On August 13, 2025 Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: AURA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision therapies for solid tumors designed to preserve organ function, reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2025, and provided recent business highlights (Press release, Aura Biosciences, AUG 13, 2025, View Source [SID1234655192]).

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"We continued to focus on execution in our clinical programs in the second quarter, including our ongoing global Phase 3 CoMpass trial in early choroidal melanoma and our Phase 1b/2 trial in NMIBC," said Elisabet de los Pinos, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Aura. "With the successful completion of our recent equity financing, we believe we are well positioned to advance the clinical development of bel-sar in our ocular and urologic oncology programs, where we believe our unique mechanism of action has the potential to meaningfully impact the lives of patients."

Recent Pipeline Developments

Early Choroidal Melanoma

Ongoing Phase 3 CoMpass Trial: CoMpass is the first registration-enabling study in early choroidal melanoma. The study is a global, Phase 3, randomized trial evaluating bel-sar treatment against a sham control arm utilizing an enrichment strategy to enroll approximately 100 patients with documented tumor growth.

The CoMpass trial is actively enrolling globally. To identify patients meeting the enrichment criteria of documented growth, the Company implemented a pre-screening ‘run in’ period. Investigators have registered over 240 patients in this pre-screening tool as having met initial enrollment criteria for the study, highlighting the global need for a frontline vision-preserving therapy. With this progress globally, the Company believes study enrollment may be completed as early as the end of 2025.

The Company previously received Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA and the European Medicines Agency and Fast Track designation from the FDA for the treatment of early choroidal melanoma. The CoMpass trial is under a Special Protocol Assessment agreement with the FDA.

Additional Ocular Oncology Indications

In addition to early choroidal melanoma, bel-sar is in development for metastases to the choroid and cancers of the ocular surface. These three ocular oncology indications have a collective annual incidence of greater than 60,000 patients in the United States and Europe.

Metastases to the Choroid

Metastases to the choroid is an indication with high unmet medical need and no approved therapies. Bel-sar has the potential to treat a wide variety of tumor types that metastasize from several primary tumors. The Company has initiated a Phase 2 clinical trial in metastases to the choroid from breast and lung cancer and have activated sites with patients in prescreening in the United States. The Company is currently implementing a protocol amendment for the Phase 2 trial to broaden the inclusion criteria beyond breast and lung cancer to include all metastases from different solid tumors, an approach supported by pre-clinical models that demonstrate robust efficacy across a range of solid tumors. The Company believes that this approach, in addition to advancing bel-sar in metastases to the choroid, can provide clinical insights into multiple tumor types that could be impacted by bel-sar. The Company expects initial data from this trial in 2025.

Metastases to the choroid represents the second potential ocular oncology indication for bel-sar, affecting approximately 20,000 patients annually in the United States and Europe. The Company previously received FDA Fast Track designation for bel-sar in this indication.

Cancers of the Ocular Surface

The Company’s third potential ocular oncology indication is cancers of the ocular surface, which affects approximately 35,000 patients in the United States and Europe annually and has no approved therapies. The Company’s pre-clinical activities in cancers of the ocular surface remain on track, and we plan to have initial data from an early proof of concept Phase 1 clinical trial in 2026.

Bladder Cancer

Ongoing Phase 1b/2 Trial: Based on the positive data from the Phase 1 window of opportunity trial, the Company is advancing the development of bel-sar in NMIBC. The ongoing Phase 1b/2 trial will evaluate additional doses and cycles of bel-sar in approximately 26 intermediate and high-risk NMIBC patients. The trial will evaluate two approaches: an immune ablative design and a multimodal neoadjuvant design. In the immune ablative approach, bel-sar will be administered in two cycles without the need for a transurethral resection of the bladder tumor (TURBT). In the multimodal neoadjuvant cohorts, bel-sar will be administered in two cycles ahead of TURBT. For both approaches, patients will be monitored for response assessments and recurrence at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. This trial is actively enrolling and remains on track.

Patent Application Filed for New Formulation of Bel-sar for Use in Bladder Cancer: The Company has filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a new formulation of bel-sar for use in urologic oncology, which if issued, would provide patent coverage for this formulation into 2046. This new formulation is designed to enable convenient in-office urologist procedures with enhanced storage and handling at refrigerated conditions (2-8 Celsius).

Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results

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As of June 30, 2025, Aura had cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities totaling $177.3 million. The Company believes its current cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities are sufficient to fund its operations into the first half of 2027.

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Research and development expenses increased to $22.9 million for the three months ended June 30, 2025 from $16.9 million for the three months ended June 30, 2024, primarily due to ongoing clinical and CRO costs associated with the progression of our global Phase 3 trial of bel-sar in early choroidal melanoma and manufacturing and development costs for bel-sar.

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General and administrative expenses decreased to $5.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2025 from $5.9 million for the three months ended June 30, 2024. General and administrative expenses include $1.8 million and $1.6 million of stock-based compensation for the three months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The decrease was primarily driven by reduced professional fees.

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Net loss for the three months ended June 30, 2025 was $27.0 million compared to $20.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2024.