After a strategic review of the company, biotechnology firm LianBio – which has its U.S. headquarters in Princeton – announced Feb. 13 it will begin to wind down operations immediately and pursue the sale of its remaining pipeline assets. 

The Shanghai-based company said it expects to reduce its workforce by more than 50 full-time employees in the first quarter of 2024 – about half its staff. More layoffs will occur throughout the year. The process will be “substantially complete” by the end of 2024, with the shutdown finalized by the first half of 2027. 

In addition to its Princeton and Shanghai sites, LianBio also has operations in Beijing and Guangzhou, according to the company’s website. 

LianBio did not immediately respond to a question regarding when its Princeton employees would be affected. The company was not listed in the state’s WARN notices as of publication time. LianBio said it “will maintain a core group of employees necessary to implement an orderly wind down of the Company and support its efforts to maximize the value of the Company’s remaining business and assets.”

The wind-down also includes the delisting of its American Depositary Shares (ADSs) from the Nasdaq Global Market. LianBio’s board declared a special cash dividend in the amount of $4.80 per ordinary share, including ordinary shares represented by ADSs, for an aggregate cash dividend amount of approximately $528 million. 

Maximizing value

LianBio expects the last day of trading on Nasdaq will be on or about March 18. 

“In October 2023, the Board of Directors initiated a comprehensive strategic review of the Company, including numerous options for the future of the Company, as our commitment to represent the best interests of LianBio and shareholders,” Konstantin Poukalov, founder and executive chairman of LianBio’s board, said in a statement. “Following the shift in focus away from mavacamten commercialization and the licensing of rights to NBTXR3 to Janssen, the Board unanimously decided that winding down operations is the way to realize maximum shareholder value in the current biotech market.” 

In December 2023, LianBio announced it entered into an agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV – part of New Brunswick-based Johnson & Johnson – for the exclusive rights to potential cancer treatment NBTXR3 in China, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand. Under the terms of the deal, LianBio would receive a one-time payment of $25 million. It would also be eligible to receive a sales milestone payment of $5 million.  

That announcement followed the resignation of CEO Yizhe Wang and Chief Financial Officer Yi Larson, as well an unsolicited acquisition proposal from Concentra Biosciences LLC for at least $515 million, which it rejected.