On August 8, 2019 Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACHV), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company committed to the global development and commercialization of cytisinicline for smoking cessation, reported an update on the cytisinicline clinical development program and second quarter 2019 financial results (Press release, OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, AUG 8, 2019, View Source [SID1234538429]).

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Q2 2019 Highlights

Reported positive results from the Phase 2b ORCA-1 dose-selection trial evaluating cytisinicline in 254 smokers. Cytisinicline demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in quit rates for a simplified 3.0 mg, three times daily dose. Cytisinicline was well-tolerated with no serious adverse events reported.

Announced ORCA-1 data has been accepted for an oral presentation at the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco Europe (SRNT-E) 19th Annual Conference to be held in Oslo, Sept. 12-14, 2019

Patent granted in the U.S. for new cytisinicline succinate salt formulation designed to enhance product stability and long-term potency

Received $4.2 million in proceeds from exercise of warrants

"It has been an exciting quarter with the release of the positive ORCA-1 Phase 2b trial results that demonstrated impressive smoking cessation efficacy, safety, and cytisinicline treatment adherence," commented Rick Stewart, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Achieve. "The data exceeded our expectations and provide a clear path forward for our future Phase 3 program."

ORCA-1 Positive Study Results

The Phase 2b ORCA-1 trial of cytisinicline in U.S. smokers demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in quit rates for the 3.0 mg, three times daily dosing (TID) schedule. In the 3.0 mg TID arm, a 54% abstinence rate at week 4, compared to 16% for placebo (p < 0.0001) was observed. Continuous abstinence at weeks 5 through 8 was 30% for cytisinicline compared to 8% for placebo (p= 0.005). Adherence to study treatment was 98% in the 3.0 mg TID arm and cytisinicline was well-tolerated with no serious adverse events reported.

Cytisinicline Data Accepted for Presentation

Data from the Phase 2b ORCA-1 trial has been accepted for oral presentation at the SRNT-E Annual Conference, to be held in Oslo, September 12-14, 2019. The abstract "A Multicenter, Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled Phase 2b Trial of Cytisinicline in Adult Smokers" and two, oral presentations will include updated cytisinicline data from the recently completed trial.

Patent Granted in the U.S. for Novel Formulation of Cytisinicline

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Achieve a patent on succinate salt of cytisinicline and use thereof. The patent covers a novel salt form of cytisinicline, namely cytisinicline succinate, and pharmaceutical compositions and dosage forms. Achieve has been pursuing cytisinicline

succinate salt as a novel new drug product formulation that may further enhance cytisinicline product stability and long-term potency.

Received $4.2 Million from Exercise of Warrants

Achieve announced that it had entered into an agreement with a single investor to exercise outstanding warrants that provided an aggregate of $4.2 million in total proceeds. In exchange for the warrant exercise, Achieve issued to the investor a new warrant, exercisable for six years, to purchase up to 1,200,000 shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $4.50 per share. The Company filed an S-1 registration statement on July 24, 2019 covering the resale of the shares issuable upon exercise of the new warrant.

Financial Results

As of June 30, 2019, the company’s cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash was $10.5 million. Total operating expenses for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019 were $3.7 million and $9.6 million, respectively. Total net loss for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019 was $3.6 million and $9.5 million, respectively.

As of August 8, 2019 Achieve had 8,097,763 shares outstanding.

Conference Call Details

Achieve will host a conference call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time today, Thursday, August 8, 2019. To access the webcast, log on to the investor relations page of the Achieve website at View Source Alternatively, access to the live conference call is available by dialing (877) 472-9809 (U.S. & Canada) or (629) 228-0791 (International) and referencing conference ID 6587726. A webcast replay will be available approximately two hours after the call and will be archived on the website for 90 days.