Concert Pharmaceuticals Reports Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results

On August 4, 2022 Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNCE) reported financial results for the second quarter of 2022 (Press release, Concert Pharmaceuticals, AUG 4, 2022, View Source [SID1234617571]).

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"We are very happy to have seen consistent efficacy and safety results across our two Phase 3 clinical trials of CTP-543 in alopecia areata. The positive results that we reported from THRIVE-AA1 in May and from THRIVE-AA2 earlier this week, will form the basis of our New Drug Application, which we expect to submit to the FDA in the first half of 2023," said Roger Tung, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Concert Pharmaceuticals. "We have continued to execute well on a development program for CTP-543 that provides a robust data package in support of a potential FDA approval. We are proud that CTP‑543 could offer a near-term and potentially best-in-class treatment option for adults with moderate to severe alopecia areata."

Recent Highlights and Upcoming Milestones
CTP-543: An Investigational Treatment for Moderate to Severe Alopecia Areata

Positive Phase 3 Results Reported for CTP-543 THRIVE-AA1 Study. In May 2022, the Company reported positive topline results for its first CTP-543 Phase 3 clinical trial. A statistically significant proportion of patients treated with either 8 mg twice-daily or 12 mg twice-daily of CTP-543 in the THRIVE-AA1 study experienced greater scalp regrowth compared to placebo. The proportion of patients achieving a Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score of 20 or less (meaning 20 percent or less scalp hair loss) at Week 24 was 41.5 percent in the 12 mg twice-daily dose group and 29.6 percent in the 8 mg twice-daily dose group, compared to 0.8 percent of patients in the placebo group. The treatment difference for both dose groups of CTP-543 relative to placebo was statistically significant (p<0.0001). The safety profile seen with CTP-543 in THRIVE-AA1 was consistent with previous studies of CTP-543.
Positive Phase 3 Results Reported for CTP-543 THRIVE-AA2 Study. In August 2022, the Company reported positive topline results for its second CTP-543 Phase 3 clinical trial. A statistically significant proportion of patients treated with either 8 mg twice-daily or 12 mg twice-daily of CTP-543 in the THRIVE-AA2 study experienced greater scalp regrowth compared to placebo. The proportion of patients achieving a SALT score of 20 or less at Week 24 was 38.3 percent in the 12 mg twice-daily dose group and 33.0 percent in the 8 mg twice-daily dose group, compared to 0.8 percent of patients in the placebo group. The treatment difference for both dose groups of CTP-543 relative to placebo was statistically significant (p<0.0001). The safety profile seen with CTP-543 in THRIVE-AA2 was consistent with previous studies of CTP-543.
JAAD Publication Highlights Significant Reduction in Severity of Hair Loss with CTP-543. The Company recently published safety and efficacy data from its randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled dose-ranging Phase 2 clinical trial of CTP‑543 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD). The publication reported clinically meaningful and statistically significant scalp hair regrowth after 24 weeks of treatment with CTP-543 in both the 8 mg twice-daily and 12 mg twice-daily dose groups in patients with alopecia areata, as well as safety data and patient-reported outcomes of improvement. This trial supported the advancement of CTP-543 into Phase 3 development.
Concert to Participate in Alopecia Areata Awareness Month in September. Throughout the month of September, Concert, along with the alopecia areata community, will raise awareness and recognize the importance of alopecia areata, a serious autoimmune disorder that affects up to approximately 1.5 million individuals in the U.S. and which often results in poor health-related quality of life as well as high incidence of anxiety and depression. Follow our #LightItUpBlue4AlopeciaAreata campaign on Twitter at @ConcertPharma.
Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results

