Enlivex Cuts 60% of Workforce, Scraps Preclinical R&D, and Slashes Executive Pay to Fund Osteoarthritis Trial

Israeli biotechnology developer Enlivex Therapeutics has initiated aggressive capital conservation measures, cutting 60% of its workforce, halting all preclinical research and development activities, and executing substantial salary reductions across its executive leadership team.

The company entered the current year with 34 full-time employees, meaning the restructuring leaves a core operational team to shepherd its lead asset through clinical milestones.

Clinical Prioritization: Allocetra Phase 2b Readout The entire operational contraction is designed to extend Enlivex's financial runway until the clinical readout of its primary program:

• Lead Candidate: The company's pipeline centers on Allocetra, an off-the-shelf, cell-based immunotherapy under evaluation for age-related symptomatic primary knee osteoarthritis.

• Trial Milestones: Following Phase 2a results demonstrating pain reduction and functional improvement—alongside securing an FDA Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation—the company is prioritizing its Phase 2b trial.

• Runway Target: The cost-reduction package aims to maintain operational solvency until six-month topline Phase 2b data reads out in mid-2027.

Executive Compensation Cuts and Operational Wind-Down To minimize burn alongside layoffs and laboratory wind-downs:

• CEO Compensation: Chief Executive Officer Oren Hershkovitz, Ph.D., will see his base salary cut by 40%.

• Management Team: Other members of the executive leadership team will absorb a 20% pay reduction.

• Non-Clinical Halt: Preclinical and non-clinical research pipelines have been paused or wound down indefinitely.

"By winding down non-clinical R&D, reducing our workforce, and having management, including myself, take substantial salary reductions, we are focusing our resources to reach that readout as efficiently as possible, which we expect by mid-2027." — Oren Hershkovitz, Ph.D., CEO, Enlivex

Hybrid Corporate Treasury Model Beyond clinical development, Enlivex maintains an unconventional corporate treasury strategy:

Prediction Markets Treasury: The firm combines clinical-stage longevity drug development with exposure to the emerging prediction markets ecosystem, managing a dual-mandate corporate balance sheet to supplement capital operations.