DiaMedica Therapeutics Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
March 20, 2024

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the DiaMedica Therapeutics Full Year 2023 Conference Call. An audio recording of the webcast will be available shortly after the call on DiaMedica's website at www. Diamedica.com in the Investor Relations section. Before the company proceeds with its remarks, please note that the company will be making forward looking statements on today's call. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these statements.

Operator

More information, including factors that could cause actual results to differ from projected results, appears in the section entitled Cautionary Statement Note regarding forward looking statements in the company's press release issued yesterday and under the heading Risk Factors in DiaMedica's most recent annual report on Form 10 ks. DiaMedica's SEC filings are available at www.sec.gov and on its website. Please also note that any comments made on today's call speak only as of today, March 20, 2024, and may no longer be accurate at the time of any replay or transcript rereading. DiaMedica disclaims any duty to update its forward looking statements. Following the prepared remarks, we will open the phone lines for questions.

Operator

I would now like to introduce your host for today's call, Mr. Rick Pauls, DiaMedica's President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Pauls, you may begin, sir.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Paul. Hello, everyone, and welcome to our full year 2023 conference call. I am joined this morning by Loriane Masuoka, our Chief Medical Officer and Scott Callan, our CFO. To start off the call this morning, I would like to welcome Lori Anne Masuoka as our new Chief Medical Officer. Doctor.

Speaker 1

Masuoka has only been with us for a few short months, but is already making an enormous impact with clinical sites and building strong momentum with current and potential physician investigators. Doctor. Masayoka is a board certified neurologist with more than 25 years of experience building and expanding high value pipelines in the biopharmaceutical industry. She has a history of building and leading high performing teams in clinical development through all stages and the ultimate approval of new medicines. Her experience also includes playing a key role in developing strategic partnerships and acquisitions of multiple biotechnology companies.

Speaker 1

She has served as Officer for Epigenics Therapeutics, Marinis Pharmaceuticals, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, now part of Merck and Nektar Therapeutics. She was also an independent board member of Opiant Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired last year for an upfront premium of over 100% and the potential for an approximately 200% premium if the contingent value rights are achieved. The breadth of our experience includes managing teams in the areas of clinical research, pharmacovigilance, biostatistics and data management, regulatory affairs and clinical operations. We welcome Laurie Anne on the call today and I'm thrilled to have her as a key member of our team.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Rick. I'm excited to join the management team at DiaMedica for several reasons. First, DM199 represents a potential breakthrough in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke, a serious and life threatening condition for which no new approved medical therapy has emerged in over 25 years. On the basis of the subgroup analyses of the REMEDY-one study, DM199 shows great promise in returning stroke patients back to baseline neurologic function and preventing recurrent stroke and death. DiaMedica hosted a booth at the International Stroke Conference last month with follow-up requests to our REMEDY-two trial from over 80 stroke centers.

Speaker 2

11 of those have already requested participation in our trial. They were enthusiastic about DM199's mechanism of action to increase collateral circulation in the area of ischemic damage after a stroke without increased risk of hemorrhage. They see DM199 as more like revascularization strategies such as tPA and mechanical thrombectomy and considerably more promising than the many failed neuroprotective agents. Also at this year's International Stroke Conference, Doctor. Scott Kasner, DiaMedica's Global Principal Investigator for REMEDY 2 presented a poster in the main hall discussing the REMEDY 2 trial design.

Speaker 2

2nd, the management team and the clinical functions, which I now lead are among the savviest, Finally, the REMEDY-two trial is a thoughtfully conceived well designed study that is well managed and I believe will provide definitive evidence of whether DM199 can become an important addition to the treatment options for patients who have suffered an ischemic stroke. Now let me provide an update on the REMEDY 2 progress. As a reminder, our final clinical protocol went into effect in mid November and the first U. S. Sites were activated in December 2023.

