On August 6, 2019 Gamida Cell Ltd. (Nasdaq: GMDA), a leading cellular and immune therapeutics company, reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2019 (Press release, Gamida Cell, AUG 6, 2019, View Source [SID1234538219]). The company also highlighted continued progress in advancing its clinical development candidates: omidubicel, an investigational advanced cell therapy in Phase 3 clinical development designed to enhance the life-saving benefits of hematopoietic stem cell (bone marrow) transplant for patients with hematologic malignancies, and GDA-201, an investigational, natural killer (NK) cell-based cancer immunotherapy in Phase 1 development in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
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"During the past quarter, Gamida Cell made important progress toward its goal of transforming the treatment landscape for patients with blood cancers and rare, serious hematologic diseases," stated Julian Adams, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Gamida Cell. "We are continuing to progress our multi-center, randomized Phase 3 study of omidubicel to enable a topline data readout, which is expected in the first half of 2020. As we look ahead toward the potential submission of a biologics license application next year, we are advancing key activities required to bring omidubicel to patients in a commercial setting. To help ensure that we will have sufficient and reliable commercial supply, we established a commercial manufacturing supply agreement with Lonza and engaged Biopharmax, a biopharmaceutical design and construction firm, to initiate the construction of our own commercial manufacturing facility in Israel."
"Our second cell therapy program, GDA-201, is also moving forward. We anticipate additional data from the ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical study in the second half of the year. We are also on track with our plans to develop a cryopreserved formulation of GDA-201 to enable a multi-center clinical study in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma," Dr. Adams continued. "Both omidubicel and GDA-201 are based on our proprietary cell expansion platform, which has the potential to further expand our pipeline. In June, we appointed Dr. Tracey Lodie to our team as chief scientific officer to set our scientific strategy and lead new translational research to further elucidate the potential of our technology and clinical development programs."
Program Highlights
Continued to advance the Phase 3 clinical study of omidubicel: Patient enrollment continued to progress in the Gamida Cell’s Phase 3 study of omidubicel in patients with high-risk hematologic malignancies. The international, randomized, multi-center study is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of omidubicel compared to standard umbilical cord blood for allogeneic bone marrow transplant in approximately 120 patients with no available matched donor. The company anticipates completing patient enrollment by the end of this year with topline data anticipated in first half of 2020.
Established agreements to support commercial manufacturing for omidubicel: In June, Gamida Cell and Lonza announced that the companies entered into a strategic manufacturing agreement for the future commercial production after potential FDA approval of omidubicel. This agreement follows a successful multi-year clinical manufacturing relationship and provides Gamida Cell with a path to commercial supply of omidubicel. Under this multi-year agreement, Lonza will construct and dedicate production suites at its Geleen, NL site for the anticipated commercial launch. Additionally, the agreement enables Gamida Cell to increase the number of dedicated production suites over time to ensure commercial supply. Gamida Cell also has the option of expanding further into Lonza’s global cell and gene therapy manufacturing network. In August, Gamida Cell signed an agreement with Biopharmax for the construction of suites for the commercial manufacture of omidubicel after potential FDA approval of omidubicel at a Gamida Cell-operated facility in Israel.
Initiated enrollment for Cohort 2 in the Phase 1/2 study of omidubicel in patients with severe aplastic anemia: In June, patient enrollment began in Cohort 2 of the investigator-sponsored, Phase 1/2 clinical study of omidubicel in patients with severe aplastic anemia, a rare and life-threatening blood disorder. Earlier this year, encouraging data from Cohort 1 were reported at the 2019 Transplantation & Cellular Therapy (TCT) Meeting. All three patients enrolled in Cohort 1 successfully underwent a bone marrow transplant consisting of omidubicel plus a haploidentical stem cell graft. The rapid engraftment, sustained hematopoiesis and accelerated immune recovery observed in these patients enabled the initiation of Cohort 2, where patients will be treated with omidubicel as a stand-alone graft.
Demonstrated continued progress with GDA-201 clinical development program: Gamida Cell continued to make progress with the GDA-201 clinical development program. The investigator-sponsored, Phase 1/2 clinical study of GDA-201 in patient with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma is ongoing, with additional data expected in the second half of 2019. The company is developing a cryopreserved formulation of GDA-201 to enable a multi-center, multi-dose Phase 1/2 clinical study in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is expected to begin next year.
Corporate Highlights
Completed public follow-on offering of approximately $40 million in gross proceeds: In July, Gamida Cell announced that the company closed an underwritten public offering of 7,000,000 ordinary shares and that the underwriters exercised in full their option to purchase an additional 1,050,000 ordinary shares at the public offering price of $5.00 per share. The aggregate gross proceeds to Gamida Cell from the offering, including the shares sold pursuant to the underwriters’ option, before deducting underwriting discounts and commission and offering expenses, were $40.3 million.
Bolstered management team with appointment of Tracey Lodie, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer: In June, the company announced the appointment of Tracey Lodie, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer. Prior to joining Gamida Cell, Dr. Lodie served as senior vice president, translational immunology at BlueRock Therapeutics, where she helped to advance their universal pluripotent stem cell platform into central nervous system, cardiovascular, and autoimmune therapeutic areas. She also served as vice president of immunology at Syros Pharmaceuticals, where she developed new autoimmunity and immuno-oncology research programs. Prior to Syros Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Lodie spent over 14 years at Sanofi-Genzyme, where she held roles of increasing responsibility. She obtained a PhD. in immunology and pathology at Boston University School of Medicine before completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the Department of Hematology/Oncology.