Cash and Investment Position. Cash, cash equivalents and investments as of June 30, 2022 totaled $153.7 million as compared to $141.6 million as of December 31, 2021. Under its current operating plan, the Company expects its cash, cash equivalents and investments to fund the Company into the second quarter of 2023. In June 2022, Concert closed an equity offering raising gross proceeds of $54.6 million before underwriting discounts and offering expenses. Concurrent with the initial closing of the offering, Concert received $18.9 million from the partial exercise of the Tranche 1 warrants issued to BVF Partners L.P. and RA Capital Management in connection with its November 2021 financing. The Company has the potential to receive an additional $70.1 million in 2022 upon full exercise of the remaining warrants issued in connection with the November 2021 financing.
R&D Expenses. Research and development expenses were $20.9 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, compared to $20.2 million for the same period in 2021. The increase in research and development expenses relates primarily to the clinical development program for CTP-543.
G&A Expenses. General and administrative expenses were $4.8 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, compared to $5.6 million for the same period in 2021. The decrease in general and administrative expenses relates primarily to decreased non-cash stock-based compensation.
Net (Loss) Income. For the quarter ended June 30, 2022, net loss applicable to common stockholders was $24.0 million, or $0.59 per share, as compared to net income applicable to common stockholders of $5.4 million, or $0.16 per share, for the quarter ended June 30, 2021. Net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 included $32.0 million in revenue from proceeds received from Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for the purchase of potential future milestones under the companies’ 2017 asset purchase agreement related to VX-561.
Conference Call and Webcast: New System to Access Call Live and On Demand
The Company will host a conference call and webcast today at 8:30 a.m. ET to provide an update on the Company and discuss second quarter financial results.

Please note that there is a new system to access the live call in order to ask questions. To join the live call, please register here. A dial in and unique PIN number will be provided to join the call.

An audio-only webcast of the call may be accessed in the Investors section of the Company’s website at www.concertpharma.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on Concert’s website for three months.

Bicycle Therapeutics Reports Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results and Provides Corporate Update

On August 4, 2022 Bicycle Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: BCYC), a biotechnology company pioneering a new and differentiated class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle) technology, reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 and provided recent corporate updates (Press release, Bicycle Therapeutics, AUG 4, 2022, View Source [SID1234617570]).

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"We are pleased with the progress of our wholly owned clinical oncology pipeline of Bicycle Toxin Conjugate, or BTC, programs and Bicycle tumor-targeted immune cell agonist, or Bicycle TICA, programs," said Kevin Lee, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Bicycle Therapeutics. "In the second quarter, we initiated the expansion cohorts of our Phase I/II study of BT5528, and development of BT8009 and BT7480 remains on track as these programs advance in their respective clinical trials."

"In addition, we were delighted to announce the second expansion of our immuno-oncology collaboration with Genentech last month, highlighting the potential of the platform beyond our BTCs and Bicycle TICAs," Dr Lee continued. "We are pleased to have a strong balance sheet which helps support the advancement of our programs and which we anticipate provides a financial runway into 2025."

