February 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE): Radius Health, Inc. ("Radius" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:RDUS), a science-driven biopharmaceutical company that is committed to developing innovative therapeutics in the areas of osteoporosis, oncology and endocrine diseases, reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2016, and provided a business update (Filing, Q4/Annual, Radius, 2016, FEB 23, 2017, View Source [SID1234517895]). As of December 31, 2016, Radius had $332.4 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.
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"We continue to work closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as we move towards the March 30, 2017 PDUFA for abaloparatide-SC for postmenopausal osteoporosis. Our highly experienced leadership is completing the build out of our commercial organization with seasoned talent who have demonstrated success across sales, marketing, reimbursement and distribution and are fully prepared to support a successful launch, pending favorable regulatory review," said Robert Ward, President and Chief Executive Officer of Radius. "2017 will be a major inflection point for Radius, as we evolve towards a commercial company. We are confident that we are prepared for this change and have the talent, experience and resources required to deliver sustainable high performance."
Pipeline Updates
Abaloparatide-SC
Radius’ new drug application (NDA) in the United States for abaloparatide-SC for the treatment of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis was accepted for filing by the FDA and granted a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date of March 30, 2017. Radius’ marketing authorisation application (MAA) to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), is currently undergoing regulatory review, and we anticipate receiving an opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) in 2017.
On February 1, 2017, results from the first six months of the recently completed 24- month ACTIVExtend trial were published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings "Eighteen Months of Treatment With Subcutaneous Abaloparatide Followed by 6 Months of Treatment With Alendronate in Postmenopausal Women With Osteoporosis: Results of the ACTIVExtend Trial". The 24-month ACTIVExtend clinical trial has completed and Radius will report the top line results in the second quarter of 2017.
Abaloparatide-SC as a treatment for postmenopausal women with osteoporosis is an investigational product and its safety and efficacy have not been established.
Abaloparatide-TD
Last September, at the annual meeting of the American Association for Bone Mineral Research (ASBMR), we presented the positive results from a human replicative clinical evaluation of an optimized abaloparatide transdermal patch. These results established an important demonstration of how we have changed the pharmacokinetic profile in our program to develop a bioequivalent transdermal patch. Currently, we are focused on completing the manufacturing, scale-up, and other required activities needed to initiate a pivotal study to evaluate bioequivalence to abaloparatide-SC. We believe that the transdermal patch program has the potential to allow physicians who treat osteoporosis, but rarely use injectable drugs, an opportunity to expand their practices to include the use of anabolic therapy.
RAD1901
On December 8, 2016, at the San Antonio Breast Cancer symposium we reported on the encouraging results of our ongoing Phase 1 studies of RAD1901 in advanced breast cancer. We were pleased with the clear demonstration of activity at the 400 mg dose in this heavily pretreated patient population. We plan to engage with regulatory agencies to gain alignment on defining the next steps for the program in the first half of 2017, which would include the design of a Phase 2 trial. Also in the first half of this year, we plan to report results from our completed Phase 2b trial in vasomotor symptoms.
RAD140
In December 2016, we submitted an investigational new drug application, or IND, to the FDA for RAD140, a selective androgen receptor modulator discovered in-house at Radius. We expect to initiate a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial in women with hormone receptor positive breast cancer in 2017.
Building A Commercial Organization For Sustainable Growth
In our evolution towards becoming a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company, our accomplished senior leadership is completing the build out of our commercial, medical and compliance organizations to support the potential commercialization of abaloparatide-SC in the United States, pending favorable regulatory review. Our sales leaders have already hired over 90% of our clinical sales specialists with a focus on identifying the most experienced team possible. The result is a sales team with substantial osteoporosis, injectable and women’s health experience, and the majority have had prior launch experience, which matches the depth of experience across our Medical Science Liaison team.
If approved, we intend to distribute abaloparatide-SC in the United States through a network of distributors and specialty pharmacies. Under this distribution model, both the distributors and specialty pharmacies would take physical delivery of product and the specialty pharmacies would dispense the product directly to patients.
Under the leadership of our Chief Compliance Officer, we are continuing to strengthen our compliance program in support of launch of abaloparatide-SC as part of our commitment to a strong culture of compliance and good corporate governance.
