On May 11, 2021 Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: FUSN), a clinical-stage oncology company focused on developing next-generation radiopharmaceuticals as precision medicines, reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 and provided an update on clinical and corporate developments (FilingPress release, Fusion Pharmaceuticals, MAY 11, 2021, View Source [SID1234579685]).

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"We continue to advance our Phase 1 study of FPI-1434," said Chief Executive Officer John Valliant, Ph.D. "In anticipation of data and determination of a recommended Phase 2 dose in the first half of 2022, we are amending the study protocol to define tumor-specific cohorts based upon IGF-1R expression and tumor uptake as seen to date in the Phase 1 study."

Dr. Valliant continued, "In parallel, we are building a diverse pipeline of alpha-emitting radiopharmaceuticals. We expect to file our investigational new drug (IND) application for FPI-1966 in the second quarter of this year. In addition, we recently completed the acquisition of IPN-1087, a first-in-class small molecule beta-emitting radiopharmaceutical targeting neurotensin receptor 1 (NTSR1), which is expressed on multiple solid tumors and which we plan to convert into alpha-emitting FPI-2059. These programs demonstrate the depth and versatility of Fusion’s radiopharmaceutical platform and our potential to treat a broad array of solid tumors with high unmet medical need.

"Evidenced by our recent presentations at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, we are excited about the potential to evaluate Fusion’s TATs in combination with the latest generation of cancer therapies, including checkpoint inhibitors and DNA damage response inhibitors (DDRis). Our recently announced collaborations with Merck and AstraZeneca enable us to explore these combination therapies and highlight the growing interest in TAT therapies."

Recent Highlights and Future Milestones

Corporate Updates

On May 6, Fusion announced that it has entered a clinical trial collaboration with a subsidiary of Merck to evaluate FPI-1434 in combination with Merck’s anti-PD-1 (programmed death receptor-1) therapy, KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), in patients with solid tumors expressing insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R). The planned Phase 1 combination trial will evaluate safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of the combination and is expected to initiate approximately six to nine months after achieving the recommended Phase 2 dose in the ongoing Phase 1 study of FPI-1434 monotherapy. Under the terms of the agreement, Fusion will sponsor the study and Merck will supply KEYTRUDA.
On April 10, Fusion announced the presentation of preclinical data at the 2021 AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Virtual Annual Meeting. The posters, titled "Combination of IGF-1R Targeted Alpha Therapy with Olaparib Results in Synergistic Efficacy Against Colorectal and Lung Cancer Xenografts" and "Combination of IGF-1R Targeted Alpha Therapy with Checkpoint Inhibitors Results in Synergistic Efficacy in Colorectal Cancer Syngeneic Model," highlight the potential of Fusion’s targeted alpha therapies (TATs) as both monotherapies and combination therapies.
On April 1, Fusion announced the closing of its acquisition of Ipsen’s assets and intellectual property related to IPN-1087. IPN-1087, previously studied in a Phase 1 trial, is a small molecule targeting NTSR1, a protein expressed on multiple solid tumor types. Fusion is using IPN-1087 to create a first-in-class alpha-emitting radiopharmaceutical, FPI-2059, targeting solid tumors expressing NTSR1. The Company expects to submit an IND application in the first half of 2022.
FPI-1434 Monotherapy

Fusion continues to advance the multi-dose portion of its Phase 1 study evaluating FPI-1434 in patients with advanced solid tumors. The dose-finding study is enrolling patients at sites in Canada, the United States and Australia.
Fusion anticipates reporting Phase 1 multi-dose safety and imaging data, and the recommended Phase 2 dose and schedule, in the first half of 2022.
FPI-1434 Combination Therapy

Fusion has evaluated FPI-1434 in preclinical studies in combination with approved checkpoint and DNA damage response inhibitors, including PARP inhibitors, and believes the synergies observed could expand the addressable patient populations for FPI-1434 and allow for potential use in earlier lines of treatment.
As noted above, Fusion anticipates the initiation of a Phase 1 combination study with FPI-1434 and KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) to occur six to nine months following determination of the recommended Phase 2 dose of FPI-1434 monotherapy.
FPI-1966