Second Quarter 2022 and Recent Highlights

Announced First Patient Dosed in the Expansion Cohorts of Phase I/II Trial of BT5528. In June 2022, Bicycle announced that the first patient was dosed in the expansion cohorts of the Phase I/II study of BT5528, Bicycle’s second-generation Bicycle Toxin Conjugate (BTC) targeting EphA2. Up to 56 patients will be enrolled in the initial expansion cohorts, with the ability to further expand enrollment based on the results from these cohorts. Bicycle intends to provide completed results of the dose escalation portion of the clinical trial during the third quarter of 2022.
Announced Expansion of Genentech Immuno-Oncology Collaboration. In July 2022, Bicycle announced that Genentech exercised an option to initiate a new program, expanding the exclusive strategic collaboration agreement with Bicycle to discover, develop and commercialize novel Bicycle-based immuno-oncology therapies. This expansion represented the second option exercised by Genentech under the terms of the original February 2020 agreement and triggered a $10 million payment to Bicycle, which is expected to be received in the third quarter of 2022.
Presented Trials in Progress Poster Featuring BT7480 Phase I/II Clinical Trial at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting. In June 2022, Bicycle presented a Trials in Progress poster highlighting the Phase I/II clinical trial of BT7480, a novel, fully synthetic Bicycle TICA targeting Nectin-4 and agonizing CD137.
Announced Interim BT8009 Phase I Clinical Trial Results at the 2022 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting. In April 2022, Bicycle announced interim Phase I results from the Phase I/II trial of BT8009, a second-generation BTC targeting Nectin-4. As of March 7, 2022, 37 patients have been dosed in the Phase I/II trial of BT8009. A total of 12 response evaluable urothelial cancer (UC) patients have been dosed in monotherapy cohorts of 2.5mg/m2 and 5.0mg/m2 weekly in the ongoing trial. Four response evaluable UC patients were dosed at 2.5mg/m2 weekly, with one patient observed to have tumor reductions constituting a confirmed partial response (PR) and two patients observed to have stable disease (SD). Eight response evaluable UC patients were dosed at 5.0mg/m2 weekly, with four patients observed to have a confirmed complete response (CR) or PR, including one patient with a CR and three patients with a PR, and two patients with SD, reflecting a 50% overall response rate and 75% disease control rate. As of March 7, 2022, the median duration of response had not yet been reached in either the 2.5 mg/m2 or 5.0mg/m2 cohort, with four of the five responders in these cohorts still on therapy after at least 24 weeks.
Exploration of additional doses and frequencies continues, and Bicycle intends to provide further updates this year.

Financial Results

Cash and cash equivalents were $372.8 million as of June 30, 2022, compared to $438.7 million as of December 31, 2021. The decrease in cash is primarily due to cash used in operating activities.
Research and development expenses were $19.9 million for the three months ended June 30, 2022, compared to $11.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2021. The increase in expense of $8.2 million was primarily due to increased clinical program expenses for BT5528 and BT8009, Bicycle TICA program development expenses, as well as increased personnel-related expenses, including $1.6 million of incremental non-cash share-based compensation expenses, and increased facilities-related expenses.
General and administrative expenses were $11.8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2022, compared to $7.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2021. The increase of $4.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2022 as compared to the same period in the prior year was primarily due to an increase in personnel-related expenses, including $1.5 million of incremental non-cash share-based compensation expense, and an unfavorable effect of foreign exchange rates.
Net loss was $26.8 million, or $(0.90) basic and diluted net loss per share, for the three months ended June 30, 2022, compared to net loss of $17.9 million, or $(0.74) basic and diluted net loss per share, for the three months ended June 30, 2021.

Biodesix Announces Second Quarter 2022 Results and Highlights

On August 4, 2022 Biodesix, Inc. (Nasdaq: BDSX), a leading data-driven diagnostic solutions company with a focus in lung disease, reported its financial and operating results for second quarter ended June 30, 2022 and provided a corporate update (Press release, Biodesix, AUG 4, 2022, View Source [SID1234617569]).

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"We are thrilled to announce strong growth from our core lung diagnostic testing, with an increase in revenue of 52% over the second quarter of 2021 and 56% over the first quarter of 2022," said Scott Hutton, CEO of Biodesix. "With the recent Medicare coverage of the Nodify CDT test, all five of our core lung diagnostic tests are now covered, which will help drive adoption of the test and improve margins over the long term.

In addition, we announced two exciting corporate arrangements. The first, announced with Royal Phillips, integrates our Nodify Lung tests into its Lung Cancer Orchestrator patient management system to help facilitate digital ordering of the tests following detection of a lung nodule with the ultimate goal of improving patient care and outcomes. The second, announced with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Bio-Rad Laboratories, allows us to leverage the capabilities of these leading organizations to potentially bring new transformative diagnostics to market, including our initial intention to co-develop a molecular minimal residual disease (MRD) test for solid tumors.

Overall, our progress and positive trends in our core lung diagnostics tests in the first half of the year solidifies our confidence in reaffirming our 2022 revenue guidance."

Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results

For the three-month period ended June 30, 2022, as compared to the same period of 2021 (where applicable):

Total revenue of $11.0 million, a decrease of 8%, driven primarily by an anticipated year-over-year decline in COVID-19 diagnostic testing revenue, offset by strong year-over-year growth in core lung diagnostics:
Core lung diagnostic revenue of $7.3 million, reflected a year-over-year increase of 52% that was driven primarily by the increased adoption of Nodify Lung nodule management tests (Nodify CDT & Nodify XL2 tests);
COVID-19 testing revenue of $3.0 million reflected a year-over-year decrease of 51% that was driven by the shift to at-home rapid antigen testing;
BioPharma Services revenue of $0.7 million decreased 29% year-over-year. COVID-related delays in clinical study enrollment and sample shipping logistics have begun to recover but are still impacting timelines for existing and new agreements;
Second quarter 2022 gross margin of $7.0 million, or 64% as a percentage of revenue as compared to 40% in the comparable prior year period primarily driven by the shift of sales to higher-margin core lung diagnostics and away from lower-margin COVID-19 testing;
Operating expenses (excluding direct costs and expenses) of $18.6 million, an increase of 21% driven primarily by growth in sales and marketing to drive our growth in core lung diagnostics sales as well as the recent GeneStrat NGS commercial launch;
Includes non-cash stock compensation expense of $1.4 million as compared to $0.5 million;
Net loss of $15.8 million, an increase of 39%, driven primarily by the loss on extinguishment charge resulting from the restructuring of the contingent consideration agreement with Integrated Diagnostics (Indi);
Cash and cash equivalents of $28.7 million, inclusive of $5.1 million in restricted cash, as of June 30;
Raised net proceeds of $27.3 million during the quarter through debt and equity offerings;
Includes principal payment of $3.0 million on the 2021 Term Loan and $2.0 million for scheduled milestone payment in April 2022 to Indi.
2022 Financial Outlook

The Company reaffirms its 2022 financial outlook and expects to generate between $37.5 million and $39.5 million in total revenue in 2022.

An archived replay of the webcast will be available on the Company’s website for a period of 90 days.

For a full list of Biodesix’s press releases and webinars, please visit Biodesix.com.

Day One Reports Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results and Corporate Progress

On August 4, 2022 Day One Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: DAWN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing targeted therapies for people of all ages with life-threatening diseases, reported financial results for the second quarter of 2022 and highlighted recent corporate achievements (Press release, Day One, AUG 4, 2022, View Source [SID1234617568]).

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"Day One continues to deliver on our mission. During this past quarter we announced positive initial data from the ongoing pivotal FIREFLY-1 study with tovorafenib in relapsed pLGG and raised $172.5 million in a follow-on public offering, which will fund the company into 2025," said Jeremy Bender, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Day One. "We look forward to the topline results from the full FIREFLY-1 pivotal study population in the first quarter of 2023. We are also excited to have recently expanded the development of tovorafenib into newly-diagnosed pLGG patients (FIREFLY-2/LOGGIC), and we continue to enroll patients in our Phase 2 FIRELIGHT-1 trial evaluating tovorafenib both as a monotherapy and in combination with pimasertib in adolescent and adult patients with solid tumors harboring MAPK alterations."

Program Highlights

Announced positive initial data from the pivotal FIREFLY-1 trial of tovorafenib in relapsed pLGG. Initial data from the first 25 patients enrolled in the trial showed:
64% overall response rate (ORR) and 91% CBR (partial response/unconfirmed partial response + stable disease) in the 22 RANO-evaluable patients
14 partial responses (13 confirmed responses and 1 unconfirmed response)
6 patients with stable disease
All patients with stable disease (n=6) were noted to have tumor shrinkage, ranging between 19% and 43%
Responses were observed in patients with both BRAF fusions and BRAF V600E mutations who received prior MAPK-targeted therapy
The median-time-to-response was 2.8 months
A heavily-pretreated population, with a median of 3 prior lines of therapy (range: 1-9)
All patients who responded remain on therapy (n=14) and no patients have discontinued treatment due to treatment-related adverse events
Initial safety data indicated monotherapy tovorafenib to be generally well-tolerated
The majority of adverse events (AEs) were grade 1 or 2 in nature; the most common (≥25% any grade) treatment related AEs were increase in blood creatine phosphokinase, rash, and hair color changes
Treatment-related AEs of grade 3 or greater occurred in nine patients (36%)