Speaker 2

The sites activated in December were our fast track centers who were open prior to our clinical hold and we are now in the process of expanding to a total of 40 to 50 sites in the United States. Once the site expresses interest and we select them, it takes approximately 3 to 6 months for contracting and IRB approval. New site commitment was slow over the holidays, but beginning in mid January and continuing through the IFC Conference in February, we've had a surge of new site commitments. As of today, we have 6 sites activated with an additional 18 sites in the startup phase and a deep pipeline of 40 additional sites selected for prequalification visits in the U. S.

Speaker 2

It is also important to point out that some of the largest and most reputable stroke research hospitals in the country have decided to join our trial. These new centers have substantial patient volumes and clinical research infrastructure and consistently rank among the top enrolling stroke centers in AIF studies. As we move into Q2 and early summer, we expect a substantial ramp up in opening U. S. Sites.

Speaker 2

Consistent with my past experience in recruiting sites for other studies, we don't expect linear growth in adding new sites and patient volumes and envision more of a hockey stick like ramp up in the U. S. During the second half of 2024 and continuing into 2025. With respect to additional countries, in Canada, the Canadian Stroke Consortium has endorsed our protocol and made recommendations regarding qualified study sites. We have identified 6 Canadian hospitals to date to participate in REMEDY 2 and can now make our application to Health Canada for approval of our trial.

Speaker 2

We expect Canadian sites to commence activation in Q3 of this year. In Australia, the Australian Stroke Trials Network has provisionally endorsed our protocol last week and we are moving now to select study sites and initiate regulatory filing activities. We plan to work with many of the same highly engaged centers we work with in REMEDY-one as well as new sites recommended by the network. We expect Australian study sites to commence activating by the end of the year as well. In Europe, including the UK, we have to comply with new rules and requirements related to drug manufacturing quality audits.

Speaker 2

We have nearly completed the additional procedures and documentation required. This work needs to be completed prior to seeking European regulatory approval for this study. We plan to pursue sites in select European countries with experienced research teams and potential for significantly higher enrollment rates. We expect to commence site activations late this year. In summary, we expect to have 25 to 30 sites active in recruiting by the end of Q2 and most of the approximately 75 plus sites at the end of 2024.

Speaker 2

We have been in close contact with our first open sites and we know they are prescreening patients as we are getting questions on eligibility and participant consenting processes. We anticipate the 1st post surge as the bulk of the sites are activated towards the end of the year. I would also point out that some competing trials are concluding in the near future freeing up critical study center staff bandwidth and likely increasing the patients that can be approached. Given all of this, we are comfortable in now saying barring any unexpected issues, that we anticipate the 144th participant for our interim analysis will be enrolled in Q1 2025. I will now turn the call back over to Rick.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Larianne. I would also remind everyone that as we discussed last quarter, the reason we submitted a protocol revision in October of 2023 was to increase our probability of clinical success. Those changes including narrowing the focus to patients experiencing moderate strokes as indicated by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale Score between 5 15. In our Phase 2 REMEDY 1 trial, there were the patients which demonstrated a greater level of full recovery as a measured by the Moffitt Rankin Score of 0 to 1 on the 6 point scale, where there was an 18% improvement of DM199 versus placebo. This compared to the moderate to moderate severe participants, which showed a 15% improvement versus placebo.

Speaker 1

Importantly, we don't believe that this will dramatically reduce the number of eligible stroke patients. We also took measures aimed at reducing the alpha penalty in the interim analysis. We are confident that these enhancements will provide greater likelihood of clinical success and place DM199 on the fastest path to FDA approval and importantly bringing DM199 to stroke patients who have no treatment options today. Our clinical team has been working diligently to identify, qualify and engage physician investigators and clinical sites and ensure that sites feel well supported to conduct this trial. We also recently expanded our clinical operations with the addition of Rebecca Davitry Frias as our Vice President of Clinical Operations in February to further expand and strengthen our clinical operations team leadership.

Speaker 1

Rebecca was previously Head of Clinical Operations at Epigenics Therapeutics. I would like to now turn the call to Scott Kellen to review this quarter's financial

Speaker 3

results. Thanks, Rick, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for being part of today's call. As Rick mentioned, we announced our full year 2023 financial results and filed our annual report on Form 10 ks yesterday. These documents again are both available at either the DiaMedica or the SEC websites. As of December 31, 2023, we reported a total combined cash and investments of $52,900,000 current liabilities of $2,800,000 and working capital of $50,900,000 This compares with the total combined cash and investments of $33,500,000 $2,200,000 in current liabilities and $31,700,000 in working capital as of December 31, 2022.