FPI-1966 is designed to target and deliver actinium-225 to tumors expressing FGFR3, a protein that is overexpressed in head and neck and bladder cancers. Following the completion of pre-clinical studies, the Company expects to submit an IND for FPI-1966 in the second quarter of 2021.
First Quarter 2021 Financial Results

Cash and Investments: As of March 31, 2021, Fusion held cash, cash equivalents and investments of $278.2 million, compared to cash of $299.5 million as of December 31, 2020. Fusion expects its cash, cash equivalents and investments as of March 31, 2021 will enable the Company to fund its operations through the end of 2023.
R&D Expenses: Research and development expenses for the first quarter of 2021 were $10.7 million, compared to $4.4 million for the same period in 2020. The increase was primarily related to increased platform development and research activities, clinical activities related to the ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial of FPI-1434, and preclinical research and manufacturing costs.
G&A Expenses: General and administrative expenses for the first quarter of 2021 were $7.0 million, compared to $4.3 million for the same period in 2020. The increase was primarily related to general corporate expenses, including increased professional and consulting fees as a result of public company activities, as well as increased salaries, benefits and stock compensation costs due to hiring.
Net Loss: For the first quarter of 2021, Fusion reported a net loss of $17.5 million, or $0.42 per share, compared with a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $11.6 million, or $6.01 per share, for the same period in 2020. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding a change in fair value of preferred share tranche right liability and warrant liability, net loss was $8.8 million for the first quarter of 2020.
Impact of COVID-19

While Fusion continues to progress the multi-dosing portion of the Phase 1 clinical trial of FPI-1434, the Company has experienced moderate delays in patient recruitment and enrollment as a result of COVID-19.

Fusion is closely monitoring how the spread of COVID-19 is affecting the Company’s employees, business, preclinical studies and clinical trials. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, certain employees have transitioned to working remotely and travel has been restricted. Fusion’s research labs are operating but with reduced capacity.

At this time, there is significant uncertainty relating to the trajectory of the pandemic and whether it may cause further delays in patient study recruitment. The impact of related responses and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may result in difficulties or delays in initiating, enrolling, conducting or completing the planned and ongoing trials and the incurrence of unforeseen costs as a result of disruptions in clinical supply or preclinical study or clinical trial delays. The impact of COVID-19 on results will largely depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence.

On May 11, 2021 Dynavax Technologies Corporation ("Dynavax") (Nasdaq: DVAX) reported the pricing of $200.0 million aggregate principal amount of 2.50% convertible senior notes due 2026 (the "notes") in a private placement to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") (Press release, Dynavax Technologies, MAY 11, 2021, View Source [SID1234579684]). Dynavax also granted the initial purchasers of the notes an option to purchase up to an additional $30.0 million aggregate principal amount of notes. The sale of the notes is expected to close on May 13, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

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The notes will be general unsecured obligations of Dynavax and will accrue interest payable semiannually in arrears on May 15 and November 15 of each year, beginning on November 15, 2021, at a rate of 2.50% per year. The notes will mature on May 15, 2026, unless earlier converted, redeemed or repurchased. The initial conversion rate of the notes will be 95.5338 shares of Dynavax’s common stock per $1,000 principal amount of notes (equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $10.47 per share of Dynavax’s common stock). The initial conversion price of the notes represents a premium of approximately 32.5% over the last reported sale price of Dynavax’s common stock on May 10, 2021. The notes will be convertible by the holders thereof into cash, shares of Dynavax’s common stock or a combination of cash and shares of Dynavax’s common stock, at Dynavax’s election.

Dynavax may redeem for cash all or any portion of the notes, at its option on or after May 20, 2024 and prior to the 31st scheduled trading day immediately preceding the maturity date, if the last reported sale price of Dynavax’s common stock has been at least 130% of the conversion price then in effect for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) during any 30 consecutive trading day period (including the last trading day of such period) ending on, and including, the trading day immediately preceding the date on which Dynavax provides notice of redemption, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the redemption date.