Shawn Cline Tomasello and Stephen Wills elected to Board of Directors, reflecting company’s progress toward commercialization: In June, Shawn Cline Tomasello and Stephen T. Wills were elected to Gamida Cell’s board of directors. Ms. Tomasello has extensive experience in commercializing first-in-class medicines for the treatment of cancer, including Yescarta (at Kite Pharma, now part of Gilead Sciences) and Imbruvica (at Pharmacyclics, now part of AbbVie). Mr. Wills has extensive operational, financial and transactional experience over nearly three decades in the life sciences and accounting industries. He has served as chief financial officer of Palatin Technologies, a publicly-traded biotechnology company developing peptide therapeutics, since 1997 and also serves as Palatin’s chief operating officer and executive vice president.
Anticipated 2019-2020 Milestones
Gamida Cell’s anticipated program milestones in 2019-2020 are as follows:
Omidubicel
Complete enrollment in Phase 3 study of omidubicel in patients with hematologic malignancies by the end of 2019
Report topline data from the Phase 3 study of omidubicel in patients with hematologic malignancies in the first half of 2020
Complete BLA submission for omidubicel in hematologic malignancies in the second half of 2020, should Phase 3 data be positive
GDA-201
Complete patient enrollment in the ongoing Phase 1 study in the second half of 2019
Present additional data at a medical meeting in the second half of 2019
Initiate multi-center, Phase 1/2 clinical study in patients with NHL in 2020
Second Quarter 2019 Financial Results
Research and development (R&D) expenses in the second quarter of 2019 were $7.0 million and were also $7.0 million in the same period in 2018. R&D expenses were higher in the second quarter of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018 due to the advancement of omidubicel and GDA-201 but were offset by a $2.0 million increase in grants related to the Israeli Innovation Authority (IIA).
General and administrative expenses were $3.8 million for the second quarter of 2019, compared to $2.9 million in the same period in 2018. The difference was attributable mainly to a $0.4 million increase in cash and non-cash expenses related to hiring and establishing the U.S. headquarters as well as a $0.5 million increase in professional services, including an increase in expenses associated with being a publicly-traded company.
Finance income, net, was $16.8 million for the second quarter of 2019, compared to finance expenses, net, of $3.2 million in the same period in 2018. The net increase was primarily due to non-cash income resulting from the re-valuation of warrants, offset by non-cash expenses from the re-valuation of the IIA royalty-bearing grant liability.
Net income for the second quarter of 2019 was $6.0 million, compared to a net loss of $13.1 million in the same period in 2018.
As of June 30, 2019, Gamida Cell had total cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities of $41.7 million, compared to $60.7 million as of December 31, 2018. The June 30, 2019, cash position excludes the aggregate gross proceeds from the company’s recent public follow-on offering, which were $40.3 million.
2019 Financial Guidance
Gamida Cell continues to expect cash used for ongoing operating activities in 2019 to range from $35 million to $40 million, reflecting anticipated expenditures to advance the company’s clinical programs.
Gamida Cell expects that its cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities will support the company’s ongoing operating activities into the fourth quarter of 2020. This cash runway guidance is based on the company’s current operational plans and excludes any additional funding that may be received or business development activities that may be undertaken.
Conference Call Information
Gamida Cell will host a conference call today, August 6, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss these financial results and company updates. A live webcast of the conference call can be accessed in the "Investors" section of Gamida Cell’s website at www.gamida-cell.com. To participate in the live call, please dial 866-930-5560 (domestic) or 409-216-0605 (international) and refer to conference ID number 2127937. A replay of the webcast will be available for approximately 30 days.
About Omidubicel
Omidubicel (formerly known as NiCord), the company’s lead clinical program, is an advanced cell therapy under development as a potential life-saving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell (bone marrow) transplant solution for patients with hematologic malignancies (blood cancers). Omidubicel is the first bone marrow transplant product to receive Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and has also received Orphan Drug Designation in the U.S. and EU. In a Phase 1/2 clinical study, omidubicel demonstrated rapid and durable time to engraftment and was generally well-tolerated.1 A Phase 3 study evaluating omidubicel in patients with leukemia and lymphoma is ongoing in the U.S., Europe and Asia.2 Omidubicel is also being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 clinical study in patients with severe aplastic anemia.3 The aplastic anemia investigational new drug application is currently filed with the FDA under the brand name CordIn, which is the same investigational development candidate as omidubicel. For more information on clinical trials of omidubicel, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.
About GDA-201
Gamida Cell applied the capabilities of its NAM-based cell expansion technology to develop GDA-201 (formerly known as NAM-NK), an innate natural killer (NK) cell immunotherapy for the treatment of hematologic and solid tumors in combination with standard of care antibody therapies. GDA-201 addresses key limitations of NK cells by increasing the cytotoxicity and in vivo retention and proliferation in the bone marrow and lymphoid organs of NK cells expanded in culture. GDA-201 is in Phase 1 development through an investigator-sponsored study in patients with refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma.4
Omidubicel and GDA-201 are investigational therapies, and their safety and efficacy have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any other health authority.