Nxera Pharma Co., Ltd. announced a comprehensive restructuring plan designed to concentrate investment and resources on high-value programs while targeting ambitious financial goals by 2030. The Tokyo-listed biotechnology company revealed plans to reduce its global workforce by approximately 15%, affecting around 60 positions across its 400-person organization.
The restructuring aims to achieve ≥JPY50 billion in net sales and an operating profit margin of ≥30% by 2030, with the company maintaining a strong cash position of JPY30.9 billion to support the strategic transition.
Strategic R&D Focus on GPCR Programs
Central to Nxera's restructuring is a strategic emphasis on G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) targets where the biology is best understood and de-risked. The company will leverage its proprietary NxWave™ platform, enhanced with AI technology trained on the industry's most extensive proprietary GPCR structure-ligand dataset.
"We have created a powerful discovery platform in NxWave™, which has enabled us to generate one of the most extensive pipelines of GPCR-targeted programs in development in the biopharmaceutical industry," said Chris Cargill, President and CEO of Nxera.
The company will reduce FY2026 cash R&D expenditure by approximately JPY3.5 billion at its pharmaceutical operations in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Strategic focus will concentrate on developing next-generation therapies for obesity, metabolic and endocrine disorders following the launch of Nxera's proprietary pipeline in August 2025.
Leadership Changes and Operational Streamlining
Dr. Patrik Foerch has been appointed Chief Scientific Officer and President of Nxera Pharma UK, succeeding Dr. Matthew Barnes effective October 3, 2025. Dr. Foerch brings extensive experience across immunology, oncology and neuroscience, having served in senior roles at UK biotech companies Peptone and Sitryx, and at European pharmaceutical company UCB.
Most recently serving as CSO at Peptone, Dr. Foerch contributed to an AI-enabled discovery platform and built an early pipeline targeting intrinsically disordered proteins. At Sitryx, he led multiple programs from IND through first-in-human studies under a collaboration with Eli Lilly.
The executive team will be reduced from 10 to seven members by March 2026, with performance-linked remuneration for executives materially reduced for FY2025. The workforce reduction will affect operations in Japan and the UK, with no impact to operations in Switzerland and South Korea.
Pipeline Progress and Near-Term Milestones
Multiple partnered programs are progressing through clinical development with momentum and near-term milestones expected in FY2026. Key developments include:
Neurocrine advanced Direclidine, a muscarinic M4 agonist, into registrational Phase 3 trials during 2025, with a new Phase 2 study in bipolar mania initiating in Q4 2025.
Centessa reported promising Phase 2a data for ORX750, an orexin-2 agonist, showing potential best-in-class profile in narcolepsy type 1 (NT1), narcolepsy type 2 (NT2) and idiopathic hypersomnia (IH), with a registrational program expected in Q1 2026.
NXE'732, Nxera's in-house EP4 antagonist cancer immunotherapy drug for solid tumors, successfully completed Phase 1 and moved into Phase 2 expansion trials with partner Cancer Research UK.
NXE'149, Nxera's in-house GPR52 agonist for schizophrenia, will complete Phase 1 studies by year end with partner Boehringer Ingelberg, with their option to license decision expected near-term.
Financial Impact and Cost Savings
The focused restructuring is expected to deliver minimum JPY1.0 billion in year-on-year savings from FY2026. One-time restructuring charges of approximately JPY500 million will be recognized in FY2025 as non-core operating expenses.
"The actions we are announcing today will simplify how we work, accelerate momentum in programs with clear clinical and commercial potential and strengthen our operating leverage," Cargill stated. "We have set an ambitious target in our 2030 vision, and we have confidence that the measures we are announcing today put us on the right path to achieving those goals."
The company operates globally with locations in Tokyo and Osaka (Japan), London and Cambridge (UK), Basel (Switzerland) and Seoul (South Korea), employing approximately 400 people across key pharmaceutical markets.
