On November 10, 2021 Erasca, Inc. (Nasdaq: ERAS), a clinical-stage precision oncology company singularly focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing therapies for patients with RAS/MAPK pathway-driven cancers, reported financial results for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2021, and provided business updates (Press release, Erasca, NOV 10, 2021, View Source [SID1234595236]).

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"Erasca continued our strong execution this quarter, delivering on key milestones, advancing new clinical trials, and generating exciting preclinical data," said Jonathan E. Lim, M.D., Erasca’s chairman, CEO, and co-founder. "With the initiation in September of our HERKULES-2 and -3 trials in non-small cell lung cancer and gastrointestinal malignancies, respectively, we currently have four ongoing clinical trials with multiple clinical data readouts anticipated in 2022. We are excited about recent preclinical data that further support the planned IND filings for ERAS-801 (CNS-penetrant EGFR inhibitor for refractory glioblastoma multiforme) in the first quarter of 2022 and ERAS-3490 (CNS-penetrant KRAS G12C inhibitor) in the second half of 2022."

Dr. Lim continued, "At the corporate level, we are honored to be named one of Fierce Biotech’s ‘Fierce 15’ most promising and innovative biotechnology companies of 2021. We remain focused on our mission to erase cancer and believe this mission goes beyond therapeutic development to include a broader social contribution. We were pleased to donate 1% of our pre-IPO capital stock to the Erasca Foundation in conjunction with the successful completion of our $345 million initial public offering in July. The Erasca Foundation was established to fund charitable activities designed to have a positive impact on society, particularly in underserved populations. With our strong cash position supported by top-tier institutional investors, we remain well-positioned to advance the industry’s deepest portfolio singularly focused on shutting down the RAS/MAPK pathway and to deliver on our upcoming milestones."

Research and Development (R&D) Highlights

Dosed First Patient in HERKULES-2 Trial: In September 2021, Erasca dosed the first patient in HERKULES-2, a Phase 1b/2 trial evaluating ERAS-007 (ERK1/2 inhibitor) in multiple combinations as part of Erasca’s lung cancer master protocol, with a focus on patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
Dosed First Patient in HERKULES-3 Trial: In September 2021, Erasca dosed the first patient in HERKULES-3, a Phase 1b/2 trial evaluating ERAS-007 (ERK1/2 inhibitor) in multiple combinations as part of Erasca’s gastrointestinal cancer master protocol, with an initial focus on patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC)
Presented Preclinical Data for ERAS-801: In October 2021, Erasca announced the presentation of preclinical data for ERAS-801, a central nervous system (CNS)-penetrant epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor for the treatment of refractory glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Special Virtual Conference on Brain Cancer
Corporate Highlights

Completed $345 Million Initial Public Offering: In July 2021, Erasca sold 21,562,500 shares of common stock, which included the exercise in full by the underwriters of their option to purchase 2,812,500 shares of common stock, at a public offering price of $16 per share. The gross proceeds from the offering were $345 million
Named a 2021 "Fierce 15" Winner: Named one of Fierce Biotech’s "Fierce 15" most promising biotechnology companies of 2021
Entered into a Clinical Trial Collaboration and Supply Agreement with Pfizer: Pfizer will supply its BRAF inhibitor encorafenib (BRAFTOVI) at no cost in connection with a clinical proof-of-concept study evaluating ERAS-007 in combination with encorafenib and the EGFR inhibitor cetuximab for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600E-mutant metastatic CRC as part of the ongoing Phase 1b/2 HERKULES-3 trial
Contributed to the Erasca Foundation: Issued $17.5 million of common shares to the Erasca Foundation to fund charitable activities related to Erasca’s mission
Key Upcoming Milestones

ERAS-801: CNS-penetrant EGFR inhibitor
IND filing expected in first quarter of 2022
HERKULES-4: Phase 1b/2 clinical trial for ERAS-007/MAPKlamp in combination with various agents in patients with hematological malignancies
Dosing of the first patient expected in first quarter of 2022
Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results

Cash Position: Cash, cash equivalents, and investments were $486.6 million as of September 30, 2021, as compared to $118.7 million as of December 31, 2020. During the third quarter, Erasca completed an IPO raising net proceeds of $317.0 million, after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions, and other offering expenses. Erasca expects its current cash, cash equivalents, and investments balance to fund operations for at least the next 24 months.