Speaker 3

The increases in cash and investments and in working capital were due primarily to the $36,800,000 of net proceeds from our private placements in April June of last year, of course partially offset by cash used to fund operating activities during fiscal 2023. Net cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $18,700,000 dollars compared to $11,500,000 in the prior year. The increase in cash used in operating activities was driven primarily by the company's higher net loss and increased amortization of discounts on purchased marketable securities, partially offset by non cash share based compensation and the effects of changes in operating assets and liabilities during 2023. We believe that our current cash and investments provide us a runway that will get us to 2026. Our research and development expenses increased to $13,100,000 for the year ended December 31, 2023, up from $7,800,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Speaker 3

This increase was driven principally by costs incurred for the in use studies performed to address the previous clinical hold on our REMEDY-two trial, costs incurred for the Phase 1c study and increased manufacturing and process development costs for DM199. Also contributing to the increase were higher personnel costs, including non cash share based compensation associated with expanding the clinical team. General and administrative expenses were $8,200,000 for the year ended December 31, 2023, up from $6,200,000 in the prior year. This increase was primarily driven by increased legal fees incurred in connection with the company's lawsuit against PRA and increased personnel costs incurred in conjunction with expanding the company's team. Increased costs for patent prosecution and non cash share based compensation also contributed to the increase.

Speaker 3

Other income was $1,900,000 for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to $400,000 for 2022. This increase was driven by both higher interest rates and increased marketable securities balances in 2023 following our April June 23 private placements. Now before I turn you back over to Rick, let me provide an update on the latest developments with the PRA lawsuit. The 3 judge panel recently informed us that they did not find sufficient causal link between PRA's breach of our study agreement and the damages we claimed. We find ourselves in an odd position of having a court finding PRA in breach of the study agreement that we are entitled to the full results of the study, a judgment which PRA is currently appealing by the way, but not being entitled to at least a return of fees paid under that agreement.

Speaker 3

So we have until May 6 to notify PRA and the court of a decision to appeal. We are currently evaluating our options. With that, we would like to open the call for questions. Operator, if you could please open the lines now.

Operator

And our first question comes from Thomas Flaten of Lake Street Capital. Your line is open.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Good morning. Appreciate you taking the questions. With respect to patient enrollment, so if the initial sites were activated in December of last year and we're looking for the 1st patient soon, Is that something we should expect that from activation to actual patient enrollment we're looking at a 3 to 4 month lag? Is that reasonable or is that unique to the fact that the whole study is starting up?

Speaker 1

Sure. Lorraine, do you mind taking that one?

Speaker 2

Sure. So as mentioned earlier, many of our study sites are academic institutions and obtained. So, we made great progress in opening them shortly after the clinical hold was lifted and the final protocol was finalized in November. But it does take them some time to get up and running. We have to program their pharmacies, to be able to do the intravenous infusion and that takes a little bit of time.

Speaker 2

And mostly it's a waiting game. It's an issue of numbers. We need to have a lot more critical mass of clinical sites up and ready to enroll because we never know when the right patient is going to come through the emergency room doors.

Speaker 4

And another question, given the lag in getting Canada and Australia up and running, it seems that the interim analysis will be heavily weighted towards U. S. Patients. Is there any reason to suspect that that would not be representative of the full patient enrollment, which will be more represented by Australia, Canada and the EU?

Speaker 2

Well, we anticipate that there will be a mix of patients because remember, as we said, we anticipate that EU and UK and Canada, Australia will be up and running by the end of the year. So we anticipate full enrollment of the interim analysis of 144 patients to be completed by the end of Q1 of, 2025. So there will be a mix of patients. There will be a number of U. S.

Speaker 2

Patients obviously, but we do believe it will be representative.

Speaker 4

Great. Appreciate taking the questions. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Sure.

