On May 9, 2019 AVEO Oncology (NASDAQ: AVEO) reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 and provided a business update (Press release, AVEO, MAY 9, 2019, View Source [SID1234536077]).

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"With a successful recent equity offering, together with the triggering of a FOTIVDA (tivozanib) milestone from EUSA, AVEO’s strengthened balance sheet provides us with a cash runway that we expect will take us into the fourth quarter of 2020," said Michael Bailey, president and chief executive officer of AVEO. "We remain committed to our goal of improving outcomes and patient experience in renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and look forward to reporting more mature interim OS results from our TIVO-3 study in advanced or metastatic RCC, which we expect will occur in the fourth quarter of 2019, as well as the subsequent decision regarding a potential NDA filing in the U.S. We also continue to make progress with the balance of our programs and pipeline, most notably the ongoing clinical collaborations combining FOTIVDA with Bristol Myers Squibb’s OPDIVO (nivolumab) for the TiNivo study in RCC and with AstraZeneca’s IMFINZI (durvalumab) in first-line hepatocellular carcinoma, ongoing studies of ficlatuzumab in multiple oncology indications, and the emerging potential of a new ocular formulation of tivozanib for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration."

Recent Highlights

$2 Million Milestone Payment from EUSA Pharma Triggered. In April 2019, AVEO announced the triggering of a $2 million milestone payment from EUSA Pharma related to the February 2019 reimbursement approval and subsequent commercial launch of FOTIVDA (tivozanib) in Spain as a first-line treatment of adult patients with RCC.

Closing of Public Offering of Common Stock and Warrants. In April 2019, AVEO completed an underwritten public offering of 21,739,131 shares of common stock and 25,000,000 warrants to purchase common stock at the public offering price of $1.14 per share and $0.01 per warrant. The warrants have a two-year term and a strike price of $1.25 per share. Gross proceeds of the offering were approximately $25.0 million and are expected to be used for ongoing clinical and preclinical development of AVEO’s product candidates, as well as for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

Announced Positive Results from Phase 1b Ficlatuzumab-Cytarabine Trial (CyFi) in Patients with Relapsed and Refractory AML. In April 2019, AVEO announced the presentation of positive data from an investigator-sponsored Phase 1b expansion cohort of ficlatuzumab, AVEO’s potent hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) inhibitory antibody in combination with cytarabine in patients with relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML), at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, held March 29 – Apr 3, 2019 in Atlanta. Of 18 AML patients enrolled in the study, all had disease that was refractory to initial treatment, 17 were evaluable and 9 achieved a complete response. The most frequent grade 3/4 treatment emergent adverse events observed were febrile neutropenia, LFT abnormalities, and electrolyte disturbance.

There was one death from sepsis and multi-organ failure that was determined to be disease related, and one patient withdrew from the study due to grade 4 gastrointestinal bleed, determined to be likely ficlatuzumab related. A copy of the presentation is currently available in the Publications & Presentation section of AVEO’s website.

Based on these results, the Company is evaluating potential next steps for this program in collaboration with its ficlatuzumab development and commercialization partner, Biodesix, Inc.

Appointed Gregory T. Mayes to Board of Directors. In February 2019, the Company announced the appointment of Gregory T. Mayes to its Board of Directors. Mr. Mayes brings to the AVEO Board over 20 years of experience as a biopharmaceutical executive with deep expertise in public company governance, business strategy and the commercialization of life sciences products.

Presented Topline Results from TIVO-3 in an Oral Presentation at the 2019 ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Genitourinary Cancers Symposium and Announced Updated NDA Timing. In February 2019, AVEO presented topline results from the TIVO-3 trial, AVEO’s Phase 3 randomized, controlled, multi-center, open-label study to compare tivozanib to sorafenib in 350 subjects with refractory advanced or metastatic RCC at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium held February 14-16, 2019 in San Francisco. The results were presented during an oral presentation titled "TIVO-3: A Phase 3, Randomized, Controlled, Multi-Center, Open-Label Study to Compare Tivozanib to Sorafenib in Subjects with Refractory Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC)." A copy of the presentation is currently available in the Publications & Presentation section of AVEO’s website.