If Dynavax undergoes a "fundamental change" (as defined in the indenture governing the notes), subject to certain conditions and exceptions, noteholders may require Dynavax to repurchase for cash all or any portion of their notes at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the fundamental change repurchase date. In addition, following certain corporate events that occur prior to the maturity date or if Dynavax delivers a notice of redemption, Dynavax will, in certain circumstances, increase the conversion rate for a noteholder who elects to convert its notes in connection with such a corporate event or convert its notes called (or deemed called) for redemption in connection with such notice of redemption, as the case may be.

Dynavax estimates that the net proceeds from the offering of the notes will be approximately $195.1 million (or approximately $224.4 million if the initial purchasers exercise their option to purchase additional notes in full), after deducting the initial purchasers’ discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by Dynavax. Dynavax expects to use the net proceeds from the offering of the notes, together with cash on hand, to repay in full the outstanding debt and other obligations under Dynavax’s term loan agreement and to pay the costs of the capped call transactions described below. Dynavax expects that approximately $190.2 million will be needed to repay the outstanding debt and other obligations under the term loan agreement and approximately $24.2 million will be needed to pay the cost of the capped call transactions.

If the initial purchasers exercise their option to purchase additional notes in full, Dynavax expects to use approximately $3.6 million of the net proceeds from the sale of such additional notes to enter into additional capped call transactions. Dynavax expects to use any remaining net proceeds from the sale of such additional notes for general corporate purposes.

In connection with the pricing of the notes, Dynavax entered into capped call transactions with one of the initial purchasers and other financial institutions (the "option counterparties"). The capped call transactions will cover, subject to customary adjustments, the number of shares of Dynavax’s common stock that initially underlie the notes. The capped call transactions are expected to offset the potential dilution to Dynavax’s common stock as a result of any conversion of notes, with such offset subject to a cap initially equal to $15.80 (which represents a premium of 100% over the last reported sale price of Dynavax’s common stock on May 10, 2021).

In connection with establishing their initial hedges of the capped call transactions, Dynavax has been advised that the option counterparties and/or their respective affiliates expect to enter into various derivative transactions with respect to Dynavax’s common stock concurrently with or shortly after the pricing of the notes and/or purchase shares of Dynavax’s common stock concurrently with or shortly after the pricing of the notes. This activity could increase (or reduce the size of any decrease in) the market price of Dynavax’s common stock or the trading price of the notes at that time.

In addition, the option counterparties and/or their respective affiliates may modify their hedge positions by entering into or unwinding various derivatives with respect to Dynavax’s common stock and/or purchasing or selling Dynavax’s common stock or other securities of Dynavax in secondary market transactions following the pricing of the notes and prior to the maturity of the notes (and are likely to do so on each exercise date of the capped call transactions, which are expected to occur during the 30 trading day period beginning on the 31st scheduled trading day prior to the maturity date of the notes, or following any termination of any portion of the capped call transactions in connection with any repurchase, redemption or early conversion of the notes). This activity could also cause or avoid an increase or a decrease in the market price of Dynavax’s common stock or the notes, which could affect a noteholder’s ability to convert its notes and, to the extent the activity occurs during any observation period related to a conversion of notes, it could affect the amount and value of the consideration that a noteholder will receive upon conversion of such notes.

Neither the notes, nor any shares of Dynavax’s common stock issuable upon conversion of the notes, have been registered under the Securities Act or any state securities laws, and unless so registered, may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and other applicable securities laws.

This press release is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall it constitute an offer, solicitation or sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

On May 11, 2021 Applied Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: APLT) ("Applied Therapeutics" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of novel drug candidates against validated molecular targets in indications of high unmet medical need, reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 (Press release, Applied Therapeutics, MAY 11, 2021, View Source [SID1234579683]).

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"In the first quarter we continued to progress our late stage programs towards commercialization in Galactosemia and Diabetic Cardiomyopathy, while advancing our additional rare disease programs in SORD and PMM2-CDG," said Shoshana Shendelman, PhD, Founder, CEO and Chair of the Board of Applied Therapeutics. "We are looking forward to our planned NDA submission in Galactosemia in the third quarter of this year, and continue to focus on our primary objective – bringing drugs to patients in desperate need of treatment."