Radius Expects the Following Upcoming Milestones
• Abaloparatide-SC
• FDA PDUFA date of March 30, 2017
• Receive a CHMP opinion regarding the EMA’s review of the abaloparatide-SC MAA in 2017
• Enter into a partnership for the potential commercialization of abaloparatide-SC prior to commercial launch
• Report top-line results from the recently completed 24-month ACTIVExtend clinical trial in the second quarter of 2017
• RAD1901
• Complete ongoing Phase 1 breast cancer clinical trials
• Engage with regulatory authorities in 1H 2017 to gain alignment on defining next steps for the program, which would include the design of a Phase 2 breast cancer trial
• In 1H 2017, complete, and report results from, our ongoing Phase 2b vasomotor trial
• RAD140
• Initiate a first-in-human Phase 1 study in 2017 in women with hormone receptor positive breast cancer
Radius Expects To Make Presentations at the Following Upcoming Conferences
• On March 6, 2017, Radius President and CEO, Robert Ward will make a presentation and will host one-on-ones at the Cowen Conference in Boston
• On March 24-25, 2017, at the 2017 World Congress of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases (WCO-IOF-ESCEO), 4 scientific presentations will be made on abaloparatide titled:
• "Effects of abaloparatide-SC on bone mineral density and risk of fracture in postmenopausal women aged 80 years or older with osteoporosis"
• "Abaloparatide-SC decreases vertebral, nonvertebral, major osteoporotic, and wrist fractures in a subset of postmenopausal women at high risk of fracture by FRAX score"
• "Abaloparatide-SC for postmenopausal osteoporosis: analysis of the number needed to treat compared with teriparatide"
• "Abaloparatide-SC significantly reduces vertebral and nonvertebral fractures and increases bone mineral density regardless of baseline risk: results from the ACTIVE phase 3 clinical trial"
Fourth Quarter 2016 Financial Results
For the three months ended December 31, 2016, Radius reported a net loss of $52.7 million, or $1.22 per share, as compared to a net loss of $33.2 million, or $0.77 per share, for the three months ended December 31, 2015. The increase in net loss for the three months ended December 31, 2016 as compared to the three months ended December 31, 2015 was primarily due to an increase in research and development and general and administrative expenses, partially offset by a decrease in loss on retirement of note payable, a decrease in interest expense and an increase in interest income.
Research and development expenses for the three months ended December 31, 2016 were $25.6 million, compared to $22.2 million for the same period in 2015. This increase was primarily driven by higher research and development costs associated with the development of RAD1901 to support a Phase 1 study in metastatic breast cancer that commenced in late 2014 and a Phase 2b study in postmenopausal vasomotor symptoms that commenced in December 2015. This increase was also a result of an increase in compensation expense, including stock-based compensation, due to an increase in headcount from December 31, 2015 to December 31, 2016.
General and administrative expenses for the three months ended December 31, 2016 were $27.5 million, compared to $11.6 million for the same period in 2015. This increase was primarily attributable to an increase in professional support costs, including the costs associated with increasing headcount and preparing for the potential commercialization of abaloparatide-SC, subject to a favorable regulatory review.
This increase was also driven by an increase in compensation expense, including stock-based compensation, due to an increase in headcount from December 31, 2015 to December 31, 2016.
Full Year 2016 Financial Results
For the twelve months ended December 31, 2016, Radius reported a net loss of $182.8 million, or $4.24 per share, as compared to a net loss of $101.5 million, or $2.56 per share, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2015. The increase in net loss for 2016 was primarily due to an increase in research and development expenses and general and administrative expenses, partially offset by a decrease in loss on retirement of note payable, a decrease in interest expense and an increase in interest income.
Research and development expenses for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 were $107.4 million, compared to $68.3 million for 2015. The increase was primarily attributable to increased compensation expense, including an increase of $3.3 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense, due to growth in headcount from 48 research and development employees as of December 31, 2015, to 107 research and development employees as of December 31, 2016. This increase was also driven by higher contract service costs associated with the development of our investigational product candidate RAD1901 as a result of the increased clinical and manufacturing activities in 2016, as compared to 2015. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in the total professional contract service costs associated with the development of abaloparatide-SC as more subjects completed study protocol activities associated with the 24-month ACTIVExtend clinical trial in 2016, as compared to 2015.
General and administrative expenses for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 were $77.5 million, compared to $30.8 million for 2015. This increase was primarily due to increased professional support costs of approximately $19.4 million, including costs associated with preparing for the potential commercialization of abaloparatide-SC, subject to a favorable regulatory review, as compared to 2015. This increase was also driven by increased compensation expense, including an increase of $8.0 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense, due to growth in headcount from 27 general and administrative employees as of December 31, 2015, to 130 general and administrative employees as of December 31, 2016.
For the twelve months ended December 31, 2016, the decrease in loss on retirement of note payable was $1.6 million and other expenses increased by $0.3 million. These amounts were partially offset by the increase in interest income from investments of $1.4 million and a decrease in interest expense of $1.9 million.
As of December 31, 2016, Radius had $332.4 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. Based upon Radius’ cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities balance, Radius believes that, prior to the consideration of revenue from the potential future sales, subject to favorable regulatory review, of any of its investigational products, it has sufficient capital to fund its development plans, U.S. commercial scale-up and other operational activities for not less than twelve months from the date of this press release and into 2018.