MorphoSys AG Reports Second Quarter and First Half 2022 Financial Results

On August 3, 2022 MorphoSys AG (FSE: MOR; NASDAQ: MOR) reported that results for the second quarter and first half year of 2022 (Press release, MorphoSys, AUG 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234617421]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"In the second quarter of 2022 we made important progress in advancing patient enrollment across our pivotal phase 3 studies and commercializing Monjuvi, where we observed a bounce back in sales following a challenging first quarter", said Jean-Paul Kress, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys. "Despite the reduced guidance update, we anticipate Monjuvi growth to continue into the second half of the year and beyond. We remain well capitalized to get through important clinical milestones, potentially bringing new effective blood cancer medicines to patients and generating significant value for our shareholders."

Tafasitamab Highlights:

Monjuvi (tafasitamab-cxix) U.S. net product sales of US$ 23.3 million (€ 21.7 million) for the second quarter 2022 (Q2 2021: US$ 18.0 million (€ 14.9 million)) and US$ 41.9 million (€ 38.3 million) for the first half of 2022.

Minjuvi royalty revenue of € 0.7 million for sales outside of the U.S. in the second quarter 2022 and € 1.4 million for the first half of 2022.

Pfizer, Incyte and MorphoSys signed a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement on June 13, 2022, to investigate the immunotherapeutic combination of Pfizer’s TTI-622, a novel SIRPα-Fc fusion protein, and Monjuvi plus lenalidomide in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who are not eligible for autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT).

Other highlights:

Pelabresib data presented at EHA (Free EHA Whitepaper) Congress 2022: Efficacy and safety data from the ongoing phase 2 MANIFEST trial of pelabresib in myelofibrosis and translational research findings suggesting the potential disease-modifying effect of pelabresib in patients with myelofibrosis were presented in oral presentations at the European Hematology Association (EHA) (Free EHA Whitepaper) 2022 (EHA 2022) Hybrid Congress.

Agreement with HIBio on felzartamab and MOR210: Human Immunology Biosciences, Inc. (HIBio) signed an equity participation agreement and license agreements with MorphoSys to allow HIBio to develop and commercialize MorphoSys’ felzartamab, an anti-CD38 antibody, and MOR210, an anti-C5aR1 antibody across all indications worldwide, with the exception of Greater China for felzartamab and Greater China and South Korea for MOR210. As part of the agreements, MorphoSys will receive a 15% equity stake in HIBio, along with certain equity earn-in provisions and standard investment rights. On achievement of development, regulatory and commercial milestones, MorphoSys will be eligible to receive payments from HIBio of up to US$ 1 billion across both programs, in addition to tiered, single- to low double-digit royalties on net sales of felzartamab and MOR210. Upon signing, MorphoSys also received an upfront payment of US$ 15 million for MOR210. HIBio has full responsibility for future development and commercialization of felzartamab and MorphoSys will transfer the development candidate and the clinical studies over to HIBio in the next months. MorphoSys will be compensated for ongoing program expenses for felzartamab during this program transition period by HIBio.

Significant Events After the End of the Second Quarter of 2022:

On July 26, 2022, MorphoSys notified Royalty Pharma that it intends to draw US$ 300.0 million (€ 296.3 million) of the development funding bond. The proceeds are anticipated to be delivered to MorphoSys in September 2022 and will be used primarily to fund development activities.

Financial Results for the Second Quarter of 2022 (IFRS):

Revenues for the second quarter 2022 were € 59.4 million compared to € 38.2 million for the same period in 2021. The year-over-year growth in Monjuvi product sales was driven by higher demand.

Cost of Sales: In the second quarter 2022, cost of sales were € 17.2 million compared to € 10.1 million for the comparable period in 2021.

Research and Development (R&D) Expenses: In the second quarter 2022, R&D expenses were € 60.9 million compared to € 40.5 million in the second quarter 2021. The increase in R&D expenses is primarily due to the first-time inclusion of Research and Development expenses from Constellation from July 2021 on and higher investment to support the advancement of clinical programs.