Recent Highlights

Initiated Phase 2 Study of AT-007 in Patients with SORD Deficiency. The Phase 2 pilot study of AT-007 in patients with Sorbitol Dehydrogenase Deficiency (SORD Deficiency), a progressive, debilitating hereditary neuropathy that affects peripheral nerves and motor neurons, has been initiated. Preclinical findings demonstrate that AT-007 has the potential to be the first disease-modifying therapy for SORD, targeting the underlying cause of disease.
Presented Data on Galactosemia Disease Progression at the 2021 Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. In April 2021, the Company presented data featuring a cross-sectional analysis of nineteen pediatric patients with Classic Galactosemia, providing meaningful insight on the progressive worsening of the central nervous system phenotype with age.
Hosted Virtual Rare Disease Forum. In March 2021, the Company hosted a virtual forum highlighting its AT-007 development programs in Galactosemia, SORD Deficiency, and PMM2-CDG. A replay of the presentation, which featured several rare disease key opinion leaders, is available at View Source
Announced Restart of Pediatric Galactosemia Study. In February 2021, the Company announced that the FDA lifted the clinical hold on the AT-007 ACTION-Galactosemia Kids pediatric clinical study, and the study resumed immediately. Applied Therapeutics worked closely with FDA to modify the trial, with the shared goal of ensuring that all patients have the opportunity to receive clinical benefit, and remains on target to submit an NDA no later than Q3 2021.

Closed Approximately $75 million Public Offering. In February 2021, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 3,450,000 shares of its common stock, including the exercise in full of the underwriters’ option to purchase 450,000 additional shares of common stock at a price of $23.00 per share, resulting in aggregate net proceeds of approximately $74.4 million.
Financial Results

Cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $148.1 million as of March 31, 2021, compared with $96.8 million at December 31, 2020.

Research and development expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2021 were $14.4 million, compared to $7.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020. The increase of $7.2 million was primarily related to an increase in clinical and pre-clinical expense of $1.3 million, related to the progression of the AT-007 ACTION-Galactosemia adult extension study, the AT-007 ACTION-Galactosemia Kids pediatric registrational study and the AT-001 Phase 3 ARISE-HF clinical study; an increase in drug manufacturing and formulation costs of $5.2 million related to the progression of the manufacturing campaigns and the completion and release of AT-001 and AT-007 drug product batches; an increase in personnel expenses of $0.3 million due to the increase in headcount in support of our clinical program pipeline; an increase in stock-based compensation of $0.2 million due to new stock option and restricted stock unit grants; and an increase in regulatory and other expenses of $0.2 million relating to an increase in clinical consulting fees during the three months ended March 31, 2021.

General and administrative expenses were $9.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, compared to $5.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020. The increase of approximately $4.6 million was primarily related to an increase of $1.9 million related to the establishment of a commercial department; an increase in stock-based compensation of $1.5 million and increase in personnel expenses of $0.9 million related to an increase in headcount; an increase of $0.2 million related to increased insurance costs; an increase of $0.4 million in other expenses relating to increased costs of rent and other office expenses; and a $0.4 million decrease in legal and professional fees due to lower external legal fees.
Net loss for the first quarter of 2021 was $24.2 million, or $1.00 per basic and diluted common share, compared to a net loss of $12.4 million, or $0.59 per basic and diluted common share, for the first quarter 2020.

On May 11, 2021 Schrödinger, Inc. (Nasdaq: SDGR), whose physics-based software platform is transforming the way therapeutics and materials are discovered, reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, and provided an update on the company (Press release, Schrodinger, MAY 11, 2021, View Source [SID1234579682]).

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"We had strong execution across multiple facets of our business during the quarter," stated Ramy Farid, Ph.D., chief executive officer at Schrödinger. "We are continuing to advance our internal drug discovery pipeline and recently selected a development candidate for our MALT1 inhibitor program. Progress on our internal programs, coupled with our collaborators’ successes with molecules we’ve helped discover, are powerful examples that our platform and approach generates high-quality development candidates. We look forward to seeing the full impact of our technology as pharmaceutical, biotechnology and materials companies adopt our platform on a larger scale."

Today the company announced an expanded collaboration with AstraZeneca to deploy Schrödinger’s computational platform to help accelerate drug discovery. The collaboration is an expansion of the agreement announced in September 2019, which was a pilot project across an initial small number of programs. Under the expanded agreement, AstraZeneca will fully deploy Schrödinger’s platform across all its structurally-enabled small molecule discovery programs.

