Atara lays off 31 employees from Ventura County research center
A couple of months after Thousand Oaks-based Atara Biotherapeutics announced it would be laying off roughly 80 employees, the company confirmed nearly half of those jobs are coming from its Ventura County research center.
In a WARN Act filing with the state of California, Atara said it would be cutting 31 employees from its 1280 Rancho Conejo Blvd research center by May 2.
The company’s headquarters is nearby, located at 2380 Conejo Spectrum St. Suite 200 in Thousand Oaks.
Atara said in January that it expects to recognize approximately $7.5 million in total for severance and related benefits for employees laid off under the reduction in force.
The layoffs came after Atara received a complete response letter from the FDA regarding the company’s main pipeline product, Ebvallo.
A Complete Response Letter is a regulatory action from the FDA indicating that the Biologics License Application for, in this case, Ebvallo, will not be approved in its current form.
Jason Awe, the head of corporate communications & investor relations at Atara, told the Business Times via email in January that the cuts would be across both Thousand Oaks locations. Both will remain operational, however, as the company “focuses on our allogeneic CAR-T assets.”