Research and Development (R&D) Expenses: R&D expenses were $20.0 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, compared to $9.1 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2020. The increase was primarily driven by expenses incurred in connection with clinical trials and preclinical studies, personnel costs due to increased headcount to support increased development activities, and outsourced services and consulting fees. Erasca also recorded $1.7 million of in-process research and development expense during the quarter ended September 30, 2021, for a milestone payment made to the University of California, San Francisco.

General and Administrative (G&A) Expenses: G&A expenses were $6.9 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, compared to $2.0 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2020. The increase was primarily driven by personnel costs, insurance costs, and legal fees. For the quarter ended September 30, 2021, $17.5 million was recorded as additional G&A expense for the common shares issued to the Erasca Foundation.

Net Loss: For the quarter ended September 30, 2021, Erasca reported a net loss of $46.1 million, inclusive of the $17.5 million in expense recorded for the common shares issued to the Erasca Foundation, or $(0.46) per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss of $10.6 million, or $(0.50) per basic and diluted share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2020.

On November 10, 2021 Olema Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Olema" or "Olema Oncology," Nasdaq: OLMA), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of targeted therapies for women’s cancers, today provided an update on recent company developments and reported third quarter financial results for the period ended September 30, 2021 (Press release, Olema Oncology, NOV 10, 2021, View Source [SID1234595235]).

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"Our team has made great progress advancing OP-1250 through the dose escalation portion of our ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial and we look forward to presenting interim pharmacokinetic, safety, tolerability and initial efficacy data at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December," said Sean P. Bohen, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Olema Oncology. "We are encouraged by the emerging clinical profile of OP-1250 and plan to initiate Phase 2 monotherapy expansion as well as the first planned Phase 1b combination trial with a CDK4/6 inhibitor in the first quarter of 2022."

"OP-1250 has the potential to be a differentiated, best-in-class complete estrogen receptor (ER) antagonist (CERAN) that we believe could become the backbone endocrine therapy of choice for ER+ breast cancer. As we enroll more patients, we look forward to generating additional clinical data in support of OP-1250’s use both as monotherapy and in combination with other approved breast cancer treatments," continued Dr. Bohen.

Recent Corporate Highlights

●Completed dose escalation in the ongoing Phase 1/2 study of OP-1250 in patients with metastatic, ER+ / HER2- breast cancer.
●Selected the OP-1250 starting dose and initiated preparations for the first planned combination study with a CDK4/6 inhibitor.
●Presented new nonclinical data on OP-1250 at the 1st JCA-AACR Precision Cancer Medicine International Conference held virtually from September 10-12, 2021 (U.S.)
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and September 11-12, 2021 (Japan). The poster presentation reviewed a series of nonclinical assessments Olema conducted on a panel of antiestrogens with known chemical structures to evaluate their ability to inhibit ER activity, block breast cancer proliferation and degrade ER receptors.
●Presented a Trials-in-Progress poster at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper)-NCI-EORTC AACR-NCI-EORTC (Free AACR-NCI-EORTC Whitepaper) International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics (EORTC-NCI-AACR) (Free ASGCT Whitepaper) (Free EORTC-NCI-AACR Whitepaper), held virtually from October 7-10, 2021. The poster reviewed the design of Olema’s ongoing Phase 1/2 open-label, first-in-human, multicenter, dose-escalation and dose-expansion study evaluating OP-1250 monotherapy in adult subjects with recurrent, locally advanced or metastatic ER+ / HER2- breast cancer (NCT04505826).
●Expanded Olema’s operational footprint with the opening of new office space in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Anticipated Milestones

●Present interim Phase 1 monotherapy dose escalation data at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
●Initiate dose expansion by year-end with up to two doses. Each cohort will enroll approximately 15 patients with measurable disease, and findings will help inform the selection of a recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D).
●Initiate Phase 2 in the first quarter of 2022. Preliminary anti-tumor efficacy will be assessed across three cohorts: patients with measurable disease (N=50), patients with non-measurable disease (N=15) and patients with CNS metastasis (N=15).
●Initiate the first Phase 1b clinical trial of OP-1250 in combination with a CDK4/6 inhibitor in the first quarter of 2022.
Financial Highlights

●Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of September 30, 2021 were $306.0 million. Olema anticipates that this balance of cash will be sufficient to fund operations through the end of 2023.
● Net loss for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 was $17.7 million, compared to $7.8 million for the same period of the prior year.
●Research and development (R&D) expenses were $12.5 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, compared to $4.7 million for the same period of the prior year. The increase in R&D expenses was primarily related to the advancement of the ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial of OP-1250, increase in nonclinical development activities, higher personnel-related expenses and higher non-cash stock-based compensation expenses.
Image result for olema logo

●General and administrative (G&A) expenses were $5.2 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, compared to $3.2 million for the same period of the prior year. The increase in G&A expenses was primarily related to an increase in personnel, public company-related expenses, other corporate costs and higher non-cash stock-based compensation expenses.

On November 10, 2021 HTG Molecular Diagnostics, Inc. (Nasdaq: HTGM) (HTG), a life science company advancing precision medicine through its innovative transcriptome-wide profiling technology, reported its financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 (Press release, HTG Molecular Diagnostics, NOV 10, 2021, View Source [SID1234595234]).

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Recent Business Highlights

Total revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 increased by approximately 42% when compared to the same period in 2020.

HTG Transcriptome Panel revenue increased in the third quarter and accounted for 27% and 18% of consumables product revenue for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, respectively.

Continued collaboration with participants in the Early Adopter Program (EAP) for the Company’s HTG Transcriptome Panel (HTP) throughout the US and EU who are exploring potential applications for the panel in their research and clinical programs. EAP collaborators are expected to assist HTG with customer testimonials, white papers, technical notes and peer-reviewed publications highlighting their use of the HTP and their overall experience relative to alternative technologies.

Completed an audit of HTG’s quality management system for continued certification to ISO 13485:2016, valid through June 2024.

Announced the creation of a drug discovery business unit, HTG Therapeutics, and the hiring of the leadership team for the unit. HTG Therapeutics is expected to leverage HTG’s proprietary RNA profiling technology platform to inform advanced chemical library designs seeking to improve efficacy and lower toxicity profiles for drug candidates. The team has signed up several KOL’s to assist in the development of a portfolio of potentially licensable drug candidates for drug discovery. This effort is aimed at the generation of high-quality primary data from our proprietary profiling platform from known and well annotated cohorts and overcoming the notable shortfalls of data mined from public sources. HTG Therapeutics intends to leverage the Company’s past experience partnering with biopharma to collaborate throughout the drug development process, with a view toward creating future revenue and opportunities for HTG.
"Our profiling revenue has continued to grow quarter over quarter in 2021, reflecting the efforts of our employees and our customers’ response to and recovery from the challenges imposed on our industry and by the many challenges we faced as a company in 2020," said John Lubniewski, President and CEO of HTG. "Increasing instrument placements resulting from the reopening of customer facilities and increased sample processing activity in our VERI/O laboratory drove our quarterly growth. A resurgence of consumable product orders from existing and new customers is expected to drive continued growth in our product revenue. Our commercial team remains focused on our strategic priorities of customer and market diversification, while continuing to strengthen relationships with our existing customers.
"We will continue this drive throughout the remainder of 2021, with expected increasing demand for our HTP," Mr. Lubniewski added. "Our HTG Therapeutics team continues to make strides toward our vision for disrupting drug discovery by using advanced transcriptomic profiling capabilities to de-risk drug candidate development."

Third Quarter 2021 Financial Highlights:

Total revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 was $2.5 million, compared with $1.8 million for the same period in 2020.

Product and product-related services revenue increased by 48% for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 to $2.5 million, compared with $1.7 million for the same period in 2020. This reflects an increase in instrument sales and RUO sample processing services for which demand has begun to recover to pre-COVID-19 levels as customers have resumed development activities. Revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2020 included $0.1 million of collaborative development services revenue.

