Foghorn lays off 40% of staff after Lilly collaboration ends

News Job Trends Foghorn lays off 40% of staff after Lilly collaboration ends October 1, 2026 | 2 min read | Angela Gabriel Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email Print Foghorn Therapeutics and Eli Lilly teamed up in 2021 to develop and commercialize oncology products. The biotech’s layoffs will leave the company with 65 employees as it refocuses on its proprietary portfolio programs. Foghorn Therapeutics and Eli Lilly have ended their collaboration on oncology products, resulting in the Watertown, Massachusetts–based biotech reprioritizing its pipeline and cutting about 40% of its workforce.Foghorn, which is developing product candidates in oncology and in immunology and inflammation, expects to mostly complete the layoffs this quarter, according to an SEC filing.

The move will leave the business with about 65 full-time employees.The biotech’s stock lost over 40% of its value following Thursday’s announcement, opening at $2.08.Following a recent review of clinical data from the Phase 1 dose escalation trial of cancer candidate FHD-909 (LY4050784), Foghorn and Lilly opted to stop advancement of the small molecule into the clinical development expansion phase, according to the release. The companies are also not advancing a selective SMARCA2 degrader program and don’t anticipate further collaboration activities. “While we are disappointed with the clinical results, we and Lilly developed a drug in FHD-909 that selectively hits the SMARCA2 target with a favorable safety profile at exposures that exceeded our preclinical targets,” Foghorn President and CEO Adrian Gottschalk said in the announcement.

“Unfortunately, the biology of the SMARCA2/4 synthetic lethality relationship has not translated into the level of efficacy required to further advance the program.”Foghorn will now focus resources on its proprietary portfolio programs, which include a selective EP300 degrader program, an oral immunology and inflammation program, a selective CBP degrader program and an induced proximity platform.Foghorn and Lilly announced their collaboration in 2021. In the deal, Lilly subsidiary Loxo Oncology paid $300 million in cash upfront and made an $80 million equity investment into Foghorn’s common shares at $20 per share. The collaboration covered co-development and co-commercialization of products created from the biotech’s selective BRM oncology program and an unnamed oncology target as well as three discovery projects through the company’s Gene Traffic Control platform.Foghorn expects the pipeline prioritization and layoffs to extend its cash runway into the second half of 2029.

As of June 30, the biotech had an accumulated deficit of $659.5 million and cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $167.6 million, according to its most recent quarterly report. Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email Print Layoffs Massachusetts Eli Lilly and Company Angela Gabriel Angela Gabriel is content manager, life sciences careers, at BioSpace. She covers the biopharma job market, job trends and career advice, and produces client content.

You can reach her at angela.gabriel@biospace.com and follow her on LinkedIn.