Selling, General and Administrative (SG&A) Expenses: Selling expenses in the second quarter 2022 were € 24.0 million compared to € 28.5 million in the second quarter 2021. The decrease was driven by higher investments in 2021 made into the commercial organization, the first full year after the Monjuvi launch. General and administrative (G&A) expenses in the second quarter 2022 amounted to € 12.4 million compared to € 30.5 million in the second quarter 2021. The decrease was driven by the transaction costs for the Constellation acquisition and Royalty Pharma agreements executed in the second quarter 2021.

Operating Loss: Operating loss amounted to € 55.1 million in the second quarter 2022 (Q2 2021: operating loss of € 71.4 million).

Consolidated Net Loss: For the second quarter 2022, consolidated net loss was € 235.0 million (Q2 2021: consolidated net profit of € 20.9 million).

Financial Results for the first six months 2022 (IFRS):

Revenues for the first six months of 2022 were € 100.9 million (H1 2021: € 85.4 million). Revenues include € 38.3 million from the recognition of Monjuvi product sales in the U.S. Royalties in H1 2022 included € 1.4 million from the sale of Minjuvi outside of the U.S. by our partner Incyte and € 39.7 million from Tremfya sales which is fully passed onto Royalty Pharma.

Cost of Sales: For the first six months of 2022, cost of sales were € 25.1 million (H1 2021: € 15.2 million). The year-over-year increase was primarily driven by higher sales of Monjuvi in the U.S. and Minjuvi outside of the U.S.

R&D Expenses: In the first six months of 2022, R&D expenses were € 126.0 million compared to € 73.8 million for the same period in 2021. The R&D expenses increased due to inclusion of expenses from Constellation and higher investments to support the advancement of clinical programs.

SG&A Expenses: Selling expenses decreased in the first six months of 2022 to € 45.9 million compared to € 56.6 million for the same period in 2021. The year-over-year decrease was primarily driven by higher investments made in the commercial organization in 2021, the first full year after the Monjuvi launch. G&A expenses amounted to € 27.0 million in the first six months of 2022 compared to € 40.8 million for the same period in 2021. The year-over-year decrease was driven primarily by the transaction costs for the Constellation acquisition and Royalty Pharma agreements executed in the second quarter of 2021.

Operating Loss: Operating loss amounted to € 123.1 million in the first six months of 2022 (H1 2021: operating loss of € 101.0 million).

Consolidated Net Profit / Loss: For the first six months of 2022, consolidated net loss was € 357.6 million (H1 2021: consolidated net loss of € 20.7 million).

Cash and Other Financial Assets: As of June 30, 2022, the Company had cash and other financial assets of € 754.3 million compared to € 976.9 million on December 31, 2021. The Company anticipates proceeds of US$ 300.0 million in September 2022 from the development funding bond provided by Royalty Pharma.

Number of shares: The number of shares issued totaled 34,231,943 on June 30, 2022, remained unchanged since December 31, 2021.

Updated Full Year 2022 Financial Guidance:

The updated financial guidance was issued on July 26, 2022.

Amounts in million

Updated 2022
Financial Guidance

Previous* 2022
Financial Guidance

2022 Guidance Insights

Monjuvi U.S. Net Product Sales

US$ 90m to 110m

US$ 110m to 135m

100% of Monjuvi U.S. product sales are recorded on MorphoSys’ income
statement and related profit/loss is split 50/50 between MorphoSys and Incyte.

Gross Margin for Monjuvi U.S. Net Product Sales

75% to 80%

75% to 80%

100% of Monjuvi U.S. product cost of sales are recorded on MorphoSys’ income
statement and related profit/loss is split 50/50 between MorphoSys and Incyte.

R&D expenses

€ 275m to 300m

€ 300m to 325m

Reduction in guidance range driven primarily by license agreement for
felzartamab to HIBio executed on June 14, 2022.

SG&A expenses

€ 150m to 165m

€ 155m to 170m

53% to 58% of mid-point of SG&A expenses represent Monjuvi U.S. selling
costs of which 100% are recorded in MorphoSys’ income statement. Incyte reimburses
MorphoSys for half of these selling expenses.

