54gene co-founder and chief government officer Dr. Abasi Ene-Obong has stepped down from his government position, the African genomics firm confirmed to TechCrunch right this moment.
The three-year-old firm has appointed Common Counsel Teresia L. Bost as interim CEO. She shall be supported by Chief Working Officer Delali Attipoe, the corporate stated. Ene-Obong, then again, will retain his place on 54gene’s board whereas shifting to a brand new position of senior advisor.
Ene-Obong’s resignation and Bost’s ascension comes two months after 54gene laid off 95 employees, or greater than 30% of its workforce, in August. The layoffs affected workers, largely contract workers (in labs and gross sales departments) recruited to work in 54gene’s COVID enterprise line launched in 2020 to enrich its flagship product: a biobank of the African genome.
Based in 2019 by Ene-Obong, 54gene addresses the hole within the international genomics market the place Africans make up lower than 3% of genetic materials utilized in pharmaceutical analysis regardless of being extra genetically various than every other inhabitants. The audacious mission has obtained over $45 million from buyers akin to Adjuvant Capital, Y Combinator and Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund (CAIF) and partnered with organizations like Illumina, Genentech and Parexel.
Biotechs globally are likely to have a long-term strategy towards creating wealth; the truth is, such corporations can nonetheless be price billions with little to no income. For the Washington-based however Africa-focused 54gene, its major income path entails working with pharmaceutical corporations to co-develop medication and drugs–and that takes time. A typical time-frame for a brand new drug from creation to market entry can take as much as a decade, so it made sense for 54gene to show its lab capabilities to COVID testing as a brand new income.
Nevertheless, the decline in COVID testing has offered 54gene with recent challenges: dwindling revenues and redundant roles. Although it has already let go of 95 workers, the corporate confirmed that it’ll conduct a second spherical of layoffs following restructuring throughout a number of departments. Based on the YC-backed firm, it desires to focus sources on its core mission of African genomics analysis and equalizing precision drugs. On the similar time, its scientific diagnostic arm takes the again seat.
Right here’s extra info on the corporate’s new route:
Going ahead, the first focus shall be on the distinctive genomic analysis the corporate has began by additional leveraging its genomic datasets derived from 54gene’s state-of-the-art biobank, that at the moment homes over 130,000 distinctive affected person samples and corresponding genomic knowledge, all with the target of positioning the corporate to contribute to precision drugs and drug discovery. This continues the significant work the corporate has invested in, while de-emphasizing the scientific diagnostic enterprise line on the time.
It’s unclear precisely why Ene-Obong is stepping down. But, it’s not farfetched to imagine that the corporate’s latest struggles are a contributing issue. Additionally, when the corporate carried out its first spherical of layoffs, allegations of monetary impropriety had been leveled towards him and his executives from a gaggle of workers. However such claims are unfounded, a minimum of for now. Curiously, the previous CEO’s resignation additionally comes one month after Ogochukwu Francis Osifo, the corporate’s co-founder and VP, Engineering, left the corporate in September.
In response as to whether the corporate’s choice to let him go was performance-related or as a result of the ex-CEO was shifting on to new tasks, 54gene solely stated, “Abasi has determined to step down because the CEO however will proceed to assist the corporate in its go-forward plans akin to strategic partnerships and fundraising. We can not touch upon what different new pursuits he’ll pursue if any, however we want him properly and nonetheless think about him a key crew member.”.
As 54gene shifts into a brand new part, Ene-Obong, who consulted for organizations akin to Gilead and IMS Well being previously, believes the startup is in the perfect arms as Bost and Attipoe “have deep perception into the workings of 54gene.” Bost boasts greater than 20 years of intensive information and expertise throughout pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare industries with corporations akin to Celgene and Quartet Well being whereas offering strategic assist of securities issues, company governance and finance issues. Attipoe, then again, brings greater than 15 years of expertise within the pharmaceutical sector working with corporations like Roche and Genentech.
Ene-Obong, addressing his exit and the transition in a press release, stated:
I’ve all the time believed that the dimensions of genetic range in Africa and different extremely various populations will materially affect our understanding of biology and result in higher medicines and interventions for the worldwide inhabitants, and I’m pleased with what has been achieved at 54gene. I’d wish to thank the 54gene Board for his or her assist over time, and the various proficient scientists and know-how professionals I’ve had the pleasure to work with throughout my time on the firm. I’ll proceed to assist the corporate and the scientific ecosystem, significantly the African genomics ecosystem. Teresia and Delali convey a long time of expertise in constructing and scaling high-impact international pharma corporations, they usually even have deep perception into the workings of 54gene. I’m excited to see them take the corporate to its subsequent part.
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