First Quarter 2021 Financial Results

Revenue was $32.1 million for the first quarter of 2021, a 23 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2020.
Software revenue was $26.3 million for the first quarter of 2021, an 11 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2020.
Drug discovery revenue was $5.8 million for the first quarter of 2021, compared to $2.4 million in the first quarter of 2020.
Gross profit was $16.2 million in the first quarter of 2021, up three percent over the first quarter in 2020. Software gross margin was 78 percent in the first quarter of 2021, compared to 83 percent for the same period in the prior year.
Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2021 were $40.1 million, compared to $27.4 million in the first quarter of 2020.
Other income, which included losses on equity investments, changes in fair value of such investments and interest income, was $23.5 million in the first quarter of 2021 compared to a loss of $2.4 million for the first quarter of 2020. Other income for the first quarter of 2021 included a $24.8 million non-cash gain from the change in fair value of Schrödinger’s equity stake in Morphic Therapeutic. Additionally, in the first quarter of 2021, Schrödinger sold its equity stake in Relay Therapeutics, Inc. for cash proceeds of $15.7 million, which resulted in a non-cash loss of $1.8 million as a result of the fair value based on the share price of the Relay Therapeutics common stock at the sales date.
Net loss, after adjusting for non-controlling interests, was $0.0 million for the first quarter of 2021, compared to a net loss of $13.8 million in the first quarter of 2020.
Recent Business Highlights

Continued revenue growth and strategic execution

Reported 23 percent total revenue growth in the first quarter of 2021, driven by significant increase in drug discovery revenue in addition to continued uptake of Schrödinger’s core technologies including FEP+ and its enterprise solution, LiveDesign, as well as growth in new customers.
Ended the first quarter of 2021 with cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and marketable securities of $649.0 million, compared to $643.2 million as of December 31, 2020.
Progressed internal pipeline

Selected a development candidate for the company’s MALT1 inhibitor program. Targeting MALT1 is emerging as a potential therapeutic strategy to treat certain relapsed or resistant B-cell lymphomas and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Continued to advance multiple programs toward IND-enabling studies; subject to completion of the preclinical data packages, the company expects to submit up to three IND applications in 2022, with the first submission to the FDA expected in the first half of next year.
Presented preclinical data on the company’s CDC7 inhibitor program at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Virtual Meeting. The data showed that Schrödinger’s picomolar CDC7 inhibitors were highly selective and inhibited tumor cell growth alone and in combination with several approved and investigational cancer treatments.
Advanced discovery efforts to allow addition of new programs to the company’s internal pipeline in 2021.
Continued investment in Schrödinger’s computational platform

Formed a strategic partnership with NVIDIA to further optimize Schrödinger’s software platform for the NVIDIA DGX SuperPODTM, an enterprise system that can be scaled to enable any organization to reach supercomputing speed and power. Optimizing Schrödinger’s platform for the NVIDIA GPU framework is designed to give customers access to an all-in-one supercomputing solution for in silico drug and materials discovery.
Further expanded the domain of applicability for Schrödinger’s software platform. Recently published research provided rationale for applying Schrödinger’s free energy calculation technology, FEP+, to ion channels using structures generated by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). The company’s scientists also published research describing a highly accurate method to predict the binding modes of small molecule inhibitors binding to protein targets with flexible binding sites, which have historically been challenging targets for structure-based drug design. Additionally, Schrödinger scientists co-authored a white paper describing how recent advances in protein production and cryo-EM can rapidly facilitate the structural enablement of drug targets.
Full-Year 2021 Financial Outlook

As of May 11, 2021, Schrödinger continues to expect total revenue to range from $124 million to $142 million, with software revenue expected to range from $102 million to $110 million and drug discovery revenue expected to range from $22 million to $32 million for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021. Additional details are as follows:

Software revenue growth is expected to be higher in the second half of the year with the majority of second half growth in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Drug discovery revenue is expected to be highly variable quarter to quarter based on the timing of potential milestones related to collaborative agreements.
Schrödinger continues to aggressively fund R&D to advance its technology and drug discovery pipeline. The company expects operating expense growth to be higher than the 42% annual growth rate reported in 2020 and expects software gross margin to be lower than the 81% reported in 2020.
Webcast and Conference Call Information

Schrödinger will host a conference call to discuss its first quarter financial results on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, at 8:30 a.m. ET. The conference call can be accessed live by dialing (833) 727-9520 (domestic) or +1 (830) 213-7697 (international) and referring to conference ID 3297222. The webcast can also be accessed under "News & Events" in the investors section of Schrödinger’s website, View Source The archived webcast will be available on Schrödinger’s website following the event.

