On August 10, 2015 GenSpera, Inc. (OTCQB: GNSZ) on August 6, 2015, the company reported its financial results for the three and six months ended June 31, 2015, and has provided the following corporate update to its shareholders in order to highlight the Company’s extensive organizational advances and clinical progress during the second quarter of 2015 (Filing, 8-K, GenSpera, AUG 10, 2015, View Source [SID:1234507140]). GenSpera continues to unlock conventional thinking to conceive, design, and develop novel cancer therapies. GenSpera’s unique technology platform combines a powerful, plant-derived cytotoxin (thapsigargin) with a patented prodrug delivery system that provides targeted release of drug candidates within tumors.

"The second quarter of 2015 has been incredibly busy and very significant for GenSpera’s future," said Craig Dionne, Ph.D., chief executive officer at GenSpera. "With impressive final Phase II clinical data for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), plus meeting and exceeding clinical milestones for our ongoing Phase II glioblastoma trials which resulted in expanded patient enrollment, I believe the value of mipsagargin is being telegraphed strong. It is an exciting time for GenSpera and management looks forward to ongoing communications with all our primary audiences."

Second Quarter Clinical and Business Highlights

· On July 16, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit entered judgment in GenSpera, Inc. v. Annastasiah Mudiwa Mhaka in favor of GenSpera. In a per curiam order without an opinion, the Federal Circuit affirmed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granting summary judgment in GenSpera’s favor in two consolidated cases relating to the inventorship of two patents owned by GenSpera. The district court had issued a declaratory judgment that Dr. Annastasiah Mhaka should not be added as an inventor to the two patents at issue, and had also granted summary judgment with respect to state law tort claims brought by Dr. Mhaka against the company and two of its founders, Dr. John Isaacs and Dr. Sam Denmeade. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit previously dismissed another appeal brought by Dr. Mhaka from the same district court judgments.

· GenSpera’s strategic partner, Phyton Biotech, has had its international patent application WO 2015/0892978 A1 "PRODUCTION OF THAPSIGARGINS BY THAPSIA CELL SUSPENSION CULTURE," published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The invention described in the patent application provides, for the first time, a suspension cell culture suitable for mass production of thapsigargin and offers a potentially alternative route to commercial scale production of this starting material for synthesis of mipsagargin.

· We issued final data from our Phase II liver cancer trial in which a total of twenty-five patients were treated with mipsagargin. Study participants experienced a median time to progression of 4.5 months, more than double the time demonstrated in prior studies with placebo or ineffective agents. Sixty-three percent of patients experienced stable disease at two months. Additionally, mipsagargin was shown to dramatically decrease blood flow in liver tumors. 

· Santosh Kesari, MD, PhD, Principal Investigator of GenSpera’s glioblastoma clinical trial, received a $1.6 million RO-1 grant from the Food and Drug Administration for preclinical work and biomarker development in support of the ongoing mipsagargin clinical trial studies in humans. The clinical trial is being conducted at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center in La Jolla, CA. Sufficiently encouraging data were observed in the first stage of the ongoing Phase II study of mipsagargin in glioblastoma (brain cancer) patients to warrant continuation of enrollment for an expansion phase of the trial. We have now treated fifteen patients in our Phase II glioblastoma clinical trial.

· GenSpera continued partnering, licensing, and research collaboration discussions with multinational and regional pharmaceutical companies.

· GenSpera harvests and plants next generation crop of thapsigargin in Spain.

· In July 2015, we completed a private placement of approximately $2.5 million of the Company’s securities. 

Second Quarter Corporate Communications Highlights

· GenSpera was featured upon Los Angeles KTLA "Health Smart" television news program. The show effectively conveyed the potential of the Company’s broad technology platform.

· Craig Dionne begins writing monthly Chairman’s blog designed to inform, educate, and provide perspective to shareholders about GenSpera’s drug development and business progress.

· PCG Advisory Group (PCG), GenSpera’s Investor Relations agency of record, orchestrated a series of non-deal roadshows and investor outreach programs. Since engagement, GenSpera has been introduced to a new level of institutional funds and individuals that could be strategic long term investors for the Company both nationally and internationally.

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On August 10, 2015 Stemline Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:STML), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel oncology drugs that primarily target cancer stem cells (CSCs) and tumor bulk, reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 (Press release, Stemline Therapeutics, AUG 10, 2015, View Source [SID:1234507184]).

