Aerovate Therapeutics Announces Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results
Aerovate Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AVTE) reported Q3 2022 financial results on November 14, 2022, highlighting ongoing progress in its IMPAHCT clinical trial for pulmonary arterial hypertension. The company faced delays in site initiation and patient enrollment, with topline data expected in late 2023 or early 2024. Financially, cash reserves stood at $142.6 million, down from $167.4 million in December 2021, primarily due to increased operational costs. R&D expenses surged to $10.8 million from $3.4 million year-over-year, while the net loss rose to $13.6 million compared to $6.2 million a year ago.
- Topline data from IMPAHCT trial expected in Q4 2023 or Q1 2024.
- Expanded intellectual property portfolio with two new patents.
- Management team strengthened with the appointment of an experienced Senior VP.
- Net loss increased to $13.6 million from $6.2 million year-over-year.
- Cash reserves decreased by $24.8 million due to rising operational costs.
- R&D expenses grew significantly by $7.4 million year-over-year.
WALTHAM, Mass., Nov. 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aerovate Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVTE), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs that meaningfully improve the lives of patients with rare cardiopulmonary disease, today announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2022, and recent business highlights.
Recent Highlights
- Progress Continued for IMPAHCT Global Phase 2b/Phase 3 Clinical Trial
- Presented IMPAHCT at CHEST
- Expanded Intellectual Property Portfolio
- Management Team Strengthened
Progress Continued for IMPAHCT Global Phase 2b/Phase 3 Clinical Trial. IMPAHCT (Inhaled iMatinib Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Clinical Trial) is a Phase 2b/Phase 3 trial of AV-101, our dry powder inhaled formulation of the anti-proliferative drug imatinib for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a devastating disease impacting approximately 70,000 people in the United States and Europe. While we have experienced delays in site initiation and patient enrollment, progress continued for our IMPAHCT trial with additional clinical site activations and patients enrolled. We expect to report topline data from the Phase 2b portion of the trial in the fourth quarter of 2023 or first quarter of 2024.
Presented IMPAHCT Clinical Trial Design at CHEST. The IMPAHCT trial design was presented at the American College of Chest Physicians Annual Meeting (CHEST) in a poster session on October 18, 2022. The adaptive, seamless trial design for our Phase 2b/Phase 3 trial allows for continuous enrollment across phases and a more efficient drug development timeline.
Expanded Intellectual Property Portfolio. We continued expanding our intellectual property portfolio with a third and fourth issued patent in the U.S. since our last quarterly filing. The United States Patent and Trademark Office issued Patent 11,413,289 and Patent 11,464,776 to Aerovate and we have received a notice of allowance for another patent. We continue prosecuting multiple additional applications to cover our product globally.
Management Team Strengthened. Sanjeev Khindri joined our leadership team as Senior Vice President, Clinical Development. Dr. Khindri has more than 15 years of experience as a clinical trialist and leader across all stages of clinical development in respiratory medicine including experience in rare diseases such as PAH and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis as well as a strong understanding of pediatric drug development and orphan drug legislation. He previously led medical teams at Akari Pharmaceuticals plc, Actelion Ltd., Galecto Biotech AB, and GSK plc. He trained in adult internal medicine and clinical pharmacology in the United Kingdom.
Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results
Financial guidance: We expect that our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments will be sufficient to fund our operations into the second half of 2025, based on our current operating plan.
Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled
R&D expenses: Research and development (R&D) expenses for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022 were
G&A expenses: General and administrative (G&A) expenses for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022 were
Net loss: Net loss for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022 was
About AV-101
AV-101 is an investigational, proprietary dry powder inhaled formulation of the anti-proliferative drug imatinib. Developed specifically for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), AV-101 is designed for delivery by an easy-to-use dry powder inhaler, directly into the lungs to maximize potential clinical benefit and limit systemic adverse effects. Phase 1 results presented at the 2022 American Thoracic Society (ATS) annual meeting showed that AV-101 delivered by dry powder inhalation was generally well tolerated by healthy adult volunteers with no serious adverse events reported. Aerovate is enrolling patients in the IMPAHCT Phase 2b/Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of different doses of AV-101 in adults with PAH.
