On August 15, 2024 Exscientia reported recent advancements in the Company’s pipeline, collaborations and operations, as well as financial results for the second quarter and first half 2024 (Press release, Exscientia, AUG 15, 2024, View Source [SID1234645944]).
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"Last week, we announced that Exscientia entered into a definitive agreement to combine with Recursion Pharmaceuticals," said David Hallett, Ph.D., interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of Exscientia. "When we bring together our platforms at closing, our world class scientists and Exscientia’s best-in-class focused precision oncology internal pipeline with Recursion’s first-in-class focused pipeline, we believe we will be able to discover better drugs for patients faster and at a lower cost."
"In the first half of 2024, we believe we have made important progress across our AI-powered pipeline and progress towards autonomous drug design as well as deepening our technology and pharma partnerships," continued David Hallett, Ph.D. "We made the strategic decision to fully invest in our CDK7 inhibitor GTAEXS617 (‘617) by acquiring full rights to the programme, which we believe is highly differentiated and demonstrates the power of our design capabilities. We look forward to sharing topline data later this year."
Key Business Updates
Transaction with Recursion
●Earlier this month, Exscientia entered into a definitive agreement to combine with Recursion Pharmaceuticals in a transaction that will create a company positioned to leverage the latest life sciences and technology advances to deliver better, novel treatments to patients, faster and at a lower cost relative to traditional drug discovery and development methods
oThis combination will bring together Recursion’s scaled biology exploration and translational capabilities with Exscientia’s precision chemistry design and small molecule automated synthesis capabilities to create, at closing, a leading technology-first, end-to-end drug discovery platform
Internal Precision Oncology Pipeline
●The Company continues to enrol patients with advanced solid tumours in its Phase 1/2 ELUCIDATE trial evaluating ‘617, a potential best-in-class CDK7 inhibitor
○In July, the Company announced that it reached an agreement to acquire the full rights to ‘617 from its partner GT Apeiron – with GT Apeiron retaining an interest via an increased ownership stake in Exscientia
○The Company remains on track to announce topline pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and safety data from the dose escalation phase of ELUCIDATE in the second half of this year
○Exscientia expects to transition to the dose expansion phase of ELUCIDATE in the second half of this year or early next year, starting with the evaluation of ‘617 in HR+/HER2- breast cancer in combination with a selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD)
●EXS74539 (‘539), Exscientia’s highly differentiated, brain penetrant LSD1 inhibitor, continues to advance towards the clinic, with an IND expected to be submitted later this year. The Company expects to initiate a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in early 2025
●Exscientia remains on track to submit a CTA for EXS73565 (‘565), the Company’s potential best-in-class MALT1 inhibitor, in the second half of 2024. The Company expects to initiate a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of ‘565 in B-cell malignancies, including chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), in early 2025
Collaborations & Partnerships
●The Sanofi partnership, with a primary focus on immunology and inflammation, continues to advance with multiple potential near-term milestones
●Exscientia continues to make progress in its collaboration with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany with multiple programmes already in early discovery
●In July 2024 the Company announced a collaboration with READDI, a non-profit biotechnology initiative funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), to evaluate and improve a range of AI-designed antiviral compounds for pandemic preparedness
○Exscientia will use its generative AI capabilities to design novel compounds to fight coronaviruses with READDI providing antiviral expertise as well as funding testing and analyses
Drug Discovery Platform
●Exscientia announced the expansion of its work with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to use the cloud provider’s artificial intelligence and machine learning services to power its platform for end-to-end drug discovery and automation
oExscientia’s state-of-the-art platform, built using AWS technologies, integrates generative AI drug design and robotic lab automation to further accelerate drug development at a lower cost
oThe Company’s closed loop "Design-Make-Test-Learn" facility is now fully online and the first compounds have rolled off the production line. These were designed using Exscientia’s proprietary synthesis aware GenAI and manufactured and tested using the Company’s in-house state-of-the-art automation facility
Leadership Updates
●Marie-Louise Fjallskog, M.D., Ph.D., was appointed interim Chief Medical Officer, bringing extensive oncology drug development expertise to execute robust clinical strategy on Exscientia’s internal oncology pipeline
●Nicola Richmond, Ph.D., will be joining Exscientia in September as Chief Scientist, AI. Holding a Ph.D. in mathematics, she brings over 20 years’ experience operating at the intersection of drug discovery and technology. Dr. Richmond will be leading efforts in developing AI solutions for the Company’s drug discovery efforts
Second Quarter and First Half 2024 Financial Results
For the convenience of the reader, the Company has translated pound sterling amounts to U.S. dollars at the rate of £1.000 to $1.2640, which was the noon buying rate of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on June 28, 2024.
Revenue: Revenue for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 was $5.6 million and $12.3 million, compared to $3.8 million and $11.1 million for the three and six months ended June 30 2023. The increase in revenue year over year was primarily due to an increase in the number of active projects in the first half of 2024 relative to the prior period.
Research and development expenses (R&D): R&D expenses for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 were $31.7 million and $61.5 million respectively, as compared to $41.7 million and $83.9 million for the same period ended June 30, 2023. The decrease in research and development expenses was primarily due to cost reductions relating to pipeline prioritisation activities implemented during the second half of 2023 and cost savings from operational efficiencies.
General and administrative expenses (G&A): G&A expenses for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 were $21.2 million and $25.6 million, respectively, or 34% and 24% of total operating expenses. For the three months ended June 30, 2024, G&A expenses increased by $6.5 million compared to the prior year, primarily driven by current quarter severance and termination-related costs totalling $7.5m relating to the cost saving and efficiency measures announced in May 2024. For the six months ended June 30, 2024, G&A expenses decreased by $2.9 million compared to the prior year due to credits totalling $7.5 million relating to amounts recognised in February 2024 on the forfeiture of share options held by the Company’s prior CEO upon his exit from the Company.
Cash inflows: For the second quarter 2024, Exscientia received $1.4 million in cash inflows from its collaborations as compared to $0.7 million during the second quarter 2023.
Net operating cash flow and cash balance: For the three and six months ended June 30, 2024, net operating cash outflows were $45.8 million and $84.8 million respectively, in comparison to $52.2 million and $107.0 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023. Cash, cash equivalents and short-term bank deposits as of June 30, 2024 were $370.1 million, as compared to $458.9 million as of December 31, 2023 using the June 28, 2024 constant currency rate.