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Ivan Bergstein, M.D., Stemline’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, "This quarter, we began enrollment in the expansion stage of our SL-401 pivotal trial in BPDCN, a highly aggressive malignancy of unmet medical need. This follows completion of the lead-in stage of this trial, wherein we evaluated multiple cycle SL-401 administration at escalating doses in first-line and relapsed/refractory BPDCN as well as relapsed/refractory AML. In the lead-in, we established a dose and schedule for the expansion stage, and observed major objective responses, including complete responses, some with gross clearance of bulky disease in multiple organ systems in BPDCN. We are encouraged by both the lack of cumulative side effects and cases of ongoing efficacy seen thus far with multiple cycles. The expansion stage focuses on relapsed/refractory BPDCN patients, which we believe could support registration. We look forward to updating and reporting detailed data at upcoming medical conferences."

Dr. Bergstein continued, "With the expansion stage of our BPDCN pivotal trial underway, we continue to pursue additional opportunities to expand SL-401’s potential in other malignancies, and have opened trials in early and late stage AML and high-risk myeloproliferative neoplasms. We also continue to advance and position our other pipeline candidates, SL-701 and SL-801. With a strong cash position and multiple programs advancing in a variety of indications, we remain well positioned to achieve our objective of building a leading commercial stage biopharmaceutical company."

Second Quarter 2015 Financial Results Review

Stemline ended the second quarter of 2015 with $109.0 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments, as compared to $58.6 million as of December 31, 2014. In the first quarter of 2015, the Company completed an equity offering raising $68.6 million in gross cash proceeds on the sale of 4.4 million common shares.

For the second quarter of 2015, Stemline had a net loss of $10.2 million, or $0.58 per share, compared with a net loss of $6.0 million, or $0.47 per share, for the same period in 2014.

Research and development expenses were $8.2 million for the second quarter of 2015, which reflects an increase of $4.1 million compared with $4.1 million for the second quarter of 2014. The higher expenses during the second quarter were primarily attributable to the SL-401 clinical program due largely to the ramp up of patient accrual.

General and administrative expenses were $2.2 million for the second quarter of 2015, which reflects an increase of $0.2 million compared with $2.0 million for the second quarter of 2014. The higher costs were primarily attributable to an increase in stock based compensation expense relating to administrative employees.

On August 10, 2015 Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO), a biotechnology company developing novel oncology and drug-delivery therapies, reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 (Press release, Halozyme, AUG 10, 2015, View Source [SID:1234507141]). Financial highlights include revenues of $43.4 million and net income of $3.0 million, or $0.02 per share, compared to revenues of $18.4 million and a net loss of $16.3 million, or $0.13 per share, for the second quarter of 2014.

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"Our performance in the quarter continued to demonstrate the strength of our two-pillar strategy," said Dr. Helen Torley, president and CEO. "In the ENHANZE pillar, we signed our largest licensing agreement in company history with AbbVie, which has the potential to generate new royalty revenue and approximately $130 million for each of up to nine targets.

"In our oncology pillar, we continued to make good progress toward the planned initiation of our phase 3 trial in metastatic pancreatic cancer patients, and expanded our efforts to explore and demonstrate the pan-tumor potential of our investigational new drug, PEGPH20, through our first oncology clinical collaboration agreement. This agreement with Eisai will broaden the PEGPH20 development plan into breast cancer, building on our ongoing work in pancreatic and non-small cell lung cancer, exploring combinations with chemotherapies and immunotherapies."

Second Quarter 2015 Highlights and Subsequent Events

Global clinical collaboration with Eisai Co., Ltd. to investigate HALAVEN (eribulin) and PEGPH20 in metastatic breast cancer: Halozyme entered into a worldwide clinical collaboration with Eisai Co. Ltd. to evaluate HALAVEN in combination with PEGPH20 in first line HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer patients. The companies will co-fund a phase 1b/2 clinical trial to explore whether HALAVEN in combination with PEGPH20 can improve overall response rate, as compared with HALAVEN alone.

Received feedback from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on the Phase 3 Study 301 design. During the quarter, the company received scientific advice from the EMA for its planned Phase 3 registration study in metastatic pancreatic cancer patients with high-HA tumors. Based on feedback received to date from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the EMA, the company plans to proceed with the trial design previously discussed with the FDA and continues to target the end of first quarter 2016 to initiate the study.

