BlueRock refocuses pipeline, trims staff and shutters Cambridge labs

Bayer’s (BAYN: DE) cell therapy subsidiary BlueRock Therapeutics is shifting its priorities, cutting around 50 jobs and shutting its research labs in Massachusetts to streamline operations and concentrate on advanced-stage programs.

Despite the lab closure, the US biotech will retain its headquarters in Cambridge and continue research activities in New York and Toronto. The restructuring comes as BlueRock advances several pipeline assets, including bemdaneprocel, a dopamine-producing stem cell therapy currently in a registrational Phase III trial for Parkinson’s disease.

In a LinkedIn post, chief executive Seth Ettenberg described the week as difficult, citing strategic decisions that were necessary to “focus our resources on advancing [neurology and ophthalmology] programs and stop our work in cardiology and immunology.”