On August 7, 2024 Allakos Inc. (the "Company") (Nasdaq: ALLK), a biotechnology company developing antibodies for the treatment of allergic, inflammatory and proliferative diseases, reported a business update and announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024 (Press release, Allakos, AUG 7, 2024, View Source [SID1234645486]).

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Recent Allakos Events

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Initiated the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 1 trial of intravenous (IV) AK006 in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria.
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Completed dosing in the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled subcutaneous (SC) AK006 cohort in healthy volunteers.
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Reported safety, pharmacokinetics (PK), and pharmacodynamic (PD) results from the Phase 1 trial of IV AK006 in healthy volunteers.
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Presented preclinical data at the 2024 European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) Annual Congress on mast cell inhibition with AK006.

Upcoming Allakos Anticipated Milestones

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Report safety, PK, and PD results from the Phase 1 trial of SC AK006 in healthy volunteers in Q3 2024.
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Report randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled data from the Phase 1 trial of AK006 in patients with CSU at year end 2024.

Cash Guidance

Allakos ended the second quarter of 2024 with $123.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments. Allakos’ financial outlook, restructuring activities and estimated cash runway as reported by the Company in January 2024 remain unchanged. The Company reiterates that the restructuring activities will extend the cash runway into mid-2026 and continues to expect to end 2024 with total cash, cash equivalents and investments in the range of $81 to $86 million. The Company reiterates that an estimated $30 million of closeout, severance and other costs will be paid in 2024 in connection with exiting the lirentelimab development program, of which we have spent $13 million to date in the first six months of 2024. Approximately $1 million of these payments were made in the second quarter of 2024.

Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results

Allakos ended the second quarter of 2024 with $123.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments resulting in a net decrease in cash, cash equivalents and investments of $16.2 million during the second quarter of 2024.

Research and development expenses were $19.4 million in the second quarter of 2024 compared to $27.3 million in the second quarter of 2023, a decrease of $7.9 million. This quarter over quarter decrease is attributed to $2.5 million of lower contract research and development costs, primarily due to halting lirentelimab development, $2.5 million of decreased compensation costs and a $2.9 million decrease in other research and development expenses.

General and administrative expenses were $9.2 million for the second quarter of 2024 compared to $10.5 million for the second quarter of 2023, a decrease of $1.3 million. The quarter over quarter change included $0.7 million of decreased compensation costs and $0.6 million of decreased other general and administrative expenses.

Allakos reported a net loss of $26.7 million in the second quarter of 2024 compared to $35.1 million in the second quarter of 2023. Net loss per basic and diluted share was $0.30 for the second quarter of 2024 compared to $0.41 in the second quarter of 2023.