Gritstone bio Inc (NASDAQ:GRTS) shares are trading lower after the company announced an approximately 40% reduction of its workforce. 

The move comes following the recently announced delay of the proposed CORAL Phase 2b study, which resulted in Gritstone not receiving the external funding it previously anticipated, beginning in the first quarter of 2024, associated with the initiation of the study. 

Under the contract, Gritstone Bio was supposed to conduct a 10,000-participant, randomized Phase 2b double-blinded study to compare the efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of the Gritstone next-generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate with an approved COVID-19 vaccine. 

“The lack of near-term funding necessitated this difficult step to fortify our balance sheet and cash position, which unfortunately means an impact to our workforce,” said Andrew Allen, co-founder, president and CEO.

“We continue to gather GRANITE data and remain excited about sharing our first dataset later this quarter,” Allen added.

Gritstone’s core programs and anticipated milestones remain unchanged. 

Preliminary data from the Phase 2 portion of the Phase 2/3 study evaluating GRANITE, Gritstone’s personalized cancer vaccine, in front-line metastatic, microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer (MSS-CRC), remain expected in the first quarter of 2024. 

GRTS Price Action: Gristone bio shares are down 21.24% at $2.21 on the last check Friday.

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