Cellectis says a sweeping shift away from its longtime cell-therapy business could shrink its global workforce by as much as 70%, a reduction that could affect as many as 160 employees across the company's operations in Paris, New York and Raleigh, North Carolina. The company had 229 full-time employees as of December 31, 2025, with the possible cuts of up to 160 measured against that earlier workforce figure.
The biotech firm detailed the plan in a business update tied to its third-quarter 2026 financial results, according to Cellectis via GlobeNewswire. The company said global headcount is expected to be reduced by up to 70% from its pre-transition level over the course of 2026 and 2027. As BioSpace reported, the realignment is expected to affect employees over the rest of the year and into 2027.
The pivot follows a decision by Cellectis's board, which in September 2026 approved a strategic transformation to become an in vivo gene editing company focused on developing treatments for chronic diseases, the outlet's report notes. The company has framed the move as a shift away from its allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy roots toward a new generation of gene-editing treatments delivered directly inside the body.
Clinical Programs Winding Down
As part of the transition, Cellectis has stopped enrollment in its lasme-cel and eti-cel clinical programs, with site closeout activities now underway, per the same GlobeNewswire release. The company said it continues to monitor previously treated patients under protocol-specified follow-up requirements even as those trials wind down.
A Cellectis spokesperson declined to provide additional details about the layoffs beyond the company's public statements, per the BioSpace report. The spokesperson also said the reduction is subject to completion of the applicable French works council consultation process and compliance with applicable French and U.S. labor law requirements, though it remains unclear whether that consultation process has concluded.
Betting on In Vivo Gene Editing
In place of its CAR-T pipeline, Cellectis is advancing two in vivo programs aimed at common cardiovascular risk factors. HEAL-101 is an in vivo base-editing candidate that targets APOC3 for severe hypertriglyceridemia, a condition involving excess triglycerides in the blood that raises heart-disease risk, the same BioSpace article explains. HEAL-201, meanwhile, is an in vivo epigenetic-editing candidate targeting PCSK9 for severe hypercholesterolemia, which involves high cholesterol levels in the blood that can cause heart disease.
Cellectis plans to begin a Phase 1 investigator-initiated HEAL-101 trial in China, with preliminary clinical data expected in the second half of 2027, according to the GlobeNewswire release. A similarly structured Phase 1 investigator-initiated HEAL-201 trial is also planned in China, with preliminary data expected in the first half of 2028.
Cellectis co-founder and chief executive André Choulika said the decision reflects progress with HEAL-101 and HEAL-201 and an assessment of where the company's gene-editing capabilities can be deployed most effectively, per BioSpace's reporting.
Cash Runway Extends Into 2028
Cellectis reported $149 million in consolidated cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and fixed-term deposits as of September 30, 2026, according to the GlobeNewswire release. The company said that funding should be sufficient to support operations into the second half of 2028 once the realignment is fully implemented. The cash update came alongside a steep revenue decline: Cellectis posted revenue and other income of $19.9 million for the first nine months of 2026, down 70.5% from a year earlier, according to a transcript published by Investing.com.
Part of a Wider Biotech Shakeout
Cellectis is not alone in retooling its workforce around in vivo approaches. ArsenalBio said 99 employees would lose their jobs as part of a strategic shift toward in vivo CAR-T therapies, representing the majority of the company across all teams, functions and locations, per BioSpace. That company had 127 employees as of September 2025 after already downsizing its workforce by 50%.
The broader industry has seen a steady drumbeat of cuts in recent days. On November 10, Capricor Therapeutics said it laid off 10% of its workforce during the third quarter to reduce operating expenses and align resources with its priorities, according to the Fierce Biotech Layoff Tracker. A day earlier, Coherus Oncology was reported to be laying off 30% of its workforce as it narrowed the focus of an investigational combination treatment to esophageal cancer. Fierce Biotech has described industry layoffs as continuing to rise year over year in 2025, a trend BioSpace's own tallies also found affected more people than in 2024.
Cellectis's footprint extends well beyond its Paris headquarters, with operations in New York and Raleigh, North Carolina. The company had previously planned to create 200 new jobs at its first U.S. commercial-scale manufacturing facility in Wake County, according to the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.
