On May 9, 2016 Kite Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: KITE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing engineered autologous cell therapy (eACT) products for the treatment of cancer, reported a corporate update and reported first quarter 2016 financial results for the period ended March 31, 2016 (Press release, Kite Pharma, MAY 9, 2016, View Source [SID:1234512151]).
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"Our ZUMA-1 update at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) last month highlighted the potential of KTE-C19, our breakthrough immunotherapy candidate, to put patients with chemorefractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), a patient population burdened with a short life expectancy and limited treatment options, into a durable complete remission," noted Arie Belldegrun, M.D., FACS, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. "We remain on track to provide interim data from the pivotal phase 2 portion of ZUMA-1 later this year and plan to submit the KTE-C19 registration filing to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of 2016."
"Our commitment to delivering a breakthrough personalized cell therapy to cancer patients now extends fully to our manufacturing and market planning areas. Validation and qualification activities at our state-of-the-art commercial manufacturing facility are underway. The commercial team is actively evaluating a broad range of market and payor strategies for making KTE-C19 available to patients with a significant unmet need."
First Quarter 2016 and Recent Highlights
At AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper), reported rapid and durable responses in patients with chemorefractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma treated with KTE-C19 in the phase 1 portion of ZUMA-1.
Ongoing complete responses were observed in 3 of 7 patients at 9-month study follow-up (1 patient) and 6-month study follow-up (2 patients).
KTE-C19-related adverse events consisted predominantly of cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity, which were generally reversible.
Partnered with Genentech to study KTE-C19 in combination with the checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab. Kite expects to initiate a Phase 1b/2 combination study in patients with chemorefractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma in the second half of 2016.
Expanded our clinical and research partnership with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) by entering into a new Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with James (Jim) N. Kochenderfer, M.D., and the NCI’s Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch.
Phase 1 study of human anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor for treating B-cell malignancies currently ongoing.
Also at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper), William Lu, Ph.D., a collaborator of Kite’s at the NCI, reported data from a Phase 1 study of a T cell receptor (TCR) product candidate targeting MAGE-A3 that was advanced under Kite’s CRADA with the Surgery Branch at the NCI.
Data reported at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) support Kite’s plan to file later this year an investigational new drug (IND) application for a TCR product candidate that targets a MAGE-A3 antigen expressed on solid tumors.
Entered into a research and license agreement with Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands to identify and develop additional TCR product candidates targeting solid tumors that are associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 infection.
Appointed Tim Moore, a biopharma executive with more than 30 years of global operations experience, as Executive Vice President, Technical Operations, to lead product development, manufacturing, supply chain, quality assurance, and end-to-end process optimization for all aspects of Kite’s engineered T cell product candidates.
Augmented Kite’s commercial function, under the leadership of Chief Commercial Officer Shawn Tomasello, with the appointment of an integrated executive team responsible for all aspects of commercial and medical affairs strategy, planning, and analysis for the potential launch of KTE-C19.
First Quarter 2016 Financial Results
Revenue was $5.1 million for the first quarter of 2016.
Research and development expenses were $34.4 million for the first quarter of 2016, and include $8.5 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense.
General and administrative expenses were $16.5 million for the first quarter of 2016, and include $6.4 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense.
Net loss was $43.9 million, or $0.90 per share, for the first quarter of 2016.
Non-GAAP net loss for the first quarter of 2016 was $29.1 million, or $0.60 per share, which excludes non-cash stock-based compensation of $14.9 million.
As of March 31, 2016, Kite had $577.4 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities.
Kite continues to expect the full year 2016 net cash burn to be $235 to $250 million dollars, which includes approximately $20 million in capital expenditures, but excludes any inflows or outflows from business development activities. The estimated full year 2016 net cash burn is primarily driven by an estimated net loss of $295 to $310 million, which includes an estimated $80 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense.