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 Basic Counsel Teresia L. Bost as interim CEO. She will likely be supported by Chief Working Officer Delali Attipoe, the corporate mentioned. Ene-Obong, then again, will retain his place on 54gene’s board whereas transferring 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, principally 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 world genomics market the place Africans make up lower than 3% of genetic materials utilized in pharmaceutical analysis regardless of being extra genetically numerous than every other inhabitants. The audacious venture has acquired over $40 million from traders equivalent to Adjuvant Capital, Y Combinator and Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund (CAIF) and partnered with organizations like Illumina, Genentech and Parexel.
Biotechs globally are inclined to have a long-term method towards getting cash; the truth is, such firms 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 firms to co-develop medicine and medication–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 contemporary 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. In keeping with the YC-backed firm, it needs to focus assets on its core mission of African genomics analysis and equalizing precision medication. On the identical time, its medical diagnostic arm takes the again seat.
Right here’s extra data on the corporate’s new course:
Going ahead, the first focus will likely 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 presently homes over 130,000 distinctive affected person samples and corresponding genomic information, all with the target of positioning the corporate to make a contribution to precision medication and drug discovery. This continues the significant work the corporate has invested in, while de-emphasizing the medical 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 current struggles are a contributing issue. Additionally, when the corporate carried out its first spherical of layoffs, allegations of monetary impropriety have been leveled towards him and his executives from a bunch of workers. However such claims are unfounded, no less than for now. Apparently, 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 determination to let him go was performance-related or as a result of the ex-CEO was transferring on to new initiatives, 54gene solely mentioned, “Abasi has determined to step down because the CEO however will proceed to help the corporate in its go-forward plans equivalent to strategic partnerships and fundraising. We can’t touch upon what different new pursuits he’ll pursue if any, however we want him properly and nonetheless contemplate him a key group member.”.
As 54gene shifts into a brand new part, Ene-Obong, who consulted for organizations equivalent to Gilead and IMS Well being previously, believes the startup is in one of the best palms as Bost and Attipoe “have deep perception into the workings of 54gene.” Bost boasts greater than 20 years of in depth data and expertise throughout pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare industries with firms equivalent to Celgene and Quartet Well being whereas offering strategic help 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 an announcement, mentioned:
I’ve at all times believed that the size of genetic range in Africa and different extremely numerous populations will materially impression our understanding of biology and result in higher medicines and interventions for the worldwide inhabitants, and I’m happy with what has been achieved at 54gene. I’d wish to thank the 54gene Board for his or her help over time, and the numerous gifted scientists and know-how professionals I’ve had the pleasure to work with throughout my time on the firm. I’ll proceed to help the corporate and the scientific ecosystem, significantly the African genomics ecosystem. Teresia and Delali convey many years of expertise in constructing and scaling high-impact world pharma firms, and so they even have deep perception into the workings of 54gene. I’m excited to see them take the corporate to its subsequent part.
