Biomedical institute Arena BioWorks is shutting down

Allison DeAngelis is the East Coast biotech and venture capital reporter at STAT, reporting where scientific ideas and money meet. She is also co-host of the weekly biotech podcast, The Readout Loud. You can reach Allison on Signal at AllisonDeAngelis.01.

Arena BioWorks, the buzzy research institute that launched nearly two years ago with $500 million to support a decade of scientific R&D, is abruptly shutting down, the institute confirmed to STAT. 

Approximately 50 staff members, including co-founder Stuart Schreiber and CEO Harvey Berger, will be laid off, according to Schreiber. Arena will no longer conduct scientific research but the company’s scientific discoveries to date will be handed over to its scientists for further development. 

The team is still determining how it can advance that work and how much money it might cost to move those projects forward, according to Schreiber. He claimed Arena had made “major advances” in oncology, immune disorders, and brain health, but did not provide specifics.