On March 23, 2021 Vincerx Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: VINC), a biopharmaceutical company aspiring to address the unmet medical needs of patients with cancer through paradigm-shifting therapeutics, reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year, ended December 31, 2020, and provided a corporate update (Press release, Vincerx Pharma, MAR 23, 2021, View Source [SID1234577036]).
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"Over the past months, Vincerx has completed transformative milestones; licensing a compelling oncology pipeline from Bayer, launching as a public company, and strengthening our already proven leadership team," said Ahmed Hamdy M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Vincerx. "These accomplishments, in combination with our strong balance sheet, leave us well positioned as we prepare to launch Phase 1b studies of VIP152, our highly selective and potent CDK9 inhibitor, in Myc-driven hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, as well as relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia. With robust preclinical on-mechanism activity, and compelling early signals of Phase 1 clinical activity in challenging patient populations, including those with double-hit DLBCL, we are confident that VIP152 represents a compelling and differentiated opportunity."
Dr. Hamdy continued, "In addition to this clinical progress, we have in parallel continued to develop our preclinical bioconjugation platform, consisting of our next-generation antibody-drug conjugates which have the potential to overcome limitations of currently approved ADCs and our innovative small molecule drug conjugate, which will have data presented at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper). We are excited to embark on this new phase of development and look forward to continued execution in 2021 across our strategic clinical program with VIP152, a potential best-in-class asset with multiple Accelerated Approval opportunities."
Corporate Highlights
Announced exclusive license agreement with Bayer AG for oncology portfolio including VIP152, a highly selective PTEFb/CDK9 inhibitor with encouraging Phase 1 monotherapy activity, including complete responses in DH-DLBCL, as well as a preclinical bioconjugation platform designed to overcome limitations of small-molecule and antibody-drug conjugates used to treat cancer
Announced completion of business combination transaction with LifeSci Acquisition Corp. on December 23, 2020, and listing on Nasdaq, with net proceeds of approximately $62 million
VIP152 IND officially transferred from Bayer to Vincerx
Appointed Hermes Garbán, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer
Appointed Hans-Georg Lerchen, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer
Appointed Tom Thomas, as General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer
Announced presentation at the upcoming American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2021 with preclinical data for the Company’s small molecule drug conjugate in development for the treatment of multiple cancer types
Hosted Key Opinion Leader Webinar on VIP152 for the treatment of solid tumors with presentations by KOLs Ian Flinn, M.D., Ph.D., Director of Sarah Cannon Center for Blood Cancer, John Byrd, M.D., D. Warren Brown Chair of Leukemia Research, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Howard "Skip" Burris III, M.D., President and Chief Medical Officer of Sarah Cannon, who discussed the CDK9 inhibitor landscape with Vincerx management providing details on the development plan for VIP152
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Financial Results
Vincerx Pharma ended the fourth quarter with $61.8 million in cash and cash equivalents. Net cash used in operations was $2.3 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020.
Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $10.7 million, which is comprised primarily of a $5.0 million license fee in connection with the Bayer license agreement and $4.4 million of stock-based compensation.
Research and development (R&D) expenses were $2.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, consisting primarily of stock-based compensation.
General and administrative (G&A) expenses were $3.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, consisting primarily of stock-based compensation of $2.3 million and approximately $1.0 million of legal and professional services incurred in connection with the Bayer license agreement and business combination.