Global collaboration with AbbVie to develop and commercialize products using ENHANZE technology: Halozyme entered into a worldwide collaboration and license agreement with AbbVie for the purpose of developing and commercializing products combining proprietary AbbVie compounds with Halozyme’s ENHANZE technology. Halozyme received an initial payment of $23 million in June 2015. The agreement provides for milestone payments totaling approximately $130 million for each of up to nine collaboration targets, in addition to tiered royalty payments based on net sales of products using ENHANZE technology.

Interim results from Study 202 evaluating PEGPH20 with gemcitabine and ABRAXANE (nab-paclitaxel) in metastatic pancreatic cancer patients were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper): In a retrospectively defined sub-population of patients, the data showed a doubling in median progression free survival in metastatic pancreatic cancer patients with high levels of hyaluronan (HA) who were treated with PEGPH20 combined with ABRAXANE and gemcitabine (9.2 months vs. 4.3 months in patients treated with ABRAXANE and gemcitabine alone). Additional reported results included:
A more than doubling of overall response rate of 52 percent versus 24 percent (p-value of 0.038) and a duration of response of 8.1 months compared to 3.7 months in high HA patients treated with PEGPH20 combined with ABRAXANE and gemcitabine (PAG) versus ABRAXANE and gemcitabine (AG);

A trend toward improvement in median overall survival of 12 months compared to 9 months in high HA patients treated with PAG versus AG (hazard ratio of 0.62) despite discontinuation of PEGPH20 in more than half of the PAG-treated patients at the time of the clinical hold in April 2014.

A thromboembolic event (TE) event rate of 13 percent in 38 patients treated with PAG versus 18 percent in 17 patients receiving AG.

Global agreement with Ventana Medical Systems to collaboratively develop a companion diagnostic for cancer treatment: Entered into a global agreement with Ventana to develop and commercialize a companion diagnostic assay for use with PEGPH20. Under the agreement, Ventana will develop the in vitro diagnostic, with the intent of submitting it for regulatory approval in the United States, Europe and other countries.

Second Quarter 2015 Financial Highlights

Revenues for the second quarter of 2015 were $43.4 million, compared to $18.4 million for the second quarter of 2014, driven by a $23 million payment for initiation of a global collaboration agreement with AbbVie. Revenues in the second quarter included $6.4 million in royalty revenue from sales of products under collaboration agreements, $7.7 million in product sales of bulk rHuPH20 for use in manufacturing collaboration products for Roche and Baxalta, $4.2 million in Hylenex recombinant (hyaluronidase human injection) product sales, and $24.7 million in collaboration revenues, which includes the $23 million payment from AbbVie. Royalty revenues represent January to March 2015 partnered product sales as a result of the one quarter lag in royalty reports.

Research and development expenses for the second quarter of 2015 were $21.2 million, compared to $18.6 million for the second quarter of 2014. The increase was primarily due to an increase in expenses related to preclinical and clinical activities for PEGPH20, off-set by a planned decrease in expenses associated with discontinued development programs.

Selling, general and administrative expenses for the second quarter of 2015 were $9.8 million, compared to $8.8 million for the second quarter of 2014. The increase was primarily due to an increase in personnel expenses, including stock compensation, for the period.

Net income for the second quarter of 2015 was $3.0 million, or $0.02 per share, compared to a net loss for the second quarter of 2014 of $16.3 million, or $0.13 per share.

Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $140.7 million at June 30, 2015, compared to $128.5 million at March 31, 2015. Net cash increase in the second quarter of 2015 was approximately $12.2 million.

Financial Outlook for 2015

For the full year 2015, the company revised its previously disclosed guidance to the following:

Net revenues to be in the range of $110 million to $115 million, from a prior range of $85 million to $95 million.
Operating expenses to be in the range of $160 million to $170 million, from a prior range of $145 million to $155 million.
Net cash burn to be between $20 million to $30 million, from a prior range of $35 to $45 million, with year-end cash balance expected to be $105 million to $115 million.

The company raised its revenue projection due to payment received from the AbbVie agreement. Operating expenses are expected to increase primarily due to acceleration of a bulk PH20 manufacturing campaign to fulfill current and future orders, and the building of capabilities related to an expansion of the PEGPH20 clinical program from 2 to 5 trials, including assuring readiness for the global phase 3 study at the end of Q1 2016. Cash burn is expected to decrease due to the inflow of new revenue, partially offset by the increase in planned expenses.

