Fine, I’ll say it. ArsenalBio really raised $325M for their company and then laid off 50% of the people who helped them get there… sending them out into one of the worst job markets for the field in recent history. Justifying it by saying they are shifting away from early stage research. As if you can’t retrain or give intelligent people a chance to pivot as well. And if I had to bet, a few people at the top got promotions. Shame on this industry for not standing by its people. There’s no loyalty. Maybe the people making these decisions can sleep at night by telling themselves “everyone is doing it” because unfortunately, ArsenalBio isn’t alone in this type of move. It’s just that there’s something so cold about the layoff announcement happening less than 2 weeks after that mega fundraising… Give your people a chance. They fought for you and your science during one of the most competitive markets out there. Ask your clinical, quality, tech, product, CMC etc to see if any early stage researchers could fit into their teams. Don’t just send them (and their families) out to fight for a new role in this market.

One of cancer’s mysteries that I’ve been pondering lately is the cellular state that is malignancy. Or is it more the nuclear and cellular state (if you look to pathology)? I want to read more papers on this.