On November 10, 2025 Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Terns" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: TERN), a clinical-stage oncology company, reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2025, and provided corporate updates.
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"We’re thrilled with the positive momentum of the CARDINAL program generated by the unprecedented Phase 1 MMR achievement rate and encouraging safety/tolerability profile published in the recent ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper) abstract. These data continue to reinforce our view of the potential of TERN-701 to become a best-in-disease treatment for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)," said Amy Burroughs, chief executive officer of Terns Pharmaceuticals. "Our team continues to execute with precision and focus towards an updated and expanded CARDINAL readout at ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper), with an ultimate goal of bringing this important new therapy to CML patients."
Recent Pipeline Developments and Anticipated Milestones
TERN-701: Novel investigational allosteric BCR::ABL1 inhibitor for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)
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In November 2025, Terns announced that an abstract with updated data from the ongoing Phase 1 CARDINAL trial evaluating TERN-701 in patients with relapsed/refractory CML had been selected for oral presentation at the 67th ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper) Annual Meeting and Exposition
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The abstract reported data from the ongoing dose escalation and dose expansion parts of the CARDINAL trial. Highlights include from the abstract include:
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Overall (cumulative) major molecular response (MMR) rate of 75% by 24 weeks, with 64% achieving MMR and 100% maintaining MMR
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Overall (cumulative) MMR by 24 weeks in difficult to treat patient subgroups
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69% in patients with lack of efficacy to last tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)
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60% in patients who had prior asciminib
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67% in patients with prior asciminib / ponatinib / investigational TKI
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No patients had lost MMR at the time of data cutoff
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Encouraging safety and tolerability profile at all doses evaluated
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A more expansive and updated dataset from the CARDINAL trial will be presented at the ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper) Annual Meeting:
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Session Name: 632. Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: Clinical and Epidemiological: Therapeutic agents to enhance patient outcomes
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Session Date: December 8, 2025
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Session Time: 2:45 – 4:15pm ET
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Presentation Time: 2:45 – 3:00pm ET
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The Company will host a conference call to review the data on December 8, 2025 at 4:30pm ET. The event can be accessed live on the investor relations section of Terns’ website, where it will also be archived
TERN-601: Oral, small-molecule glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP1-RA) for obesity
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In October 2025, Terns announced top-line 12-week data from the Phase 2 study of TERN-601 for the treatment of obesity, which showed maximum placebo-adjusted weight loss of 4.6% with 12% treatment discontinuation due to adverse events
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Asymptomatic, reversible grade 3 liver enzyme elevations occurred in three participants during post-treatment follow-up period, two of which were deemed drug related
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The results of the Phase 2 study did not support the Company’s further development of TERN-601 in obesity
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Terns had previously announced its decision to no longer invest in metabolic disease
Pipeline and Partnering Programs
"As we continue to sharpen our strategic focus in oncology, earlier this year we decided we would discontinue internal clinical development of our metabolic programs. While these metabolic assets have shown promise, we believe their full potential can best be realized through external partnerships," noted Andrew Gengos, chief financial officer of Terns.
TERN-501: Oral, thyroid hormone receptor-beta (THR-β) agonist
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Based on non-clinical studies, THR-β is a complementary mechanism to GLP-1, potentially providing broader metabolic and liver benefits in addition to increased weight loss
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Terns is seeking a strategic partner to advance this program
TERN-801: Oral, small-molecule glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor (GIPR) antagonist
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In the third quarter of 2025, Terns nominated TERN-801, an oral small-molecule GIPR antagonist as a development candidate from the TERN-800 series discovery effort
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Terns is seeking a strategic partner to advance this program
Third Quarter 2025 Financial Results
Cash Position: As of September 30, 2025, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $295.6 million, as compared with $358.2 million as of December 31, 2024. Based on its current operating plan, Terns expects these funds will be sufficient to support its planned operating expenses into 2028.
Research and Development (R&D) Expenses: R&D expenses were $19.9 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, as compared with $15.2 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2024.
General and Administrative (G&A) Expenses: G&A expenses were $7.8 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, as compared with $9.8 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2024.
Net Loss: Net loss was $24.6 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, as compared with $21.9 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2024.
(Press release, Terns Pharmaceuticals, NOV 10, 2025, View Source [SID1234659729])