On August 10, 2015 MabVax Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: MBVX), a clinical-stage oncology drug development company, provided a corporate update and reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 (Filing, 8-K, Telik, AUG 10, 2015, View Source [SID:1234507187]).

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"We are reporting progress toward achieving our near-term drug development milestones and with our capital formation," stated MabVax’s President and Chief Executive Officer David Hansen. "We completed a $11.7 million equity financing led by OPKO Health, Inc., and its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, biotech investor and entrepreneur Dr. Phillip Frost, which put MabVax in one of the best financial positions in our corporate history. We finished the second quarter with approximately $7.2 million in cash and equivalents, including the release on June 30, 2015, of $3.5 million of funds from the equity financing to the Company that were being held in escrow by OPKO Health, Inc. and Frost Gamma Investment Trust. We believe that our current cash position is sufficient to support our near-term drug discovery and development efforts."

"The encouraging results from our non-human primate safety study for HuMab 5B1 further support our plan to file two Investigational New Drug applications, or INDs, with the FDA by 2015 year-end and begin both clinical trials in the first quarter of 2016," he added. "The GMP manufacturing of our clinical supplies of HuMab 5B1-based product for both clinical trials is on track for delivery in the fourth quarter of this year."

MabVax plans to initiate two complementary Phase I clinical trials in the first quarter of 2016. One clinical trial is aimed at determining the safety and potential utility of HuMab 5B1 as a therapeutic agent in subjects with metastatic pancreatic cancer. The second clinical trial is aimed at demonstrating the utility of 89Zr-HuMab 5B1, the Company’s radio-labeled HuMab 5B1 antibody, as a next-generation PET imaging agent for the diagnosis, staging, and management of pancreatic cancer.

Second Quarter and Recent Highlights

Significant financing transaction with a leading investor – April 10, 2015 – closed on approximately $11.7 million in a private placement led by OPKO Health, Inc. and its Chairman and CEO Dr. Phillip Frost. On June 30, 2015, OPKO Health, Inc. and Frost Gamma Investment Trust investments in the aggregate of $3.5 million associated with the financing were released from escrow.

Encouraging results of non-human primate toxicology study – On May 5, 2015, announced results from non-GLP toxicology testing of HuMab 5B1 antibody completed by a leading independent contract research organization. These results detailed that the antibody, administered in either a single dose or repeated doses, produced no significant adverse findings even at the highest dosage levels tested. Non-human primates in this acute dose range finding study were challenged with multiple dose levels to assess drug pharmacokinetics, as well as with repeated doses of the antibody to identify any adverse toxicology signals. These studies were conducted in the most relevant animal models with material produced by the Company’s GMP manufacturing partner. The antibody as tested is representative of the clinical supply material scheduled for delivery later this year for the planned Phase I clinical trials.

Rockefeller University Collaboration – In July 2015, entered into a research collaboration agreement to supply Rockefeller University’s Laboratory of Molecular Genetics and Immunology with antibody material to explore the mechanism of action of constant region (Fc) variants of the HuMab 5B1 in the role of tumor clearance. The Company will supply additional research materials as requested by the university, which is evaluating ways to optimize the function.

Second Quarter 2015 Financial Results

• Grant revenues totaled approximately $137,000.

• Research and development expenses were $2.3 million.

• General and administrative expenses totaled approximately $4.2 million.

• Net loss for the quarter was $6.4 million, or $0.29 per share, on approximately 25.2 million shares of common stock outstanding.

• Completed $11.7 million financing including the release of $3.5 million in funds held in escrow.

• At June 30, 2015, cash and cash equivalents totaled $7.2 million.

About HuMab 5B1

In pre-clinical research, MabVax’s HuMab 5B1 antibody has demonstrated high specificity, affinity and lack of cross-reactivity with closely related antigens. The antibody has also shown potent cancer cell killing capacity and efficacy in animal models of pancreatic, colon and small cell lung cancer. When combined with a radio-label as a novel PET imaging agent, 89Zr-HuMab 5B1 has demonstrated high image resolution of tumors in established xenograft animal models, making it attractive as a potential companion diagnostic for the therapeutic product.

(Filing, 10-Q, Manhattan Pharmaceuticals, AUG 10, 2015, View Source [SID:1234507160])

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