Jobs & Layoffs · Notice
Foghorn Therapeutics cuts 40% of its staff
The biotech is cutting about 40% of its workforce after it and Eli Lilly decided not to advance a joint cancer drug trial. About 65 employees are expected to remain.
Foghorn Therapeutics told the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 1, 2026 that its board approved a workforce reduction of approximately 40 percent, after the company and Eli Lilly decided not to advance their jointly developed drug FHD-909 into the next phase of testing.
What happened, in order
On September 25, following a review of Phase 1 clinical data, Foghorn and Lilly decided not to advance FHD-909 into its expansion phase, and the filing says further collaboration activity under the companies' agreement is not anticipated. Five days later, on September 30, Foghorn's board approved what the filing calls a strategic reprioritization and workforce reduction, aimed at concentrating the company's remaining resources on the programs it says have the greatest potential: a selective EP300 degrader, an immunology and inflammation asset, a selective CBP degrader, its induced proximity platform and other proprietary programs.
The numbers
The reduction cuts approximately 40 percent of the company's current workforce, expected to be substantially complete in the fourth quarter of 2026. Foghorn expects to have approximately 65 full-time employees once it is done. The company estimates aggregate charges of about $2.3 million, primarily one-time severance and benefits, all of which it expects to result in cash expenditures.
What the filing does not say
As with most Item 2.05 filings, there is no breakdown by role, location or department, and no description of severance terms offered to affected employees beyond the aggregate charge. How to read an 8-K Item 2.05 explains what this kind of filing does and does not require a company to disclose. If you are among the employees affected, the first 30 days after a layoff sets out the deadlines that follow, and the layoffs tracker records this filing beside the other restructurings the desk has read.
What to do
- Read the filing for the decision date and the figures; it is short and names the two decisions, the trial and the layoff, together. sec.gov
- If you are affected, the clocks on unemployment and health coverage start the week your job ends.
Questions readers ask
- Why is Foghorn cutting 40% of its staff?
- The filing ties the decision to its drug pipeline, not general cost pressure: Foghorn and its partner Eli Lilly decided not to advance a Phase 1 trial of FHD-909 into the next phase, and the company says it is now prioritizing the programs in its remaining portfolio, including a selective EP300 degrader and an immunology and inflammation asset.
- Does the Lilly partnership continue?
- The filing says further collaboration activities under the agreement with Lilly are not anticipated following the decision not to advance FHD-909, without describing the agreement’s formal status beyond that.
- How big is Foghorn after the cut?
- The company says it expects to have approximately 65 full-time employees once the reduction, substantially complete in the fourth quarter of 2026, is finished.
Filed under: Layoffs 2026: what companies told the SEC
How we reported this
Built from 1 primary document linked in the Source Card. Every number was copied from the document, not from another outlet.
Written by Mirza Seraj Baig · Checked against the documents in the source card (editorial standards).