Day One has initiated a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial (FIREFLY-2/LOGGIC) evaluating tovorafenib as a front-line therapy for patients newly diagnosed with pLGG.
The study is a randomized, monotherapy, open-label trial aiming to enroll approximately 400 patients aged 6 months to 25 years across approximately 100 sites globally, including in the United States, Europe and Asia
The primary endpoint will be the ORR based upon RANO criteria as reported by Blinded Independent Central Review
Secondary endpoints will include safety, progression-free survival, overall survival, duration of response, functional outcomes and quality of life measures

Day One continues to enroll patients in the Phase 2 FIRELIGHT-1 trial evaluating tovorafenib as a monotherapy and as a combination with the company’s MEK inhibitor, pimasertib, in adults and adolescents with recurrent, progressive, or refractory solid tumors harboring MAPK pathway aberrations.
Corporate Highlights and Upcoming Milestones

In June 2022, Day One announced the successful closing of an upsized public offering, raising gross proceeds of $172.5 million, which extends the Company’s cash runway into 2025.
Day One anticipates releasing topline results for the full FIREFLY-1 pivotal study population in the first quarter of 2023. If the data are supportive, Day One expects to submit a new drug application (NDA) to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the first half of 2023.
Day One expects to dose the first patient in FIREFLY-2/LOGGIC trial in the third quarter of 2022.
Second Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights

Cash Position: Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $394.9 million on June 30, 2022. Based on Day One’s current operating plan, management believes it has sufficient capital resources to fund anticipated operations into 2025.

R&D Expenses: Research and development expenses were $22.6 million for the second quarter of 2022 compared to $9.9 million for the second quarter of 2021. The increase was primarily due to additional employee compensation costs, clinical trial and pre-commercial manufacturing activities related to Day One’s lead product candidate, tovorafenib.

G&A Expenses: General and administrative expenses were $14.2 million for the second quarter of 2022 compared to $5.5 million for the second quarter of 2021. The increase was primarily due to additional employee compensation costs, initial commercial buildout, and professional service expenses to support company growth.

Net Loss: Net loss totaled $36.5 million for the second quarter of 2022 compared to $15.5 million for the second quarter of 2021 with non-cash stock compensation expense of $5.6 million and $2.5 million for the second quarters of 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Upcoming Events

2022 Wedbush PacGrow Healthcare Virtual Conference
Management will participate in a panel discussion on Tuesday, August 9, 2022 at 10:55 a.m. ET. A live and archived audio webcast of the discussion will be available for 30 days by visiting the Events & Presentations section of the Company’s website.
Morgan Stanley 20th Annual Global Healthcare Conference, September 12-14, 2022
About Tovorafenib
Tovorafenib is an investigational, oral, brain-penetrant, highly selective type II pan-RAF kinase inhibitor designed to target a key enzyme in the MAPK signaling pathway, which is being investigated in primary brain tumors and solid tumors harboring activating RAF alterations. Tovorafenib has been studied in over 325 patients to date. Currently tovorafenib is under evaluation in a pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial (FIREFLY-1) among pediatric, adolescent and young adult patients with relapsed pediatric low-grade glioma (pLGG), which is an area of considerable unmet need with no approved therapies for the majority of patients. Day One has also initiated a pivotal Phase 3 study (FIREFLY-2/LOGGIC) in newly-diagnosed patients with pLGG. Beyond pLGG, tovorafenib is being evaluated alone or as a combination therapy for adolescent and adult patient populations with recurrent or progressive solid tumors with MAPK pathway aberrations (FIRELIGHT-1). Tovorafenib has been granted Breakthrough Therapy and Rare Pediatric Disease designations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of patients with pLGG harboring an activating RAF alteration. Tovorafenib has also received Orphan Drug designation from the FDA for the treatment of malignant glioma, and from the European Commission (EC) for the treatment of glioma.

