Arch Oncology, a cancer drug development startup that raised nearly $200 million from investors, quietly laid off its staff in recent months and vacated its office in the Cortex innovation district during what one former employee referred to as a "wind-down situation."
Those moves mark an abrupt development for Arch Oncology, which in recent years has been considered one of St. Louis' most promising startups as it advanced its lead drug candidate into clinical trials to treat patients with select solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.
While headquartered in Brisbane, California, Arch Oncology operated its scientific research laboratory from St. Louis and has been backed financially by a number of St. Louis investors. It has raised $190 million from investors, including a $105 million Series C financing in April 2021 and a $50 million Series B funding round in 2019. Local investors have included RiverVest Venture Partners, BioSTL’s BioGenerator Ventures, Cultivation Capital, Missouri Technology Corp. and Lightchain Capital.
Paulette Gangemi, Arch Oncology’s former vice president of human resources, said on her LinkedIn profile that she began working for the company in July and by the third day "was presenting to the board of directors a severance plan and preparing to lay off most, if not all, the employees." By her third week, "the company was in a wind-down situation," she wrote.
It's unclear how many people were laid off or what led the company to wind down. Arch employed around 30, including a dozen in St. Louis, as of its April 2021 funding round.
Gangemi didn't respond to inquiries seeking additional comment. Former Arch Oncology CEO Laurence Blumberg, whose LinkedIn profile notes that he left the company in September, declined to comment, saying he was “not able to speak on this matter.” Arch Oncology Chairman John McKearn, who is a managing director at Clayton-based RiverVest Venture Partners, also declined comment.
The company's website is no longer active. Online records from the secretary of state offices in California and Missouri show Arch Oncology has failed in recent months to file required paperwork in the two states. It received notice from Missouri in November that its annual registration report was past due. In California, records show Arch Oncology has not filed a statement of information with the secretary of state there that was due Sept. 30.
The company operated locally from a 6,500-square-foot space in the BioSTL Building, 4340 Duncan Ave., in the Cortex district. That space has now been taken over by Confluence Discovery Technologies as it expands its footprint within the BioSTL Building. Confluence, a locally based subsidiary of Wayne, Pennsylvania-based Aclaris Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ACRS), said it also purchased laboratory equipment from Arch Oncology as part of its expansion.
