Tempest Reports First Quarter 2022 Financial Results and Provides Corporate Highlights

On May 13, 2022 Tempest Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: TPST), a clinical-stage oncology company developing first-in-class1 therapeutics that combine both targeted and immune-mediated mechanisms, reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 and provided a corporate update (Press release, Tempest Therapeutics, MAY 13, 2022, View Source [SID1234614524]).

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"The team continued to execute well throughout the first quarter of this year, enabling us to present the first clinical data from a Tempest program at the ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting in June," said Stephen R. Brady, chief executive officer of Tempest. "We look forward to the upcoming oral presentation, which will highlight the clinical profile and responses observed in the monotherapy and combination Phase 1 study of TPST-1120, our novel PPARa antagonist."

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1 If approved by the FDA

Recent Highlights

TPST-1120 (clinical PPARα antagonist): (i) completed enrollment in the Phase 1 monotherapy and combination dose escalation arms; (ii) announced that the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) accepted for an oral presentation at its 2022 Annual Meeting an abstract containing the TPST-1120 Phase 1 monotherapy and combination data; and (iii) continued enrollment in first-line, randomized global Phase 1b/2 study in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), under a collaboration with F. Hoffmann La Roche.
TPST-1495 (clinical dual EP2/4 prostaglandin receptor antagonist): (i) continued enrollment in a Phase 1 study evaluating both monotherapy and combination (with anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor, pembrolizumab) dose and schedule optimization arms, towards establishing an RP2D; (ii) presented preclinical data further differentiating TPST-1495 from other approaches targeting the prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) pathway at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) 2022 Annual Meeting; and (ii) announced that ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) accepted for a poster presentation a "trials in progress" for the ongoing TPST-1495 Phase 1 clinical monotherapy and combination therapy clinical trial.
TREX1 Inhibitor (preclinical tumor-selective STING pathway activator): presented the first data with proprietary targeted molecules demonstrating therapeutic benefit in tumor-bearing mice at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) 2022 Annual Meeting.
Planned Near-Term Milestones

TPST-1120 (clinical PPARα antagonist): (i) first presentation of clinical data from a Tempest program at the oral presentation of the Phase 1 monotherapy and combination data at the ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) 2022 Annual Meeting; and (ii) objective response data from the first 40 HCC patients in the first-line randomized study expected by year end or early 2023.
TPST-1495 (clinical dual EP2/4 prostaglandin receptor antagonist): (i) selection of monotherapy RP2D expected in the first half of 2022; (ii) presentation of "trial in progress" poster at ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) 2022 Annual Meeting; and (iii) data from Phase 1 monotherapy and combination dose and schedule optimization arms expected by year end or early 2023.
TREX1 Inhibitor (preclinical tumor-selective STING pathway activator): planned selection of development candidate in the second half of 2022.
PIPE Financing

On April 27, we announced a $15 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing to EcoR1 Capital, LLC and Versant Venture Capital.
Financial Results

First Quarter

Tempest ended the first quarter of 2022 with $45.8 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared to $51.8 million at December 31, 2021. The decrease was primarily due to cash used in operations of $7.1 million offset by proceeds from sales under our ATM program of $1.4 million. Cash balance does not reflect $15 million raised in April from PIPE financing.
Net cash used in operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 was $7.1 million compared to $6.3 million for the same period in 2021.
Net loss and net loss per share for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 were $8.5 million and $1.18, respectively, compared to $5.4 million and $10.55, respectively, for the first quarter of 2021.
Research and development expenses for the first quarter of 2022 were $5.1 million compared to $3.6 million for the same period in 2021. The $1.5 million increase was primarily attributable to expanded research and development efforts and increased fees for consulting services and compensation expenses.
For the three months ended March 31, 2022, general and administrative expenses were $3.0 million compared to $1.5 million for the same period in 2021. The increase of $1.5 million was primarily due to higher professional and consulting fees, insurance, and compensation expenses.