About Pimasertib
Pimasertib is an investigational, oral, highly selective, small molecule inhibitor of mitogen‐activated protein kinases 1 and 2 (MEK-1/-2) within the MAPK signaling pathway. Pimasertib has been dosed in over 850 patients to date for various tumor types. Preclinical data indicates that the combination of a MEK inhibitor, such as pimasertib, and a type II RAF inhibitor, such as tovorafenib, has synergistic anti-tumor activity.

Day One is conducting a Phase 1b/2 study (FIRELIGHT-1) to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of combining pimasertib with tovorafenib in adolescent and adult patients (≥12 years of age) with recurrent, progressive, or refractory solid tumors with MAPK pathway aberrations.

Yumanity Therapeutics Reports Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results and Recent Corporate Developments

On August 4, 2022 Yumanity Therapeutics, Inc. ("Yumanity" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: YMTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative, disease-modifying therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022, and provided an overview of the Company’s recent corporate developments (Press release, Yumanity Therapeutics, AUG 4, 2022, View Source [SID1234617567]).

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Recent Corporate Developments

In June 2022, the Company announced definitive agreements for two strategic transactions. The first definitive agreement is an asset purchase agreement for the sale of Yumanity’s lead clinical-stage product candidate, YTX-7739, as well as Yumanity’s unpartnered discovery-stage neuroscience product candidates and targets to Janssen Pharmaceutica NV ("Janssen"), part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, for $26 million in cash. Under the second definitive agreement, Kineta, Inc., ("Kineta") will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yumanity in an all-stock transaction, resulting in a combined publicly traded company re-named Kineta, Inc., that will focus on immuno-oncology and continue Yumanity’s ongoing research collaboration with Merck & Co. in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal lobar dementia. The two transactions are expected to close in the second half of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval of both transactions by the stockholders of Yumanity.
Second Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights

Cash position: As of June 30, 2022, cash, cash equivalents and investments were $11.8 million, compared to $36.5 million as of December 31, 2021. The decrease was primarily due to a $12.8 million payment to extinguish the Company’s remaining debt during the first quarter of 2022, spending on the clinical development of YTX-7739 primarily in the first quarter of 2022, and costs related to being a public company. As of the issuance date of the condensed consolidated financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2022, the Company expects that, absent either strategic transaction, its cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will be sufficient to fund its operating expenses early into the first quarter of 2023.

Research and development (R&D) expense: Research and development expense was $1.1 million compared to $7.3 million for the second quarter of 2021. The decrease in R&D expense was primarily due to the elimination of a significant portion of the Company’s R&D personnel in connection with the restructuring announced in February 2022 as well as pausing of clinical development efforts for YTX-7739 while the FDA partial clinical hold is in effect.

General and administrative expense: General and administrative expense was $5.6 million compared to $4.7 million for the second quarter of 2021. The increase was primarily attributable to higher legal fees and investment banking fees incurred in connection with the transactions contemplated by the merger agreement with Kineta and the asset purchase agreement with Janssen.

Net loss: The Company reported a net loss of $4.8 million, or $0.45 per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss of $10.5 million, or $1.03 per basic and diluted share for the second quarter of 2021. The decrease in net loss was due primarily to the decrease in R&D expense as described above. The Company expects to continue to generate operating losses for the foreseeable future, although at reduced expected levels as a result of restructuring actions taken in the six months ended June 30, 2022.