Operator

Our next question comes from Francois Brisebois of Oppenheimer. Your line is open.

Speaker 5

Hi. Can you hear me okay?

Speaker 1

Yes. Yes, Frank.

Speaker 5

Okay. Perfect. Sorry, I had a funny reception here. So I was just wondering, so Q1 'twenty five is what we think enrollment will be complete for the interim read. Can you remind us expectations around the interim read?

Speaker 5

And from enrollment, just in terms of the study design, what would make sense from full enrollment to data timeline? Anything you can share there would be helpful. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Sure. So after patient 144 has been dosed, there'll be a 90 day follow-up. And then after that, there'll be 6 to 7 weeks for database lock and DSMB review and then notice of the resampling size.

Speaker 5

Okay, great. And in terms of expectations of data, can you remind us of possible outcomes? Is it similar to what it used to be or any changes there?

Speaker 1

Sure. So at the interim analysis, if we are not seeing a drug effect, so we're seeing a drug effect of less than approximately 4% versus placebo, the study will be terminated. Otherwise, there will be a resampling size the resampling size will be between 240,728 patients. And so we've had the study powered for a 14% as the base case, which would be approximately 350. So if we're seeing a greater effect, then we would anticipate to seeing a reduction in the size.

Speaker 1

If we're seeing less of an effect, we'd see an increase.

Speaker 5

Okay. Thank you. And then the last question is just in terms of the lawsuit. Those fees, do you disclose what those fees were that you were hoping to get reimbursed?

Speaker 3

No, Frank. This is Scott. We haven't disclosed any of those details thus far.

Speaker 5

Okay. That's it for me. Thank you.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Frank.

Operator

Our next question comes from Alex Nowak of Craig Hallum. Your line is open.

Speaker 6

Okay, great. Good morning, everyone.

Operator

Just on

Speaker 6

the timelines here, timelines did shift to the right by about a quarter here. So I'm just curious what changed versus the prior targets given on the Q3 call?

Speaker 1

Sure. So on the Q3 call, what we had disclosed is that our CRO had thought that we could complete the interim enrollment by the end of this year. And since then we've had more time to better understand the projections for sites enrollment in particular. And by that we're now comfortable to actually putting out formal guidance of Q1 2025.

Speaker 6

Are you finding that it's harder to whether it be activate a site, enroll the first patient at a site versus your prior expectation?

Speaker 1

No change in terms of that.

Speaker 6

Okay. And then maybe to ask Frank's question in different ways, just how much overall has been spent on the PRA lawsuit

Speaker 3

Yes, again, we haven't disclosed those numbers specifically other than noted that it's obviously a significant driver of the increase, Alex. And principally, what we got to get our arms around relative to the appeal is, can we put any kind of bans or caps on those fees and so that we don't put our current cash runway at risk. Okay.

Speaker 4

So in other words, if

Speaker 5

it costs too much

Speaker 3

that could be a determining factor in moving forward.

Speaker 6

If you decide not to move forward with an appeal, I'm sure you must have some sort of you must know what the damage amount is generally. So I assume it's not material enough to disclose. Is that right?

Speaker 3

I'm not sure I understand. The court found no sufficient causal link. So at this point, if we don't appeal, I don't think they'll change that conclusion.

Speaker 6

Okay. Well, I guess, reading the court document, it looks like the court wanted you to pay puree's legal fees. I'm just trying to understand what their legal fees ultimately is?

Speaker 3

No, no, we don't have exposure for that. The Dutch courts operate a little differently. They have an assigned amount that they charged us and we had to pay that, but it wasn't determined based upon upon their costs. It was around $40,000

Speaker 6

Got it. Okay.

Speaker 5

All

Speaker 6

right. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Alex.

Operator

And seeing no further questions, I'll turn the call back over to our host. Great.

Speaker 1

We would like to thank everyone for joining us this morning and for your continued support. We're building momentum in our REMEDY-two trial and look forward to the next update. This concludes our call today. Thank you.

Operator

The meeting has now concluded.

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Earnings Conference Call
DiaMedica Therapeutics Q4 2023
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