On November 1, 2018 Evelo Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: EVLO) ("Evelo"), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing monoclonal microbials designed to act on the gut-body network for the treatment of a wide range of diseases, reported financial results and provided a business update for the third quarter ended September 30, 2018 (Press release, Evelo Biosciences, NOV 1, 2018, View Source [SID1234530573]).
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"Our continued progress reflects our commitment to advancing a broad portfolio of product candidates to treat multiple diseases," said Simba Gill, Ph.D., CEO of Evelo. "We are enrolling patients in our Phase 1b trial of EDP1066 for psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, and recently received approval from the MHRA to start a clinical trial of EDP1815, our second candidate for inflammatory diseases. Additionally, we expect the University of Chicago’s investigator-sponsored trial of EDP1503 for the treatment of metastatic melanoma to begin enrolling patients this quarter. These activities support our goal of ten potential clinical readouts across inflammation and oncology patient groups in 2019 and 2020."
Third Quarter and Recent Business Highlights:
Pipeline:
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In September 2018, the UK Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) accepted Evelo’s Clinical Trial Authorisation application for a Phase 1b study of EDP1815 for the treatment of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis patients.
Upcoming Anticipated Milestones:
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Initiation of a Phase 1b clinical trial of EDP1815, an anti-inflammatory monoclonal microbial product candidate, in healthy volunteers and patients with psoriasis and atopic dermatitis in the fourth quarter of 2018.
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Initiation of the University of Chicago’s investigator-sponsored, open-label Phase 2a clinical trial of EDP1503 in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor in patients with metastatic melanoma in the fourth quarter of 2018.
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Initiation of a company-sponsored Phase 2a clinical trial of EDP1503 in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor in patients with multiple cancer types in the first half of 2019.
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Clinical data from the ongoing Phase 1b clinical trial of EDP1066 in healthy volunteers and patients with psoriasis and atopic dermatitis in the first half of 2019.
Upcoming Events:
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Stifel 2018 Healthcare Conference on November 14, 2018 in New York, New York.
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Evercore ISI Healthcare Conference on November 27, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts.
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BMO Prescriptions for Success Healthcare Conference on December 12, 2018 in New York, New York.
Corporate:
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In October 2018, Evelo appointed Daniel Char as general counsel. Daniel joins Evelo from Smith & Nephew, where he was the associate general counsel – commercial, responsible for advising and supporting the company’s global businesses on commercial, compliance, regulatory, clinical, licensing, manufacturing and international trade matters. Daniel earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University.
Third Quarter 2018 Financial Results:
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Cash Position: As of September 30, 2018, cash, cash equivalents and investments were $164.3 million, as compared to cash and cash equivalents of $38.2 million as of December 31, 2017. This increase was due to net proceeds of $81.3 million from the issuance of Series C Preferred Stock, net proceeds of $75.8 million from Evelo’s initial public offering and $5.0 million of additional drawings from Evelo’s existing debt facility, partially offset by cash used to fund operating activities for the first nine months of 2018. Evelo
expects that its cash, cash equivalents and investments will enable it to fund its planned operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the second half of 2020.
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Research and Development Expenses: R&D expenses were $11.2 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018, compared to $5.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017. The increase of $5.9 million was due primarily to increases in costs related to Evelo’s inflammation and oncology clinical development programs, gut-body network platform expenses as well as increased personnel costs.
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General and Administrative Expenses: G&A expenses were $5.2 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018, compared to $2.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017. The increase of $2.5 million was due primarily to increased general and administrative personnel costs, professional and consulting fees, and facility expenses supporting Evelo’s growing organization and public company infrastructure.
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Net Loss Attributable to Common Stockholders: Net loss attributable to common stockholders was $(15.9) million for the three months ended September 30, 2018, or $(0.50) per basic and diluted share, as compared to a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $(9.9) million for the three months ended September 30, 2017, or $(2.61) per basic and diluted share.