On March 9, 2022 Chemomab Therapeutics, Ltd. (Nasdaq: CMMB), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of innovative therapeutics for fibrotic and inflammatory diseases with high unmet need, reported financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2021, and provided a corporate update (Press release, Chemomab, MAR 9, 2022, View Source [SID1234609779]).
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2021 Highlights:
In February, announced positive results from a Phase 1b trial in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. CM-101 appeared safe and well tolerated upon multiple administrations, with evidence for dose dependent target engagement and positive changes in fibrotic biomarkers.
In March, completed a merger transaction, listed the company’s ADS’s on Nasdaq and closed a $45.5M PIPE financing.
In April, dosed the first patient in a CM-101 Phase 2 liver fibrosis biomarker and subcutaneous formulation study.
In June, expanded partnership with AGC Biologics for final optimization and production of GMP manufacturing batches of CM-101.
In September, Dale Pfost, PhD, joined the company as chief executive officer. Chemomab co-founder, former CEO and chief scientific officer Adi Mor, PhD, continues as CSO and a director.
In September, announced a collaboration with researchers at Leeds University to further elucidate the role of CM-101’s target, CCL24, in the vascular damage associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc).
In November, announced that experienced biotechnology executive Donald Marvin joined as chief financial officer, executive vice president and chief operating officer.
In December, received approval from the FDA for first U.S. Investigational New Drug application aimed at expanding clinical activities in Phase 2 trial in primary sclerosing cholangitis.
In December, biotechnology executive and medical and clinical trial expert David Weiner, MD, joined as interim chief medical officer.
In January 2022, the company announced the addition of Jack Lawler, who brings extensive experience managing global clinical trials, as vice president of global clinical development operations. In February 2022, in a planned move approved by the company’s shareholders, CEO Dale Pfost assumed the additional role of Chairman.
Revisions to Chemomab Clinical Programs
Chemomab also announced today that following a comprehensive strategic review it is making revisions to its current clinical programs. The changes are designed to optimize the clinical development of lead product candidate CM-101 by maximizing the clinical information obtained, generating additional important data to support future advancement to registration trials, and decreasing the overall risk in the CM-101 clinical development program in the lead indications of PSC and SSc, as well as potentially in additional indications where the scientific rationale is strong. The key top-line changes to the clinical development programs include the following:
Expanding the company’s commitment to primary sclerosing cholangitis with an enlarged clinical trial that adds an important dose finding component. The company plans to implement a dose finding component to the CM-101 development program by significantly expanding its Phase 2 trial for PSC. The company will be increasing the size of the study by adding additional dose cohorts, including plans to evaluate both a lower and a higher dose level of CM-101 to support future potential registrational trials. In addition, the company plans to add an open-label extension to the trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability and durability of effect over longer treatment durations. Chemomab plans to perform an interim analysis of the currently enrolling dose cohort in the study to assess safety and biomarker data, with an expected read-out in the second half of this year.
Focusing Chemomab’s clinical efforts in systemic sclerosis on establishing earlier biological and clinical proof of concept. Chemomab plans to focus its SSc trial towards establishing biological and clinical proof of concept in this patient population. The company is revising the design of its planned SSc trial in a way that should enable an expedited path to proof of concept data, as well as further elucidation of the different mechanisms of action of CM-101 in treating the skin, lung and vascular damage seen in SSc patients. The company is currently working with key systemic sclerosis researchers and clinical experts to refine and finalize the design and study endpoints of the Phase 2 trial and anticipates that these activities will result in trial initiation in the second half of 2022.
Winding down enrollment in the company’s safety, pharmacokinetic and biomarker liver fibrosis study, yielding a data readout targeted near the end of 2022. The company will be winding down its ongoing safety, tolerability and biomarker trial that is evaluating the subcutaneous formulation of CM-101 in liver fibrosis patients. Chemomab believes the early completion of this study should be sufficient to achieve its key objectives—exploring safety and providing the pharmacokinetic data needed to assess next steps in the development of the subcutaneous formulation—while allowing the company to focus its resources on its lead indications of PSC and SSc. The company will be halting screening and enrollment in the coming weeks and anticipates results near the end of 2022. The data readouts in this study will include safety and tolerability data to support future development of, and deeper insights into CM-101’s mechanism of action and are expected to provide additional data on the anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic activity of CM-101 in liver disease.
The company expects that the proposed changes to the CM-101 development program will provide important data on the clinical dose response relationship to inform the broader development program and to identify the optimal dose to advance in later PSC trials. The modifications are also expected to generate proof of concept data on clinically relevant aspects of SSc, a complex rheumatological disorder, to best inform the development path for a novel, first-in-class therapeutic like CM-101, along with relevant safety and tolerability data to support the evaluation of higher doses and inform decisions on next steps in the development of the subcutaneous formulation.
Chemomab intends to provide more detailed information on these clinical program changes around the time of its first quarter 2022 conference call in May.
"2021 was a transformational year for Chemomab as we became a public company, launched two Phase 2 trials and expanded our management team to include highly experienced biotech executives from the U.S.," said Dale Pfost, PhD, CEO of Chemomab. "With this foundation in place, we conducted a comprehensive review of our clinical programs, which recommended significant changes designed to achieve biological and pharmacological validation for CM-101 sooner and to prepare us to advance to registrational trials in as capital and time-efficient a manner as possible. Overall, we believe that these changes will sharpen our focus on our clinical efforts in PSC and SSC, and accelerate the timelines, particularly in SSc, to achieve meaningful mechanistic, biological and clinical proof of concept data. These revisions are expected to provide more clinical data read-outs over the next 24 months—we anticipate 3-4 data readouts compared to the two previously planned. They are also expected to decrease our capital requirements and enable us to extend our cash runway by about six months through to the end of 2023. We are excited about moving forward with this revised clinical program and look forward to providing more detail on our plans in the next few months."
Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2021 Financial Highlights
Cash Position: Cash, cash equivalents and short-term bank deposits were $61.2 million as of December 31, 2021, compared to $11.8 million as of December 31, 2020.
Research and Development (R&D) Expenses: R&D expenses were $2.4 million for the quarter and $6.3 million for the full year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $1.3 million and $4.7 million for the same quarter and year in 2020.
General and Administrative (G&A) Expenses: G&A expenses were $2.6 million for the quarter and $6.0 million for the full year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $0.7 million and $1.3 million for the same quarter and year in 2020.
Net Loss: Net loss was $5.0 million, or a net loss of $0.02 per basic and diluted Ordinary Share, for the fourth quarter and $12.5 million, or a net loss of $0.06 per basic and diluted Ordinary Share for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $2.0 million, or a net loss of $0.01 per basic and diluted share, for the quarter and $6.0 million, or a net loss of $0.04 per basic and diluted Ordinary Share, for the full year ended December 31, 2020. The weighted average number of Ordinary Shares outstanding, basic and diluted were 207,468,650 and 136,755,498 for the year ended December 31, 2021, and December 31, 2020, respectively.
For further details on the company’s financial results for the year ended December 31, 2021, please refer to the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, which will be filed with the SEC before the end of March 2022.
Conference Call
Chemomab management will host a conference call for investors today, Wednesday, March 9, 2022, beginning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss these results and answer questions. Shareholders and other interested parties may participate in the conference call by clicking this Webcast link to access the live webcast or replay, or by dialing 877-407-9208 (in the U.S.) or 201-493-6784 (outside the U.S. and in Israel) and entering passcode 13727097. The live webcast will also be available on the company’s website at View Source
A replay of the call will be available for 90 days at www.chemomab.com.