About the IMPAHCT Trial
IMPAHCT (Inhaled iMatinib Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Clinical Trial) is a multi-national, placebo-controlled Phase 2b/Phase 3 trial in adults with PAH that will continuously enroll patients as the study progresses from Phase 2b to Phase 3. The Phase 2b portion of the trial will evaluate three doses of AV-101 over 24 weeks, compared to placebo, to identify an optimal dose based on the primary endpoint, change in pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), and safety, tolerability, and other clinical measures. The Phase 3 portion of the trial will compare patients taking the optimal dose of AV-101, selected from the Phase 2b data, to placebo. The primary endpoint of the Phase 3 portion of the trial will be change in six-minute walk distance (6MWD) over 24 weeks versus placebo. More information about this trial is available at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05036135.
A copy of the CHEST conference trial-design poster presentation is available in the “Events & Presentations” section of Aerovate’s website at https://ir.AerovateTx.com/events-presentations.
About Aerovate Therapeutics, Inc.
Aerovate is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs that meaningfully improve the lives of patients with rare cardiopulmonary disease. Aerovate’s initial focus is on advancing AV-101, its proprietary dry powder inhaled formulation of the drug imatinib for the treatment of patients with PAH. Learn more at aerovatetx.com or follow the company on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Available Information
Aerovate announces material information to the public about the Company, its products and services, and other matters through a variety of means, including filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), press releases, public conference calls, webcasts, the investor relations section of the Company website at ir.aerovatetx.com, and the Company’s Twitter account @AerovateTx in order to achieve broad, non-exclusionary distribution of information to the public and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “future,” “goal,” “intend,” “look forward to,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “seek,” “strategy,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions regarding future periods. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the therapeutic potential and clinical benefits of AV-101; our expectations regarding clinical site activation and patient enrollment for our Phase 2b/Phase 3 trial; our anticipated timing for the release of topline data from the Phase 2b portion of our clinical trial; our belief that we will have capital to fund Aerovate into the second half of 2025; our expectations regarding the strength of our intellectual property portfolio globally; our business plans and objectives for AV-101, including expectations regarding timing and success of our Phase 2b/Phase 3 clinical trial, potential regulatory submissions and approvals for AV-101; and our growth and goals as a company.
Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and important factors that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements contained in this press release, including, without limitation, those risks and uncertainties related to the therapeutic potential of AV-101; the timing associated with the identification and activation of clinical sites, patient enrollment, initiation, delivery of drug supply and continuation of our Phase 2b/Phase 3 trial of AV-101 in PAH patients; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, clinical trials, operations and goals; positive results from a clinical study may not necessarily be predictive of the results of future or ongoing clinical studies; regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries; as well as those risks and uncertainties set forth more fully under the caption “Risk Factors” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and subsequent filings with the SEC. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any such statements to reflect any change in expectations or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release represent our views only as of the date hereof and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date.
Aerovate Therapeutics, Inc.
Selected Financial Information
(Unaudited)
(in thousands)
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | |||||||||||||||
| Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations | 2022 | 2021 | 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | $ | 10,783 | $ | 3,418 | $ | 26,401 | $ | 9,941 | ||||||||
| General and administrative | 3,369 | 2,782 | 10,984 | 4,813 | ||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 14,152 | 6,200 | 37,385 | 14,754 | ||||||||||||
| Loss from operations | (14,152 | ) | (6,200 | ) | (37,385 | ) | (14,754 | ) | ||||||||
| Total other income | 564 | 16 | 896 | 14 | ||||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (13,588 | ) | $ | (6,184 | ) | $ | (36,489 | ) | $ | (14,740 | ) | ||||
| Net loss per share, basic and diluted | $ | (0.56 | ) | $ | (0.26 | ) | $ | (1.49 | ) | $ | (1.80 | ) | ||||
| Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding, basic and diluted | 24,454,786 | 23,885,017 | 24,425,390 | 8,180,359 | ||||||||||||
| September 30, | December 31, | ||||||
| Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets | 2022 | 2021 | |||||
| Assets | |||||||
| Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments | $ | 142,578 | $ | 167,375 | |||
| Other assets | 5,078 | 7,988 | |||||
| Total assets | 147,656 | 175,363 | |||||
| Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity | |||||||
| Accounts payable and accrued and other current liabilities | $ | 7,326 | $ | 2,358 | |||
| Other liabilities | 1,192 | 587 | |||||
| Total liabilities | 8,518 | 2,945 | |||||
| Total stockholders’ equity | 139,138 | 172,418 | |||||
| Total liabilities and stockholders' equity | $ | 147,656 | $ | 175,363 | |||
Media Contact
info@aerovatetx.com
Investor Contact
ir@aerovatetx.com
FAQ
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