*The Previous 2022 Financial Guidance was initially provided on January 7 and reiterated on March 16 and on May 4, 2022.

Additional information related to 2022 Financial Guidance:

Tremfya royalties will continue to be recorded as revenue without any cost of sales in MorphoSys’ income statement. These royalties, however, will not contribute any cash to MorphoSys as 100% of the royalties will be passed on to Royalty Pharma.
MorphoSys anticipates receiving royalties for Minjuvi sales outside of the U.S. Guidance for these royalties is not being provided as MorphoSys does not receive any sales forecasts from its partner Incyte.
MorphoSys does not anticipate any significant cash-accretive revenues from the achievement of milestones in 2022. Milestones for otilimab are passed on to Royalty Pharma. Milestones from all other programs remain with MorphoSys at 100%.
MorphoSys anticipates sales of commercial and clinical supply of tafasitamab outside of the U.S. to its partner Incyte. Revenue from this supply is recorded in the "Licenses, milestones and other" category in MorphoSys’ income statement. These sales result in a zero gross profit/margin. As such, MorphoSys does not provide guidance for these sales.
While R&D expense is anticipated to grow year-over-year due to investments in three pivotal studies, the growth is partially being offset by the consolidation of research/discovery activities.
SG&A expense guidance range reflects savings from synergies following the acquisition of Constellation and streamlined commercialization efforts.
Operational Outlook for 2022:

MorphoSys anticipates the following key development milestones in 2022:

First proof-of-concept data from the ongoing clinical phase 2 study of CPI-0209 in solid tumors and blood cancer;
MorphoSys’ partner Roche expects a pivotal data readout of the GRADUATE 1 and GRADUATE 2 trials with gantenerumab in the second half of 2022. Roche initiated these phase 3 development programs for patients with Alzheimer’s disease in 2018;
MorphoSys’ partner GSK expects a pivotal data readout of the phase 3 ContRAst program investigating otilimab for rheumatoid arthritis by the end of 2022.

*Value as of December 31, 2021

MorphoSys will hold its conference call and webcast on August 4, 2022, to present the results of the second quarter and first half of 2022 and the outlook for 2022.

Please dial in 10 minutes before the beginning of the conference.

A live webcast and slides will be made available at the Investors section under "Upcoming Events & Conferences" on MorphoSys’ website, View Source and after the call, a slide-synchronized audio replay of the conference will be available at the same location.

The statement for the second quarter/first half year of 2022 (IFRS) are available for download at: View Source

Atara Biotherapeutics to Present at the Canaccord Genuity 42nd Annual Growth Conference

On August 3, 2022 Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATRA), a leader in T-cell immunotherapy, leveraging its novel allogeneic Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) T-cell platform to develop transformative therapies for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases, reported that Pascal Touchon, President and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the Canaccord Genuity 42nd Annual Growth Conference on Thursday, August 11, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. PDT / 12:00 p.m. EDT (Press release, Atara Biotherapeutics, AUG 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234617420]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

A live webcast of the presentation will be available by visiting the Investor Events and Presentations section of atarabio.com. An archived replay of the webcast will be available on the Company’s website for 30 days following the live presentation.

Groundbreaking CAP Guideline Clarifies Biomarker Testing, Impacts Multiple Cancer Types

On August 3, 2022 College of American Pathologists reported A new College of American Pathologists (CAP) evidence-based guideline is among the first to address testing based less on the cancer type or tumor origin and more on the methodology and status of a biomarker—in this case, microsatellite testing and deficient mismatch repair process assessment (Press release, College of American Pathologists, AUG 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234617419]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

The "Mismatch Repair (MMR) and Microsatellite Instability (MSI) Testing for Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy" guideline provides clarity for pathologists and oncologists to improve the evaluation of patients with colorectal, endometrial, gastroesophageal, small bowel, and certain other cancers who may be eligible for immunotherapies known as immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Published today in an early online release in Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, the guideline also breaks new ground with recommendations on the role of tumor mutational burden in MMR testing and the evaluation for Lynch Syndrome, a hereditary cancer syndrome that may be unexpectedly detected in the work-up of these patients with advanced cancers. The CAP developed the guideline in collaboration with experts from the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper), and the patient advocacy group Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC).

