On May 10, 2022 Recursion (Nasdaq: RXRX), the clinical-stage biotechnology company industrializing drug discovery by decoding biology, reported business updates and financial results for its first quarter ending March 31, 2022 (Press release, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, MAY 10, 2022, View Source [SID1234614184]).
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"Recursion achieved several key milestones, including dosing the first participants in our clinical trial for CCM, advancing our science across multiple other programs and continuing the evolution of our Recursion OS to take on additional steps in the drug discovery process beyond target discovery and lead identification," said Recursion Co-Founder & CEO Chris Gibson, Ph.D. "It is exciting to be at this inflection point of our platform and making progress towards translating molecules into medicines with our potential treatments beginning to move through clinical development. We look forward to the additional clinical trials we plan to initiate later this year and the potential of our work and partnerships to positively impact the lives of patients and their loved ones."
Summary of Business Highlights
Clinical Programs
Cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) (REC-994): In March 2022, we enrolled the first participant in our Phase 2 SYCAMORE clinical trial, which is a double-blind, placebo-controlled safety, tolerability and exploratory efficacy study of this drug candidate in 60 participants with CCM. At this time, multiple participants have been enrolled and dosed.
Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) (REC-2282): We plan to enroll the first participant in our Phase 2/3 POPLAR-NF2 clinical trial, which is a parallel group, two stage, randomized, multicenter study of this drug candidate in participants with progressive NF2-mutated meningiomas, in the second quarter of 2022.
Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) (REC-4881): In April 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Fast Track designation for REC-4881 for the potential treatment of FAP. We plan to initiate a Phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to evaluate safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of this drug candidate in the third quarter of 2022.
Preclinical and Discovery Programs
Clostridium difficile colitis (REC-3964): We made progress in IND-enabling studies for REC-3964 and plan to initiate a Phase 1 study in the second half of 2022.
Oncology pipeline: We continued to make progress advancing numerous oncology programs discovered using our next generation mapping and navigating technology, including programs related to immune checkpoint resistance in STK11-mutant non-small cell lung cancer, cancer immunotherapy target ‘alpha,’ HRD-negative ovarian cancer target ‘gamma,’ hepatocellular carcinoma, small molecule MYC inhibition, ovarian cancer, and other indications. We highlighted this progress at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper).
Roche and Genentech Collaboration: We have initiated laboratory efforts and are scaling our pilot work to create our first partnership-specific maps in an oncology indication. We have also begun the initial work for development of phenomaps in neuroscience.
Bayer AG Collaboration: We have profiled Bayer’s compound library for next generation map-based drug discovery and are actively navigating the map to seed potential programs. We have multiple first-generation brute-force programs related to the potential treatment of fibrotic diseases progressing simultaneously with our partner.
Recursion OS
Transcriptomics: We automated key processes in our transcriptomics platform, TrekSeq, to enable higher scale and robustness related to the acquisition of transcriptomics data for use as an industrialized orthogonal validation assay.
InVivomics: We completed studies to enable the simultaneous monitoring of multiple mice and their respective individual digital biomarkers within the same cage and the tracking of digital biomarkers related to group social behaviors.
First Quarter 2022 Financial Results
Cash Position: Cash, cash equivalents, and investments were $591.1 million as of March 31, 2022.
Revenue: Total revenue, consisting primarily of revenue from collaborative agreements, was $5.3 million for the first quarter of 2022, compared to $2.6 million for the first quarter of 2021. The increase was due to revenue recognized from our Roche-Genentech collaboration.
Research and Development Expenses: Research and development expenses were $32.4 million for the first quarter of 2022, compared to $24.1 million for the first quarter of 2021. The increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to an increased number of pre-clinical assets being validated and increased clinical costs as studies progressed. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in platform costs due to partnership-related materials of $9.6 million, which has been capitalized on the balance sheet.
General and Administrative Expenses: General and administrative expenses were $21.1 million for the first quarter of 2022, compared to $8.9 million for the first quarter of 2021. The increase in general and administrative expenses was due to the growth in size of the company’s operations, including an increase in salaries and wages of $6.6 million, facilities costs, information technology and security costs, and other administrative costs associated with operating a public company.
Net Loss: Net loss was $56.0 million for the first quarter of 2022, compared to a net loss of $30.7 million for the first quarter of 2021.
Additional Corporate Updates
Annual Shareholder Meeting: The Recursion Annual Meeting for shareholders will be held on Tuesday, June 14, 2022 at 12:00 pm Mountain Time.
Oncology: Marie Evangelista, Ph.D., joined Recursion as Vice President, Oncology and will be responsible for translating Recursion’s internal pipeline of oncology compounds into the clinic as well as driving aspects of the Roche-Genentech collaboration related to an indication in gastrointestinal oncology. Dr. Evangelista previously served as Senior Director, Translational Medicine at Frontier Medicines and before that spent nearly two decades at Genentech.
Communications: Ryan Kelly joined Recursion as Chief Communications Officer and will be responsible for external and internal communications. Mr. Kelly previously served as Vice President, Marketing and Communications at Virgin Hyperloop where he supported commercializing the company’s technology through global strategic communication campaigns.
Investor Relations: Jared Allenbach joined Recursion as Senior Director, Investor Relations and will engage with investors and capital markets regarding strategic financing opportunities. Mr. Allenbach previously served as an investment banker within the healthcare sector at Goldman Sachs.