Net loss from operations for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 was $4.2 million, compared with $5.2 million for the same period in 2020. Net loss per share was $(0.60) for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 compared with $(1.12) for the third quarter of 2020.

Cash, cash equivalents and short-term available-for-sale securities totaled $25.4 million as of September 30, 2021, with current liabilities of approximately $8.1 million and non-current liabilities of $11.5 million.

Conference Call and Webcast:

HTG will host a conference call for the investment community today beginning at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Conference call and webcast details are as follows:

On November 10, 2021 Tempest Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: TPST), a clinical-stage oncology company developing potentially first-in-class therapeutics that combine both targeted and immune-mediated mechanisms, reported financial results and provided a corporate update for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021 (Press release, Tempest Therapeutics, NOV 10, 2021, View Source [SID1234595233]).

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"The third quarter of 2021 saw continued execution and progress in our programs, including the opening of a collaborative clinical trial with Roche in first line HCC patients comparing TPST-1120 in combination with atezolizumab and bevacizumab to the standard of care regimen, atezolizumab and bevacizumab," said Stephen R. Brady, chief executive officer of Tempest. "In the fourth quarter of this year and the first half of 2022, we plan to continue this focused approach as our second clinical program, TPST-1495, is poised to move into a set of studies that select patients predicated on strong mechanistic rationale, genetically-defined histologies, and a potential mutation-based biomarker."

Recent Highlights

TPST-1495 (clinical dual EP2/4 prostaglandin receptor antagonist): continued enrollment in monotherapy dose optimization towards recommended Phase 2 dose ("RP2D").
TPST-1120 (clinical PPARα antagonist): (i) after completion of monotherapy dose escalation, continued enrollment in combination dose escalation towards RP2D; and (ii) commencement of first line, randomized global Phase 1b/2 study in HCC patients, under a collaboration with F. Hoffmann La Roche.
New Drug Discovery Program: entered into an exclusive license with U.C. Berkeley for intellectual property covering a new drug target discovered in the laboratory of Russell Vance, Ph.D., professor of molecular and cell biology at U.C. Berkeley and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
Advisory Board: announced the appointment of Dr. Vance to Tempest’s Advisory Board, joining a distinguished roster consisting of Toni Choueiri, M.D., Benjamin Cravatt, Ph.D., Raymond DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., Jason Luke, M.D., Drew Pardoll, M.D., and Peppi Prasit, Ph.D.
Planned Near-Term Milestones

TPST-1495 (clinical dual EP2/4 prostaglandin receptor antagonist): (i) selection of monotherapy RP2D expected in the first half of 2022; (ii) commencement of a combination study with anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor expected prior to the end of 2021; and (iii) commencement of monotherapy expansion in targeted indications and biomarker-selected patient populations expected in the first half of 2022.
TPST-1120 (clinical PPARα antagonist): (i) identification of RP2D of TPST-1120 in combination with nivolumab expected prior to the end of 2021; and (ii) presentation of Phase 1 monotherapy and combination data in mid 2022.
TREX-1 Inhibitor (preclinical tumor-selective STING pathway activator): planned selection of development candidate in the first half of 2022.
Financial Results

Third Quarter

Tempest ended the third quarter of 2021 with $59.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and short-term restricted cash, compared to $18.8 million in December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily due to the merger and concurrent PIPE, which closed in June 2021.
Net loss and net loss per share for the third quarter of 2021 were $8.1 million and $1.21, respectively, compared to $5.4 million and $11.22, respectively, for the third quarter of 2020. The increase was primarily due to an increase in compensation expense and professional fees associated with the merger.
Research and development expenses for the third quarter of 2021 were $4.6 million, compared to $4.3 million for the same period in 2020. The $0.3 million increase was primarily attributable to increased outside services, insurance and compensation expenses.
For the three months ended September 30, 2021, general and administrative expenses were $3.1 million compared to $1.2 million for the same period in 2020. The increase was primarily due to growth in compensation and rent expense, as well as professional fees associated with the merger.
Year-to-Date

Net cash used in operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 was $18.0 million.
Net loss and net loss per share for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 were $20.5 million and $7.49, respectively, compared to $14.9 million and $31.91, respectively, for the same period in 2020.
Research and development expenses for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 were $12.5 million compared to $11.4 million for the same period in 2020. The $1.1 million increase was primarily due to increased compensation expenses and consulting services.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, general and administrative expenses were $7.2 million compared to $3.6 million for the same period in 2020.
Based on current cash position and operating plan, Tempest expects to have sufficient resources to fund operations into the second quarter of 2023.

