed to potential safety and accessibility advantages for NKX019. The release does not name a competing program or compare NKX019's safety with any other therapy, so those advantages remain the company's own claims. ### Leadership and what comes next The release describes the executive team cut as part of the restructuring but does not name the departing executives. It says the company expects its cash to fund its current operating plan into 2029. The next major event the company names is the Ntrust clinical update, which it has scheduled for the second half of 2025. Until then, the release's firmest facts are the cash balance and the cost cuts. [Report an error](https://aibio.space/reputation/#correction) ## Companies in this story NKTX Nkarta, Inc. NASDAQ ยท United States Open the starter desk ## More in Distress Distress ### [Mineralys takes ownership of lorundrostat patents but keeps Tanabe milestone debts](https://aibio.space/news/mineralys-takes-ownership-lorundrostat-patents-but-keeps-tanabe/) Oct 29, 2026 Distress ### [Bristol Myers Squibb drops Prothena's PRX019, ending up to $617.5 million in milestones](https://aibio.space/news/bristol-myers-squibb-drops-prothenas-prx019-ending-up-617-5-million/) Oct 29, 2026 Distress ### [LENZ Therapeutics reorganizes to cut 2027 operating expenses by more than 50%](https://aibio.space/news/lenz-therapeutics-reorganizes-cut-2027-operating-expenses-more-50/) Oct 28, 2026 --- Source page: https://aibio.space/news/nkarta-cuts-34-percent-workforce-53-positions-sees-380-5-million-cash/. Facts in aibio.space stories are checked against company filings and releases; opinion is labelled. Cite as: aibio.space, "Nkarta cuts 34% of workforce (53 positions)", 2025-03-26, https://aibio.space/news/nkarta-cuts-34-percent-workforce-53-positions-sees-380-5-million-cash/