aibioORIC Pharmaceuticals cuts 20% of workforce, closes discovery research group
Tickers ORIC
ORIC expects a one-time cost of approximately $1.9 million for the workforce reduction. The company says cash and investments should fund its revised operating plan into 2H 2028, helped by $244 million in gross proceeds.
Key facts
- Company
- Oric Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ORIC)
- News type
- Distress
- Primary source
- Oric Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Form 8-K filed August 12, 2025 (SEC EDGAR)
ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ORIC) said on August 12, 2025 that it will cut about 20% of its workforce and close its discovery research group. The company calls the move a strategic pipeline prioritization. It reported the workforce reduction under Item 2.05 of a Form 8-K, the filing item for costs tied to exit or disposal activities.
The workforce reduction
The company says it will focus its operating and financial resources on its two lead clinical programs, ORIC-944 and ORIC-114. The filing says the change will bring a substantial decrease in preclinical research, mainly because the discovery research group is eliminated.
ORIC expects a one-time cost of approximately $1.9 million, mostly for termination benefits such as severance and healthcare-related benefits. It estimates that the workforce reduction will be substantially complete in the third quarter of 2025. It expects most of the charges to be recognized in its third quarter 2025 results. The company adds that its cost estimates rest on a number of assumptions, that actual results may differ, and that it may incur additional costs it has not contemplated.
In the press release filed with the 8-K, the company also said it will explore potential partnering of its preclinical programs.
Cash runway and recent financing
The release says the revised operating plan, together with recent financing, is expected to give ORIC cash and investments to fund operations into 2H 2028. It describes the earlier expectation as 2H 2027. The company says the new runway extends beyond the anticipated primary endpoint readouts from the first Phase 3 trials for ORIC-944 and ORIC-114.
The release describes $244 million in gross proceeds from healthcare specialist investors, made up of a $125 million private placement and $119 million in issuances under the company's at-the-market (ATM) facility. An ATM facility lets a company sell shares into the market over time. ORIC says it has concluded its ATM usage and does not expect to use the facility for the foreseeable future.
On the balance sheet, ORIC reported cash, cash equivalents and investments of $327.7 million as of June 30, 2025. That figure includes $125.0 million from the May 2025 private placement and $8.9 million from an at-the-market offering during the quarter. After the quarter ended, the company says it raised an additional $108.7 million in net proceeds under the ATM program. It gave pro forma cash and investments of $436.4 million as of June 30, 2025.
Second quarter spending
Research and development expenses were $30.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2025, against $28.9 million a year earlier. For the six months, they were $55.2 million, compared with $50.9 million. The company attributes the rise to higher personnel costs, including non-cash stock-based compensation, and to costs for advancing enozertinib, partly offset by lower costs from discontinued programs.
General and administrative expenses were $8.5 million for the quarter, compared with $7.1 million in the same quarter of 2024. For the six months they were $16.6 million, compared with $14.1 million.
What the company said
President and Chief Executive Officer Jacob M. Chacko, M.D. said the programs are moving closer to registrational studies, which "necessitates that we increase our focus and direct our expenditures solely on those programs." He called the decision to reduce discovery research tough but prudent. The company expects potential initiation of registrational trials in 2026 for ORIC-944 and ORIC-114, which now has the generic name enozertinib.
About the company
ORIC describes itself as a clinical stage oncology company focused on mechanisms of therapeutic resistance. ORIC-944 is an allosteric inhibitor of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), being developed for prostate cancer. Enozertinib is a brain penetrant inhibitor that targets EGFR exon 20, HER2 exon 20 and EGFR atypical mutations. The company has offices in South San Francisco and San Diego, California.
Chief Financial Officer Dominic Piscitelli signed the 8-K on behalf of the company.