On November 10, 2021 Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CYCC, NASDAQ: CYCCP; "Cyclacel" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative medicines based on cancer cell biology, reported its financial results for the third quarter 2021 (Press release, Cyclacel, NOV 10, 2021, View Source [SID1234595232]). The quarter’s business highlights include an update on the Company’s progress with fadraciclib and CYC140, Cyclacel’s novel CDK2/9 and PLK1 inhibitors, respectively.

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"The Cyclacel team continued to execute on our plan during the quarter with the opening of two Phase 1/2 studies for oral fadraciclib and filing an IND for a Phase 1/2 study of our oral PLK1 inhibitor, CYC140," said Spiro Rombotis, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We have now enrolled a total of six patients across two dosing levels in our fadraciclib study in solid tumors and have started the first dose level in the fadraciclib study in leukemia. We are pleased with the strong investigator interest in our studies as we build a global network of participating institutions for our clinical studies and preclinical collaborations.

We are also looking forward to the near future with the planned initiation of two registration-enabling Phase 1/2 studies of CYC140 in patients with solid tumors and leukemias and reporting initial data for fadraciclib in solid tumors. We remain diligently focused on bringing innovative treatment options to cancer patients with unmet medical needs and realizing the promise of our pipeline."

Key Corporate Highlights

Oral fadraciclib program

·Six patients with advanced solid tumors treated in the first two dosing levels of 065-101, Phase 1/2, registration-directed study
·Two additional internationally-recognized cancer treatment centers added to 065-101 selected for their expertise with tumor types of interest; for a total of four sites
·First patient dosed in the 065-102, Phase 1/2, registration-directed study in patients with leukemia
·Multiple preclinical studies in progress which will inform fadraciclib’s clinical development

Oral CYC140 program

·Filed with FDA an IND for a streamlined, registration-directed, Phase 1/2 study of orally-available CYC140 in solid tumors
·Initial data in preclinical models show that KRAS mutant cancers are sensitive to oral CYC140 inhibition
·Preclinical collaborative studies ongoing to support selection of histologies to be included in the Phase 1/2 study

Key Near-Term Business Objectives

·FDA clearance of IND filing and initiation of oral CYC140 Phase 1/2 advanced solid tumor study
·Initial data from first part of 065-101 study with oral fadraciclib in advanced solid tumors
·First patient to be dosed with oral CYC140 in Phase 1/2 leukemia study
·Initial data from first part of 065-102 study with oral fadraciclib in leukemia

Financial Highlights

As of September 30, 2021, cash and cash equivalents totaled $40.2 million, compared to $43.6 million as of June 30, 2021. The decrease of $3.4 million was primarily due to $6.3 million net cash used in operating activities, offset by $2.9 million cash provided by financing activities. The Company estimates that available cash resources will fund currently-planned programs through early 2023.

Research and development (R&D) expenses were $4.2 million for the three months ended September 30, 2021 as compared to $1.1 million for the same period in 2020. R&D expenses relating to fadraciclib increased by approximately $2.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2021 due to clinical supply manufacturing and opening of clinical trial sites for the evaluation of fadraciclib in Phase 1/2 studies. Additionally, R&D expenses related to CYC140 increased $0.5 million for the quarter as preclinical evaluation and clinical trial supply manufacturing of CYC140 progressed.eneral and administrative expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2021 were $1.8 million, compared to $1.5 million for the same period of the previous year due to increased legal, professional and recruitment costs relating to expansion of the clinical team.

United Kingdom research & development tax credits were $1.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2021, as compared to $0.3 million for the same period in 2020 due to the increase in R&D expenditure.

Net loss for the three months ended September 30, 2021 was $5.0 million, compared to $2.3 million for the same period in 2020.