The presentation noted that the TIVO-3 trial met its primary endpoint of demonstrating a statistically significant benefit in progression-free survival (PFS) versus sorafenib. There was also a significant PFS improvement demonstrated for tivozanib both in the subgroups of patients who received prior PD-1 therapy and those who received two prior VEGF TKI therapies. The secondary endpoint of overall response rate demonstrated a statistically significant improvement for patients receiving tivozanib compared to sorafenib. The analysis of the secondary endpoint of overall survival (OS) was not mature at the time of the final PFS analysis, but the hazard ratio at the time of the analysis favored sorafenib. Tivozanib was generally well-tolerated, with grade 3 or higher adverse events consistent with those observed in previous tivozanib trials. Infrequent but severe adverse events reported in greater number in the tivozanib arm were thrombotic events similar to those observed in previous tivozanib studies. The most common adverse event in patients receiving tivozanib was hypertension, an adverse event known to reflect effective VEGF pathway inhibition.

AVEO intends to initiate an additional interim OS analysis in August 2019, the results of which are expected to be reported in the fourth quarter of 2019 and would be the first planned update since the prior OS analysis was initiated in the fourth quarter of 2018. At the recommendation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, AVEO plans to make a

New Drug Application (NDA) filing decision following the availability of more mature OS results.

First Quarter 2019 Financial Results

AVEO ended Q1 2019 with $23.5 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as compared with $24.4 million at December 31, 2018.

Total revenue for Q1 2019 was approximately $1.6 million compared with $1.0 million for Q1 2018.

Research and development expense for Q1 2019 was $6.9 million compared with $5.4 million for Q1 2018.

General and administrative expense for Q1 2019 was $2.5 million compared with $2.6 million for Q1 2018.

Net income for Q1 2019 was $0.6 million, or net income of $0.01 and net loss of $0.06 per basic and diluted share, respectively, compared with a net loss of $9.0 million for Q1 2018, or net loss of $0.08 per basic and diluted share.

The Q1 2019 net income was driven by an approximate $8.8 million non-cash gain attributable to the decrease in the fair value of the 2016 PIPE warrant liability that principally resulted from the decrease in the stock price that occurred during the fiscal quarter. In Q1 2018, the non-cash loss attributable to the increase in the fair value of such warrant liability was $1.5 million.

Financial Guidance

AVEO believes that our approximate $23.5 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at March 31, 2019, along with approximately $24.2 million in additional net funding received in the second quarter of 2019 to-date, as described above, would allow us to fund our planned operations into the fourth quarter of 2020. This estimate excludes possible additional clinical trials we may sponsor and, subject to our decision whether to submit an NDA for tivozanib to the FDA following the availability of more mature OS results, remaining costs to prepare and filing fees in connection with a possible NDA submission, any related drug manufacturing and drug supply distribution, and pre-commercialization activities that we may undertake. This estimate also assumes no receipt of additional milestone payments from our partners, no funding from new partnership agreements, no additional equity financings, no debt financings, no additional sales of equity under our Leerink Sales Agreement and no additional sales of equity through the exercise of our outstanding warrants. Accordingly, the timing and nature of activities contemplated for the remainder of 2019 and thereafter will be conducted subject to the availability of sufficient financial resources.

About Tivozanib (FOTIVDA)

Tivozanib (FOTIVDA) is an oral, once-daily, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) discovered by Kyowa Hakko Kirin and approved for the treatment of adult patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the European Union plus Norway and Iceland. It is a potent, selective and long half-life inhibitor of all three VEGF

receptors and is designed to optimize VEGF blockade while minimizing off-target toxicities, potentially resulting in improved efficacy and minimal dose modifications.1,2 Tivozanib has been shown to significantly reduce regulatory T-cell production in preclinical models3 and has demonstrated synergy in combination with nivolumab (anti PD-1) in a Phase 2 study in RCC. Tivozanib has been investigated in several tumor types, including renal cell, hepatocellular, colorectal and breast cancers. In addition, a new formulation of tivozanib is in pre-clinical development for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.

About Ficlatuzumab

Ficlatuzumab (formerly known as AV-299) is a potent hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) inhibitory antibody that binds to the HGF ligand with high affinity and specificity to inhibit HGF/c-Met biological activities. AVEO and Biodesix, Inc. have a worldwide agreement to develop and commercialize ficlatuzumab. Ficlatuzumab is currently being evaluated in investigator-sponsored trials in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC), metastatic pancreatic ductal cancer (PDAC), and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).