It’s the end of the road for Rubius Therapeutics, a biotech that previously wanted to develop cellular therapies for rare diseases, cancer and autoimmune diseases.
After a last-ditch effort last year to try to refocus, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company will now liquidate and dissolve. Rubius announced the news in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday morning. The closure will be subject to shareholder approval.
Rubius hit the public markets in 2018 with a $277 million IPO and an aim of developing treatments based on biologically engineered red blood cells. The initial focus was cellular therapies for rare diseases, cancer and autoimmune diseases.
But 2022 proved challenging for the biotech, which dumped its lead candidates in September after getting a glimpse at data and cutting 75% of staff. Executives revealed a plan to instead work on a new cell conjugation platform.
Just two months later, Rubius announced that it would seek a sale or merger and cut more staff, leading the company to today’s news that it would shut down completely.
The biotech is led by CEO Dannielle Appelhans, who took the reins from Pablo Cagnoni, M.D., amid the tumult in November.