On May 8, 2018 Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INFI) reported its first quarter 2018 financial results and provided an update on the company, including its progress with IPI-549, a first-in-class oral immuno-oncology product candidate that selectively inhibits phosphoinositide-3-kinase-gamma (PI3K-gamma) and targets immune-suppressive tumor macrophages (Press release, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, MAY 8, 2018, View Source [SID1234526232]). Infinity is evaluating IPI-549 as a monotherapy and in combination with Opdivo (nivolumab), a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, in a Phase 1/1b study in approximately 200 patients with advanced solid tumors.
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"We continue to make important progress with IPI-549 and look forward to reporting clinical and translational data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting in June from the combination dose escalation portion of the trial, in addition to providing an update on the monotherapy portion of the trial and initial data from combination expansion cohorts initiated in early 2018," said Adelene Perkins, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of Infinity Pharmaceuticals. "We expect that these data will provide additional insights into the activity, durability, safety and mechanism of action of IPI -549, including in combination with nivolumab."
Recent developments include the following:
IPI-549
Continued Progress with the Phase 1/1b Study: The monotherapy portions of the study and combination dose escalation portion of the study have been completed. Enrollment, which began in 2018, is ongoing for six disease-specific combination expansion cohorts, along with a seventh combination expansion cohort of patients pre-selected for having high baseline blood levels of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs).
2018 Program Goals for IPI-549
At ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) report:
Data from the monotherapy expansion component of the study
Data from the combination dose-escalation component of the study
Initial data from six disease-specific combination expansion cohorts
Report more mature clinical and translational data (including insights from paired tumor biopsies) from the six disease-specific cohorts and initial data from the cohort of patients pre-selected for having high baseline blood levels of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in the combination expansion component of the study in the second half of 2018
First Quarter 2018 Financial Results
At March 31, 2018, Infinity had total cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities of $47.8 million, compared to $57.6 million at December 31, 2017.
R&D expense for the first quarter of 2018 was $5.9 million, compared to $4.0 million for the same period in 2017. The increase in R&D expense was primarily due to higher clinical development expenses for IPI-549.
General and administrative expense was $3.6 million for the first quarter 2018, compared to $6.4 million for the same period in 2017. The decrease in G&A expense was primarily due to a reduction in bonus and stock compensation.
Net loss for the first quarter of 2018 was $9.5 million, or a basic and diluted loss per common share of $0.18, compared to a net loss of $10.5 million, or a basic and diluted loss per common share of $0.21 for the same period in 2017.
Financial Outlook
Infinity’s 2018 financial guidance remains unchanged:
Net Loss: Infinity expects net loss for 2018 to range from $35 million to $45 million.
Cash and Investments: Infinity expects to end 2018 with a year-end cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities balance ranging from $15 million to $25 million.
Cash Runway: Based on its current operational plans, Infinity expects that its existing cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities will be adequate to satisfy the company’s capital needs into the third quarter of 2019. Infinity’s financial guidance excludes additional funding or business development activities and does not include the potential $22 million payment from Verastem upon the first regulatory approval of duvelisib, or a potential $2 million payment from PellePharm, a private company, upon initiation of a Phase 3 study for the hedgehog inhibitor program, which Infinity licensed to PellePharm in 2013. Verastem announced that its New Drug Application for duvelisib was accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and that it was given priority review with an FDA action date of October 5, 2018. With the potential Verastem payment, Infinity expects that its cash runway would extend into 2020.
Conference Call Information
Infinity will host a conference call today, May 8, 2018, at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss these financial results and company updates. A live webcast of the conference call can be accessed in the "Investors/Media" section of Infinity’s website at www.infi.com. To participate in the conference call, please dial 1-877-316-5293 (domestic) or 1-631-291-4526 (international) five minutes prior to start time. The conference ID number is 2479309. An archived version of the webcast will be available on Infinity’s website for 30 days.
About IPI-549 and the Ongoing Phase 1/1b Study
IPI-549 is an investigational first-in-class, oral, immuno-oncology product candidate targeting tumor-associated myeloid cells through selective phosphoinositide-3-kinase-gamma (PI3K-gamma) inhibition, thereby reducing pro-tumor macrophage function and increasing anti-tumor macrophage function. In preclinical studies, IPI-549 demonstrated the ability to reprogram macrophages from a pro-tumor (M2), immune suppressive function, to an anti-tumor (M1) immune activating function and enhance the activity of, and overcome resistance to, checkpoint inhibitors.1, 2 As such, IPI-549 may have the potential to treat a broad range of solid tumors and represents a potentially additive or synergistic approach to restoring anti-tumor immunity in combination with other immunotherapies such as checkpoint inhibitors.
The ongoing Phase 1/1b study being conducted by Infinity is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, activity, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of IPI-549 as a monotherapy and in combination with Opdivo in approximately 200 patients with advanced solid tumors.3 The study includes monotherapy and combination dose-escalation components, in addition to monotherapy expansion and combination expansion components. The monotherapy dose-escalation and expansion components are complete. The combination dose-escalation component is also complete, and combination expansion cohorts are enrolling.
The combination expansion component of the study includes multiple cohorts designed to evaluate IPI-549 in patients with specific types of cancer, including patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma and head and neck cancer whose tumors show initial resistance or initially respond to but subsequently develop resistance to immune checkpoint blockade therapy. The combination expansion component also includes a cohort of patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) who have not been previously treated with immune checkpoint blockade therapy, a cohort of patients with mesothelioma, a cohort of patients with adrenocortical carcinoma and a cohort of patients with high baseline blood levels of MDSCs.
IPI-549 is an investigational compound and its safety and efficacy has not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any other health authority.