In the wake of a recent safety scare in a confirmatory trial of its antibody-drug conjugate Zynlonta, ADC Therapeutics is tightening its belt in an effort to get the most out of its cancer med.
On Wednesday, the Swiss ADC specialist unveiled a reorganization scheme, which it said is designed to “focus resources behind key value-driving initiatives” that support its Zynlonta franchise.
The move will lead to layoffs for around 17% of ADC Therapeutics’ global workforce, with the aim to achieve around $10 million a year in savings, the company said in a Jun. 24 release. As of the end of 2025, the company had 188 full-time employee, according to its annual report.
The company’s headcount has been in flux lately. A little over a year ago, ADC Therapeutics announced a separate downsizing round that claimed a little over 30% of its global workforce as it shuttered a research site in the United Kingdom. That move—which was motivated in part by the discontinuation of certain preclinical programs in solid tumors—also focused on redirecting company resources toward Zynlonta, among other assets.
As part of the new reorganization, ADC Therapeutics said it expects to incur a one-off charge of $3 million tied to employee severance, benefits and other termination costs, with the expectation that it’ll log most of that in 2026’s second quarter. With the plan in place, the firm figures it has paved a cash runway out to “at least” 2028.
The staff cuts are motivated “by the expected completion of the LOTIS-5 and LOTIS-7 trials this year, as well as operational efficiencies,” ADC Therapeutics said in its release, referring to Zynlonta’s confirmatory trial to secure full approval in relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and a phase 1b study in combination with Roche’s bispecific Columvi (glofitamab) in DLBCL, respectively.
ADC Therapeutics did not specify the types of roles it’s cutting, though the company noted that it will still be “resourced to deliver on its key clinical, regulatory and manufacturing activities while maintaining the full externally facing medical affairs and commercial footprint to support Zynlonta.”
The move also comes as ADC prepares to meet with the FDA in August to discuss a potential path forward for Zynlonta following the LOTIS-5 results, which the company hopes to use to convert Zynlonta’s accelerated nod into a full approval. ADC Therapeutics noted that it plans to submit an application for the green light in the fourth quarter.
Earlier this month, ADC announced that the LOTIS-5 trial recorded 27 deaths in the Zynlonta arm, more than the nine cases in the control group. The study paired Zynlonta with rituximab (Rituxan), while patients in the control arm received Rituxan plus the chemotherapies gemcitabine and oxaliplatin.
In explaining the deaths, ADC executives earlier this month noted that most of the events in the treatment arm occurred in patients ages 75 years and older and were due to infections. The company also suggested that the higher mortality rate in the study drug arm could be attributable to extended monitoring of patients in the treatment cohort versus the control.
Those safety concerns largely overshadowed positive topline results from the trial, which succeeded on its primary endpoint of progression-free survival. ADC’s share price plunged some 52% on the news at the time.
“As we further assess the Phase 3 LOTIS-5 trial outcomes, including feedback from key medical experts, we continue to believe in the favorable overall benefit-risk profile and look forward to our pre-supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August,” Ameet Mallik, ADC’s chief executive, said in a statement Wednesday.
He continued, “This strategic reorganization will enable us to increase our financial flexibility as we prepare for upcoming LOTIS-5 regulatory milestones and continue building on the broader opportunity for Zynlonta through LOTIS-7 and support for the indolent lymphoma investigator-initiated trials (IITs).”