Beware: ghosts of biotech’s past. Welcome to Fierce Biotech’s graveyard, a yearly ritual in which we remember the companies that shuttered operations in 2024. We don’t take these closures lightly; each one marks a difficult decision made after funds dry up or a clinical trial misses the mark, and every closure heavily impacts employees and patients alike. Last year, biotech shutdowns spiked. Thankfully, 2024’s numbers are a little lower, dropping from the 27 closures in 2023 to 22 this year. As we’ve done in previous years, biotechs included have either already closed their doors or are on their very last leg and about to sputter out. Below, you will find the former: 17 closures since last year’s list. One of the biggest biotech sinkers is a failed clinical trial, with numerous companies closing up shop this year on the heels of a trial flop, such as Tracon, Aslan, Synlogic and Athersys. In the summer, Tracon decided to wind down operations weeks after an injectable immune checkpoint inhibitor that was licensed from China failed to meet the main goal in a pivotal rare cancer trial. The subcutaneous PD-L1 inhibitor, dubbed envafolimab, triggered responses in four out of 82 patients who had already received therapies for undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma or myxofibrosarcoma, according to a July 1 data drop. The 5% response rate was below the 11% rate the San Diego-based biotech had hoped for. Though envafolimab has already secured a regulatory nod in China, the phase 3 results ended Tracon’s plans to submit the injectable for possible FDA approval. Initially, CEO Charles Theuer, M.D., Ph.D., said the company was moving to “immediately reduce cash burn” while seeking strategic alternatives. By the end of July though, the biotech’s board of directors decided to terminate its workforce and wind down.

Full special report : The biotechnology startups that failed in 2024.