On the heels of a recent cost-cutting drive that severed much of AmplifyBio’s R&D capacity, the Ohio-based contract manufacturing and research hybrid has hung up its hat for good.

Amplify’s decision to close down followed months of work from company leaders, investors and others to “explore and exhaust all investment and acquisition opportunities,” the combination CRO-CDMO explained in a notification pinned to the top of its website.

AmplifyBio was founded in May 2021 with $200 million in hand from the Ohio-based nonprofit Battelle and several investor groups. The company was originally formed with a primary focus on the research of emerging classes of medicines like cell and gene therapies.

The startup came out the gate with cash not only from Battelle, but Viking Global Investors, Casdin Capital and Narya Capital as well.

“Like any startup, AmplifyBio’s growth strategy relied on meeting revenue targets and a supportive investor climate,” the company explained in the online notice.

When the company first debuted, the market for cell and gene therapies was “favorable for early phase drug development,” Amplify said. But the market has since suffered a “significant shift” leading to scarce investor financing for early stage biotechs, hamstringing Amplify’s growth trajectory, the company said.

Amplify initially set up shop at and had continued to be captained from a site and lab at Battelle’s campus in West Jefferson, Ohio. In 2022, the company paid an undisclosed sum for a South San Francisco R&D facility—plus a handful of other assets and employees—from PACT Pharma.

More recently, the contractor heralded the opening of its AmplifyBio Manufacturing Enablement Center (AMEC) in New Albany, Ohio, just a little over 34 miles from the company’s inaugural site in West Jefferson.

Aside from offering preclinical contract research services for cell and gene therapies, Amplify also chipped in on cell and gene production and took on projects to manufacture mRNA and plasmid products, too.

AmplifyBio did not immediately respond to Fierce Pharma’s request for comment on the situation.

The move—while no less of a blow for Amplify and its employees—isn't a complete surprise.

Back in December, Amplify confirmed plans to cut costs and shutter the R&D and characterization services site in South San Francisco that it had acquired from PACT in 2022. The company planned to move operations from the research facility to its recently christened manufacturing plant in New Albany, Fierce Biotech reported at the time.

The company also confirmed that it was laying off an undisclosed number of employees from its Ohio-based preclinical contract research business. The staff cuts were slated to hit corporate and operational departments equally, an AmplifyBio spokesperson told Fierce Biotech late last year.

The moves, which Amplify pursued to slash time bottlenecks and eliminate communication silos, were meant to help “integrate early drug discovery and characterization more seamlessly with CMC activities and manufacturing scale-up,” the spokesperson said.

Amplify did not discuss numbers when it confirmed the layoffs in December. Back in February 2023, the Columbus Business Journal reported that the company had recently grown its workforce to more than 300 and had added 28 new clients over the course of the previous year.

Amplify started with around 125 scientists and technicians when it spun out from Battelle in May 2021, the Columbus Business Journal said at the time.

While cell and gene therapies have been heralded for their ability to offer personalized, one-time treatments to some of the world’s sickest patients, issues around manufacturing, access, cost and—at times—safety have eroded some of the field’s luster in recent years.

Now, many in the space are growing concerned that the recent ousting of the FDA’s longtime director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Peter Marks, Ph.D.—a key ally to advanced therapeutics developers—could further exacerbate the problems facing cell and gene therapies.