Another Exhausted SPAC Biotech Raises White Flag As CEO Leaves, Strategic Review Begins – Endpoints News

Five months after Gemini CEO Jason Meyenburg laid out his survival plan for the small biotech, it’s now off the charts as the company prepares for a ‘strategic’ review that will begin by extending layoffs to 80 % of remaining staff.

The company said Monday morning that Meyenburg was CEO and director. Executive Chairman Georges Gemayel takes the helm as biotech considers alternatives. And 24 staff are slipped as the company focuses on IND enabling work for GEM307.

“We have decided to scale back the company’s operations in order to preserve financial resources until the conclusion of the strategic evaluation process,” Gemayel said.

That leaves its lead program for GEM103 — in a mid-stage study for dry AMD patients with a CFH mutation — on the sidelines. Gemini had already launched five programs and laid off staff last fall as it went into survival mode. The society had focused on the genetic triggers of the disease.

Gemini $GMTX stock price has been falling since shortly after debuting in a SPAC deal with Jim Tananbaum’s Foresite Capital almost exactly a year ago. At the time, with the rise of SPACs and the market in overdrive, the company was able to raise $216 million with the help of Atlas Venture, Lightstone Ventures and OrbiMed, Gemini’s early backers. But its market cap has since shrunk to just $61 million.

SPACs as a whole disintegrated after a quick flash in the pan as the market dealt mercilessly with most public biotechnology. The start of the new year began with the writing on the wall for many players, with little mercy for companies with dwindling cash. And the job of CEO has turned into a hot seat at many companies, with a string of players like Silence, Avalo and Syndax revamping the C-suite in recent weeks.