Curis Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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August 3, 2023

There are 5 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Curisys Second Quarter 2023 Business Update Call. All participants will be in a listen only mode. After the company's prepared remarks, call participants will have the opportunity to ask a question. Please note this event is being recorded. Would now like to turn the conference over to Diantha Duvall, Curis' Chief Financial Officer.

Operator

Ms. Diantha, please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, and welcome to Curis' Second Quarter 2023 Business Update Call. Before we begin, I would like to encourage everyone to go to the Investors section of our website atwww.curis.com to find our Q2 2023 business update release and related financial tables. I would also like to remind everyone that during the call, we will be making forward looking statements, which are based on our current expectations and beliefs. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially. For additional details, please see our SEC filings.

Speaker 1

Joining me on today's call are Jim Denzer, President and Chief Executive Officer and Jonathan Zung, Chief Development Officer. We will also be available for a question and answer period at the end of our call. I'd now like to turn the call over to Jim.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Diantha. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Curis' 2nd quarter business update call. Big news this quarter is, of course, the removal of the partial clinical hold on our take aim leukemia study and getting that done a full quarter faster than we expected. It's a testament to the hard work of our team at Curis and the strong support of our clinical investigators. I'd like to take this moment to express my gratitude and appreciation to everyone involved.

Speaker 2

In our discussions with FDA, we were also able to confirm that 300 milligrams BID is the recommended Phase 2 dose for monotherapy in leukemia. With that confirmation, we're excited to announce that we are expanding monotherapy enrollment in the TAK AIM leukemia study at 300 milligrams BID for relapsed refractory patients with spliceosome or FLT3 mutation. In addition, We're working with our clinical investigators on a frontline study combining emavusertib with azacitidine and venetoclax to treat all patients with AML regardless of their mutation status. We expect to have data from both the monotherapy and combination studies in 2024. Now let's transition to our tikain lymphoma study, where we're focusing on patients with primary CNS lymphoma.

Speaker 2

There's a high unmet need in this patient population And we believe combining emavusertib with Ibrutinib could potentially address the problem of Ibrutinib resistance and provide a meaningful new therapeutic option for these patients. We're currently enrolling patients and expect to have data in 2024. On the financial front, we were able to further strengthen our balance sheet with a $15,000,000 equity financing achieved with no discount and no warrant coverage. I'm sure everyone on this call knows how rare this is in the current market. All in all, it was a terrific quarter for Curis, and we're excited to be back in the clinic at the recommended Phase 2 dose of 300 milligrams and closely collaborating with our clinical investigators to develop a novel therapeutic with the potential to be a cornerstone therapy in heme malignancies.

Speaker 2

With that, I'll turn the call back over to Diantha to review our financial results for the quarter. Diantha?

Speaker 1

Thank you, Jim. Curis reported a net loss of $12,000,000 or $0.12 per share as compared to a net loss of 15,900,000 dollars or $0.17 per share for the same period in 2022. Pieris reported a net loss of $23,500,000 or $0.24 per share for the 6 months ended June 30, 2023 as compared to a net loss of $32,000,000 or $0.35 per share for the same period in 2022. Revenues for the Q2 of 2023 were $2,200,000 as compared to $2,400,000 for the same period in 2022. Revenues for the 6 months ended June 30, 2023 and 2022 were both $4,500,000 Research and development expenses were $10,000,000 for Q2 of 2023 as compared to $12,300,000 for the same period in 2022.

Speaker 1

The decrease in research and development expenses for the quarter is primarily attributable to a decrease in personnel costs. Research and development expenses were 19 $200,000 for the 6 months ended June 30, 2023, as compared to $23,800,000 for the same period in 2022. General and administrative expenses were $4,200,000 for the Q2 of 2023 as compared to $5,100,000 excuse me, as compared to $5,100,000 for the same period in 2022. The decrease in general and administrative was driven primarily by a decrease in personnel costs. General and administrative expenses were $9,000,000 for the 6 For the Q2 of 2023, other income net was $200,000 as compared to other expense net of $900,000 for the same period in 2022.

