Less than six months after cutting 20% of its employees, Vedanta Biosciences has again laid off staff. According to one affected staffer, half of the Cambridge, Massachusetts–based biotech’s workforce is being cut while most of the rest are furloughed.
Vedanta Biosciences “significantly” reduced headcount to maintain progress and focus resources on a Phase III study of oral drug candidate VE303 for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI), the company told BioSpace. The biotech did not state how many people it let go. However, it may have had around 92 employees prior to the cuts, down from 115 before previous layoffs in August 2025, based on BioSpace calculations.
An anonymous former Vedanta employee told BioSpace the biotech made the layoffs because it ran out of money. The source also noted that company executives are now fundraising to complete a Phase III trial of VE303, an oral bacterial medicine designed to prevent recurrent C. difficile infections (rCDI). The former employee further said that 50% of staffers are being cut while 45% are being furloughed, with those employees potentially being brought back if fundraising is secured.
Vedanta notified its workforce of the organizational changes at a Jan. 8 staff meeting, and terminations were effective Jan. 9, according to the source.
“The departing team members are exceptional professionals who we thank deeply for their contributions and who we will support in their search for their next roles,” Vedanta wrote in a statement sent to BioSpace. “We are laser-focused on progressing VE303, which is supported by strong Phase 2 data we believe represent potential best-in-disease activity and an opportunity to improve care for the hundreds of thousands of people with rCDI worldwide.”
The biotech did not directly respond to questions about the potential funding issue or additional questions about the layoffs.
Regarding the previous staff cuts, Vedanta CEO Bernat Olle wrote in a since-removed August LinkedIn post that the company was letting go of 20% of its workforce. In an interview with Endpoints News, he clarified that the layoffs would affect 23 employees. Olle noted in the post that the company had a failed Phase II study for investigational bacterial consortium candidate VE202 in ulcerative colitis.
In a press release at the time, Vedanta announced that VE202 did not meet the primary endpoint of endoscopic response. That release is the last one the biotech published on its website. Prior to that, in January 2025, the company announced additional Phase II data for VE303. Vedanta noted that a higher dose of the drug was well tolerated and reduced the odds of CDI recurrence by more than 80% when compared with placebo.