On May 11, 2021 Galera Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing a pipeline of novel, proprietary therapeutics that have the potential to transform radiotherapy in cancer, reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021, and highlighted recent corporate accomplishments (Press release, Galera Therapeutics, MAY 11, 2021, View Source [SID1234579681]).

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"Galera is off to a strong start in 2021, as we continue to progress our clinical oncology programs in radiation-induced severe oral mucositis (SOM), locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with our dismutase mimetics," said Mel Sorensen, M.D., President and CEO of Galera. "We recently reported updated data from our placebo-controlled Phase 1/2 pilot trial, in which a near doubling of median overall survival was observed in patients with pancreatic cancer. Building on the positive results from this trial, we anticipate initiating a Phase 2b trial in the first half of 2021 in patients with LAPC, with overall survival as the primary endpoint. Importantly, we look forward to announcing topline data in the pivotal Phase 3 trial in SOM and potential regulatory approval and commercialization of avasopasem, our lead dismutase mimetic product candidate."

Recent Corporate Highlights

Severe Oral Mucositis (SOM)

Continued enrollment in the pivotal Phase 3 ROMAN trial of avasopasem for the treatment of SOM in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer (HNC) undergoing standard-of-care radiotherapy. The Company remains on track to report topline data in the second half of 2021.

The Company expects to report topline data from the Phase 2a EUSOM multi-center trial of avasopasem in Europe in patients with HNC undergoing standard-of-care radiotherapy in the second half of 2021.
Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer (LAPC)

Reported updated data from the placebo-controlled Phase 1/2 pilot trial of Galera’s dismutase mimetic in patients with LAPC who are also undergoing stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). As of the data analysis, median overall survival (OS) in the treatment arm (20.1 months) was nearly twice as long as observed in the placebo arm (10.9 months); 29% of patients in the treatment arm achieved a partial response compared to 11% of patients in the placebo arm; and positive results were also observed in local tumor control, time to metastases and progression-free survival. The Company expects to report final results from the trial with at least one year of follow-up on all patients in the second half of 2021.
Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

Continued enrollment in the Phase 1/2 GRECO-1 trial of GC4711, Galera’s second dismutase mimetic product candidate, in combination with SBRT in patients with NSCLC. The Company remains on track to report initial data in the first half of 2022.
Esophagitis

Continued enrollment in the Phase 2a AESOP trial of avasopasem evaluating its ability to reduce the incidence of esophagitis induced by radiotherapy in patients with lung cancer. The Company expects to report topline data in the first half of 2022.
First Quarter 2021 Financial Highlights

Research and development expenses were $12.4 million in the first quarter of 2021, compared to $14.3 million for the same period in 2020. The decrease was primarily attributable to avasopasem development costs, due to decreased expenses related to the ROMAN trial and a decrease in preclinical expenses.

General and administrative expenses were $5.1 million in the first quarter of 2021, compared to $3.6 million for the same period in 2020. The increase was primarily attributable to employee-related costs from increased headcount and share-based compensation expense, and increased expenses related to pre-commercial activities for avasopasem.

Galera reported a net loss of $(18.7) million, or $(0.75) per share, for the first quarter of 2021, compared to a net loss of $(18.4) million, or $(0.74) per share, for the same period in 2020.

As of March 31, 2021, Galera had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $57.5 million. Galera expects that its existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, together with the expected payments from Blackstone in the amount of $57.5 million upon the achievement of certain clinical enrollment milestones in the ROMAN trial and the anti-cancer program in combination with SBRT under the amended royalty agreement, will enable Galera to fund its operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the second half of 2022. The Company expects to achieve these clinical enrollment milestones in the first half of 2021.