Speaker 1

Other income net was $200,000 for the 6 months ended June 30, 2023 as compared to other expense net of $1,900,000 for the same period in 2022. Other income and expense net primarily consists of interest income partially offset by expense related to future royalty payments. Including the proceeds from the July financing, Curis' cash, cash equivalents and investments totaled $77,400,000 And there were approximately 117,700,000 shares of common stock outstanding. We continue to be in a strong cash position and expect that our existing cash, cash equivalents and investments should enable us to maintain our planned operations into 25. With that, I'd like to turn the call over for questions.

Speaker 1

Operator?

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. And the first question will come from Soumit Roy with Jones Trading. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Hi, good afternoon, everyone, and congratulations on all the progress. Really a solid quarter. Thank you, Shimon. Would love to get a little bit of color on how the conversation with FDA went and where they got back the confidence in putting 300 milligram BID to be the go forward dose.

Speaker 2

Sure. Happy to. So it It went exactly the way we were hoping it would go. It just went faster. What we said when we were originally put on hold, as you know, The first questions they had were about the patient death 15 months ago.

Speaker 2

They very quickly came to the same conclusion we did That was due to underlying disease, not to drug. And then we immediately flipped into a Project Optimus discussion. And that's why it's over a year of work. Their view was that they liked the decision process that we had made of testing the 3 doses, 200, 304 100. They agreed all 3 doses were safe and all 3 doses led to a response, Sort of a high class headache.

Speaker 2

And while they liked 300 better than 400 for just the reason we said, it looked like we were getting the same responses in both levels. At 200, their view was we didn't have enough patients tested. So all they really asked was put more patients on drug. And as you know, they asked for 9 So put more patients on drug, run the data, rerun the analysis and let us know, if you come out in the same place. And the answer was really quite straightforward.

Speaker 2

We did exactly what they asked. We put 9 more patients on drug. We compiled the data, Produced the report, sent it off to FDA, and it was really a very straightforward discussion. 200 is a good dose. It's an active dose, but 300 looks to be a little bit So I'm pleased it came out where we expected it would come out.

Speaker 2

And obviously, I'm very pleased that the FDA moved more quickly than we anticipated.

Speaker 3

Great. This is a really good news. Yes. So When is the next data update at least from the 200 milligram longer term or should we think that it's all going to be Mid to later half of twenty twenty four with 300 milligram and the combination trial?

Speaker 2

Yes. We're a little hesitant to commit to exactly which date we're going to have. As you know, In the update we gave in the press release, we said 2024. And the fact of the matter is we go to every major medical conference in Heen. So we're always out there talking to our investigators and to analysts, of course, and we want to get data out as fast as you want to see it.

Speaker 2

So the issue for us on our end is now that we know our dose is 300 milligrams, we've got to get the sites Up, running and enrolling as fast as we possibly can. So it seems like in this early stage, it was too early to commit We're definitely going to have data by year end. That's why we said 2024. But which conference in 2024 remains to be We'll hopefully give an update on that later this quarter as we have a better eye towards enrollment.

Speaker 3

Got it. No, that's totally understandable. And on the combination trial venetoclax in the frontline setting, I'm assuming you would Continue to genotype the patients and hold the record if patients have direct for mutations And show the data in the following subgroups if need be.

Speaker 2

Yes. So we're continuing to look at those data and learn more about emobasertib in that population. As you know or as We have made more public. We now have a very clear strategy going forward as a result of our discussions with FDA. We know that this drug very consistently from mechanism of action To preclinical data to clinical data works exactly where we would expect it would as a single agent.

Speaker 2

It works in patients with FLT3 or spliceosome mutation. And so that's where we're going for monotherapy. But you also remember that IRAQ4Long is not just the single largest genetic driver of disease in this AML MDS spectrum, But it's also over expressed in the entire population. Half the population has so much of it that monotherapy works. The other half still has a significant amount.

Speaker 2

It's just not quite as much as the monotherapy crowd. So what we're planning on doing with this drug is In the rifle shot genetic populations where this drug ought to be differentially active and so far looks to be, We're going to go single agent, relapsedrefractory setting. Again, split 3 and spliceosome. For everybody Else, we're going to go frontline combination because we think that's what makes sense. In AML, the standard of care is Azavan.