"We’ve seen that patients whose cancers had high levels of MSI or defective MMR can respond well to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, and now we have objective guidance to assess that status across a range of cancer types," explains pathologist Russell Broaddus, MD, PhD, FCAP, who led the expert panel to develop the guideline.

Dr. Broaddus noted that when the FDA approved immunotherapy treatment for patients with MSI-high or MMR-deficient tumor status, regardless of cancer type, it did not detail how to test for that status. The new CAP guideline helps to fill that gap, providing oncologists, pathologists, and laboratories of all sizes with objective, evidence-based recommendations to efficiently deploy specific assays and accurately identify patients eligible for treatment.

With six recommendations and three good practice statements, the guideline provides data and details regarding the efficacy and utility of specific testing modalities across applicable cancer types, including MMR by immunohistochemistry, MSI by polymerase chain reaction, and MSI by next generation sequencing, for patients being treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. In addition, the guideline identifies gaps in our current knowledge base, which, when addressed, may represent opportunities to help improve the methodological approach for identifying the patients with advanced cancers who are most likely to respond to this therapeutic approach.

To ensure patients receive more effective testing with consistent, high-quality results, and expert interpretations, the CAP provides free, open access tools and resources with each evidence-based guideline to help clinical and laboratory teams adopt the recommendations. MMR-MSI guideline resources are downloadable on cap.org.

Quanterix to Participate in the Canaccord Genuity 42nd Annual Growth Conference

On August 3, 2022 Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ: QTRX), a company expanding the limits of exploration with ultrasensitive biomarker detection, reported that President and Chief Executive Officer Masoud Toloue will present at the Canaccord Genuity 42nd Annual Growth Conference on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. ET in Boston, MA (Press release, Quanterix, AUG 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234617418]). Toloue will also host one-on-one and group meetings with institutional investors that day.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

A live webcast of the conversation will be available on the Investors section of the Quanterix website at View Source Replays of the webcast will be available on the Quanterix website for 90 days following the conference.

GenomOncology and Congenica Announce Collaborative Development of Novel Precision Oncology Solution

On August 3, 2022 Congenica, a UK-based digital health company that enables the rapid analysis and interpretation of genomic data, reported that it has selected the GenomOncology Precision Oncology Platform for the development of a novel ground-breaking CE-IVD Precision Oncology Solution (Press release, GenomOncology, AUG 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234617417]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Driven by the increasing adoption of cancer genomics and the growing need to individualize therapeutic recommendations, Congenica is developing a fully automated data analysis application, aimed at transforming the usability and scalability of genomic data for routine oncology clinical practice.

To further enrich decision support capabilities for this novel precision oncology solution, Congenica is collaborating with GenomOncology to provide regional therapy recommendations.

GenomOncology’s Precision Oncology Platform is designed to harmonize the latest precision oncology information, which includes an extensive set of annotations and ontologies, as well as curated public, licensed, and proprietary content and data sets. By incorporating this comprehensive knowledgebase, Congenica will have improved access to curated, precision oncology information from the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and others, to yield data-driven insights and recommendations within their CDS.

Alistair Johnson, Chief Professional Services Officer at Congenica, said: "This collaboration signifies the expansion of Congenica’s Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Platform into oncology. Our novel product offers a fully automated future-proof end-to-end solution that unlocks the full potential of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) in the clinical oncology space. GenomOncology brings extensive experience in precision oncology care, and its platform has been developed specifically to deliver clinical informatics solutions for cancer. We look forward to working with GenomOncology to further drive precision medicine, delivering high quality patient care and shaping the future of human health."

"Our partnership with Congenica enables us to expand opportunities for precision oncology care at the global level. The extensive information available within the GenomOncology Precision Oncology Platform, combined with the capabilities of the Congenica Clinical Decision Support Platform, will give clinicians and researchers the knowledge needed to provide their patients with the most appropriate care opportunities," said Brad Wertz, Chief Executive Officer at GenomOncology.