iTeos expects to absorb nearly $25 million in one-time costs for severance and termination payments. The biotech had 173 full-time employees at the end of 2024.
iTeos Therapeutics’ strategic review from just days ago culminated in a decision to wind down the company’s operations and sell off its remaining assets and intellectual property, the biotech announced Wednesday.
In an SEC filing on Tuesday, iTeos noted that it expected to absorb certain charges associated with the closure, though was yet “unable to make a good faith estimate of the total amount” of such costs. Nevertheless, iTeos anticipated expenses of around $21.8 million to $24.7 million associated with severance and employee termination costs. As of the end of 2024, iTeos had 173 full-time employees, most of whom were involved in R&D.
Just two weeks ago, iTeos lost a powerhouse partner in GSK after the anti-TIGIT therapy on which they were partnered, belrestotug, showed disappointing midstage findings. CEO Michel Detheux at the time said the decision to discontinue the development of belrestotug was mutual, though its effects weighed much heavier on iTeos, which was forced to launch a targeted strategic review to identify ways to maximize its remaining capital and value for shareholders.
In its first-quarter earnings report last month, iTeos noted that it still had $624.3 million in cash and investments, enough to keep it afloat through 2027.
iTeos and GSK were studying belrestotug in combination with the PD-1 inhibitor Jemperli in the Phase II GALAXIES Lung-201 trial in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Topline data showed that belrestotug hit its primary goal of objective response rate, but fell short of demonstrating “clinically meaningful improvements in progression-free survival,” the partners announced earlier this month.
The companies were running the GALAXIES H&H-202 in parallel, testing belrestotug with Jemperli in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Results were likewise underwhelming, with the investigational regimen eliciting a “trend below the meaningful threshold” for objective response rate.
With its decision to wind down operations, iTeos is now turning its focus to boosting its cash balance as much as possible, “to deliver near-term value to shareholders.” This effort includes the potential sale of its intellectual property and other assets, including the early-stage cancer therapy EOS-984 and a preclinical obesity program.
iTeos is the latest casualty of the TIGIT space, which in recent months has seen several clinical stumbles. BeiGene (now BeOne Medicines), for instance, announced last month that it was pulling away from its TIGIT therapy ociperlimab after an independent data monitoring panel found that its Phase III NSCLC study was “unlikely to meet the primary endpoint of overall survival.”
Aside from BeOne, several other players have run into problems with TIGIT development, including Roche, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb.