Speaker 2

So we are going to go Azovant frontline in combination with emiluzertib all commerce, doesn't matter what mutation you have. In MDS, with the recent MAGRO release from Gilead, I would say the standard of care question is a little more open. We're still waiting for the output of the AZOVEN study, but it's not clear exactly what that standard of care regimen is. So it's also not clear what we would want to add emabucertib to. So we're at this point, what we're doing is engaging our physicians and KOLs to try and figure out what is the most appropriate strategy for this drug.

Speaker 2

But long term, our view generically is this drug is going to get used as a single agent wherever it makes sense. That's going to be spliceosome and FLT3 mutation. And everywhere else, it's going to go frontline all comers. No filter needed. That was a really long answer.

Speaker 2

I hope that was helpful.

Speaker 3

That was incredibly helpful. Thank you again for taking the questions and congratulations.

Speaker 2

Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you for calling in.

Operator

The next question will come from Yale Jen with Laidlaw and Company. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Good afternoon. And I also add my congrats on the progress. Thank you. Yes. My first question is in terms of HCM lymphoma regarding the TPNSL.

Speaker 3

Could you give us a little bit more color in terms of the current study design Process and eventually the timeline in terms of data release and

Speaker 2

Sure. So, in primary CNS lymphoma, so let's step back for a second. Just as in AML and MDS, IRAK4 is important Because it binds really hard to the mitosome and MyD88 in particular in the toll like receptor pathway and shuts it down. That's important on the AML MDS side because IRAC for long is the largest genetic driver of disease. On the lymphoma side, it's an indirect target.

Speaker 2

So NF kappa B is the problem in primary CNS lymphoma and NHL more broadly. The current treatment is Ibrutinib. That shuts down the BCR pathway, which is one of 2 pathways driving NF kappa B. Our drug emobusertib shuts down the toll like receptor path, which is the other pathway Driving NF kappa B. So our strategy in lymphoma is these patients who really want to down regulate NF appa B overactivity.

Speaker 2

Today, they're looking at using Ibrutinib or BTK inhibitor to do that work. We've got a drug that could be seen as an alternative. In fact, we tested it as a single agent. But rather than to pick 1 NF kappa The down regulator versus another. We found that they work synergistically.

Speaker 2

So what we're looking to do is find those indications within NHL where the disease is sufficiently aggressive that we can get an answer quickly, where the unmet need is critical, where these patients really don't have very good options. And ideally, where it's an orphan sized indication where we can get a very attractive regulatory path. While all three of those boxes get checked with primary CNS lymphoma, Our mechanism of action supports that that's a great indication or great setting for this combination. Our Preclinical data, of course, back that up. And our early treatment our early days in the clinic show that not only is that true, but it looks like Small n, we may be able to address ibrutinib resistance, which is a particular problem In PCNS, it's a problem in NHL more broadly, but it's a particular problem in primary CNS lymphoma.

Speaker 2

So that's where we're headed. It's going to be the combination of ibrutinib plus emavusertib in the orphan indication of primary CNS lymphoma.

Speaker 3

So that will be post a pertinent treatment and What's the size of the study initially you are planning? And what sort of endpoint you are thinking?

Speaker 2

That's right. So it's post ibrutinib. So these patients, in general, ibrutinib can give nice As you know in NHL, oftentimes ibrutinib can get a partial response. It doesn't very often get a complete response, But it can really help patients for a period of time. But typically these patients all relapse.

Speaker 2

We are going to capture them at that point And then add emabucertib to the therapy and hope to regain that response that they had once had and hopefully deepen it. So that's the plan. We've got a small number of patients to date that we've reported out. Our goal is to try and get to 20 patients. If we can get 20 patients of data and we can show that again reasonable sized population but still small that it looks like This is a compelling, therapy that it looks to be something that's, a good option For these patients that have relapsed on ibrutinib, we would want to go to the FDA to have a discussion about what the pivotal design needs to look like at that point.

Speaker 2

So look for an n equals 20, is our goal for this study.

Speaker 3

So would you anticipate more of the PR Or actually maybe some converts to CR, how should we overall thinking about In terms of the threshold, you feel that's worth to discuss with the FDA?

