On May 11, 2018 Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ABEO), a leading clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel cell and gene therapies for life-threatening rare genetic diseases, reported financial results for the first quarter of 2018 (Press release, Abeona Therapeutics, MAY 11, 2018, View Source;p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2348683 [SID1234526535]). The Company will host a call to update investors on recent clinical developments and quarter financial results on Monday, May 14th at 10:00 am (Eastern). Interested parties are invited to participate in the call by dialing 877-407-9210 (toll free domestic) or 201-689-8049 (International) or via webcast View Source

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"Abeona has made significant progress across multiple fronts, including various regulatory achievements, additional enrollments in our MPS IIIA trial, and the reporting of encouraging initial results for our MPS IIIB trial," stated Carsten Thiel, Ph.D., Abeona’s CEO. "Notably, both our lead clinical programs, EB-101 and ABO-102, were recently granted RMAT designation by the FDA, supporting the strong safety and biopotency evidence from these programs, and their potential to address the unmet medical need for RDEB and MPS IIIA patients."

1st Quarter Summary Financial Results:

– Cash position: Cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2018 were $132 million, compared to $137.8 million as of December 31, 2017.
– Revenues: Revenues were $2.6 million for the first quarter of 2018, compared to $186 thousand in the first quarter of 2017. A large portion of the increased quarterly revenues consisted of the recognition of Foundation grants that were announced during the 4th quarter of 2017. A portion of the grants were received in the 4th quarter of 2017 and in the 1st quarter of 2018, and the amount recognized is matched against corresponding expenditures for drug manufacture and clinical readiness. Additional revenues consisted of royalties from marketed products, specifically MuGard. In the quarter, Abeona adopted ASC 606 pertaining to revenue recognition, and therefore there will no longer be any recognition of deferred revenues related to upfront payments from earlier license agreements.
– Loss per share: Loss per share was $0.18 for the first quarter of 2018, compared to a loss per share of $0.13 in the comparable period in 2017.

Abeona Recent Highlights:

April 23, 2018: Announced FDA Grants RMAT Designation to ABO-102 Gene Therapy in MPS IIIA
April 20, 2018: Announced EMA Grants Orphan Drug Designation in the European Union for ABO-202 Gene Therapy Program in Batten Disease
April 2, 2018: Announced Appointment of Carsten Thiel, Ph.D., as Chief Executive Officer
March 15, 2018: Announced FDA Grants Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for ABO-202 Gene Therapy Program in CLN1 Disease
February 12, 2018: Announced FDA Grants Orphan Drug Designation for ABO-202 Gene Therapy Program in Infantile Batten Disease
February 8, 2018: Reported Top-Line Data from Phase 1/2 Gene Therapy Trial in MPS IIIA
— ABO-102 results presented at WORLDSymposium for Lysosomal Diseases show significant time- and dose-dependent reduction of underlying disease pathology, including decreased CSF and urine GAGs (HS fragments) and diminished liver volumes
— Evidence of cognitive benefit at six months post treatment in Cohort 2 and at one year in Cohort 1
— Company receives FDA allowance to lower enrollment age to six months
February 7, 2018: Reported on Initial Safety and Biopotency Signals in MPS IIIB Gene Therapy Clinical Trial
— ABO-101 is well tolerated and demonstrates early biopotency signals with significant disease-specific heparan sulfate (HS) reductions in cerebral spinal fluid, urine, and plasma and greater than 300-fold increase in NAGLU enzyme activity observed in first subject at 30 days post injection
January 29, 2018: Announced FDA Grants Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy Designation for EB-101 Gene Therapy in Epidermolysis Bullosa

"2018 continues to be a year of execution for Abeona. With the expanded leadership, we look to a number of milestones in the year including the commencement of our pivotal Phase 3 trial in EB, the completion of enrollment in our Phase 1/2 trial in MPS IIIA, and significant progress on our in-house GMP manufacturing facility," stated Steven H. Rouhandeh, Abeona’s Executive Chairman. "With the team focusing their efforts and leading the charge on clinical development, we look forward to our continued dialogue with the regulatory bodies and advancing our gene therapies to rare disease patients."