On November 14, 2022 Forte Biosciences, Inc. (www.fortebiorx.com) (NASDAQ: FBRX), a biopharmaceutical company focused on autoimmune diseases, reported third quarter 2022 results and provided a business update (Press release, Tocagen, NOV 14, 2022, View Source [SID1234624082]).
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"Forte is making excellent progress with its lead program FB-102, which is a direct result of the team’s hard work and diligent efforts. FB-102 holds significant potential in a variety of indications with market potential in excess of $6 billion." said Paul Wagner, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Forte Biosciences. "FB-102 is expected to be in the clinic late 2023 or early 2024. Beyond FB-102, the Forte team continues to explore additional opportunities for pipeline development to drive long-term value creation."
Third Quarter 2022 Business Highlights
In November 2022, Forte appointed Scott Brun, M.D. to its board of directors, which further strengthened Forte’s board of directors. Dr. Brun is currently a Venture Partner at Abingworth and in addition to his consulting practice, he is also a Senior Advisor for Horizon Therapeutics, and a Senior Medical Advisor at Launch Therapeutics. Dr. Brun previously served in numerous executive capacities at AbbVie most recently as Head of AbbVie Ventures, and previously as Head of Pharmaceutical Development. Dr Brun received his M.D. at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
"Given Dr. Brun’s extensive experience in pharmaceutical product development, R&D and scientific affairs, his agreeing to join our board is pivotal for Forte. We are extremely fortunate to have board members of Dr. Brun’s caliber join the team to help guide the pipeline development." said Paul Wagner, Ph.D., Forte’s Chairman and CEO.
Forte ended the third quarter of 2022 with approximately $44.0 million in cash and cash equivalents. Forte had approximately 21.0 million shares of common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2022.
Third Quarter 2022 Operating Results
Research and development expenses were $1.4 million and $5.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, and $3.1 million and $12.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The decreases in 2022 were primarily due to the wind down of our FB- 401 program as the Company began the shift in development activities to autoimmune indications with FB-102. While research and development expenses decreased in 2022 compared to 2021, we anticipate research and development expenses to increase in the future as we continue to develop our current lead product candidate, FB-102.
General and administrative expenses were $2.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021. General and administrative expenses remained relatively flat as an increase in legal and professional expenses of $0.4 million was mostly offset by a decrease of approximately $0.4 million in payroll and related expenses. General and administrative expenses were $5.9 million and $5.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The increase of $0.2 million was primarily due to an increase in stock-based compensation expenses.
Net losses per share were ($0.18) and ($0.54) for the three months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, and ($0.56) and ($1.34) for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.