Speaker 2

Yes. So what we'd be looking for is a couple of things. First, obviously, it would be great to have a higher ORR. It would be great within the responses to have more of those PRs become CRs. And then lastly, we'd be looking at duration.

Speaker 2

In this group, because they will have already relapsed on ibrutinib. Any of those outcomes is positive outcome and, of course, we'll be examining those data very closely.

Speaker 3

Okay, great. That's very helpful and congrats on you in starting the trial in both sides of The chemo and cancers and we look forward to readout in the future.

Speaker 2

Thank you very much, Yale, and appreciate your support. Thank you for calling in.

Operator

The next question will come from Leigh Watsyk with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Hi, Jim and Diana. This is Rosemary on for Lee. Firstly, congrats on a great quarter again.

Speaker 2

Thank

Speaker 4

you. A couple of questions from us. So I know your last update was fairly recently, and you mentioned that you get the sites Up and running with 300 mg dose. Do you by chance happen to have a sense of enrollment speed yet or maybe how long it would take

Speaker 2

We really don't yet. Obviously, we just heard from the FDA and We're excited about it. Now we have to go back to the sites and we have to get back through their IRBs and it's a lot of blocking and tackling at the clinical site to get Enrollment up and running. So it's a little early to be able to say that they're all up and running again. I think we're trying to do 2 things simultaneously from an operational The first one is we want to increase the number of sites.

Speaker 2

As you may remember, we had 9 Sites at the beginning of the year. We'd love to end the year with double that. So we're working with new sites, identifying new KOLs and trying to see if we can expand our network of clinical sites period. With all sites, we're trying to get them up and running as fast Identify the patients, screen them and then enroll them into the study. My hope is that by the end of Q3, we'll have a pretty good sense of where our enrollment rate is going and where our process of getting new sites up and running is going.

Speaker 2

So we can be a little more granular on Which of the medical conferences makes the most sense for a data update? At this point in time, we're obviously very confident it would be sometime in 2024, But we can't really get more granular until we have a better sense of what where enrollment is headed.

Speaker 1

Sure, sure. Thank you.

Speaker 4

So, based upon what the data you already have at the RP2D, can you remind us about the bar for success for both And I don't know if this changes with the recent approval of Because they're in the first line?

Speaker 2

Yes. So, I would say, first, Our most recent data is in our corporate presentation on our website. So for you and for everybody else that's on the call, I would encourage you to go to curis.com. And if you scroll down, you'll see our corporate presentation deck. You can open it up and we have the most recent data there.

Speaker 2

And I think it's pretty compelling. We've got data on 84 patients, which includes all comers, all dose levels, but we also show the rifle shot Now that we know our patient populations, that's AML patients with spliceosome mutation And AML patients with FLT3 mutations, that's going to be the population we go after with monotherapy. And we know our dose. We know it's 300 milligrams. We've highlighted on in that deck on a slide exactly how many patients have had that combination and what they look like.

Speaker 2

So what we're looking to do right now is we've got 3 patients at 300 milligrams, 1 to 2 prior lines, Just the group we're looking for with a spliceosome mutation and 3 in with a FLT3 mutation. Of the 3 with a spliceosome mutation, 2 of the 3 have a CR or CRH and of the FLT3 patients, 2 of the 3 have a CR. Now I'm not suggesting that we're going to get a 66% CR rate. That would be outrageous. That's not what they get frontline.

Speaker 2

What I am suggesting is that our goal in each of these population groups is n equals 20. What you really need in order to have a good discussion with FDA that you've got a single agent that shows compelling activity We probably need 4 or 5 CRs, CRHs in those groups to Have a nice discussion. So in each of these groups of n equals 3, We've got 2 of 3 so far. We need 2 or 3 more in the next 17 patients in each of those groups. And if we can get that and we can make a pretty compelling case that this novel therapeutic does seem to offer a compelling benefit worth discussion.

Speaker 4

Got it. Understood. Thank you so much and congrats again.

Speaker 2

Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you for your support.

Operator

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to the company's President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. James Dentzer, for any closing remarks. Please go ahead,

Speaker 2

sir. Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining today's call. As always, Thank you to the patients and families participating in our clinical trials, to our team at Curis for their hard work and commitment and to our partners at Aurigene,

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you again for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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Curis Q2 2023
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