On March 9, 2020 Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRNX), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for rare endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors, reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2019 and provided a corporate update (Press release, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, MAR 9, 2020, View Source [SID1234555317]).
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"Crinetics made significant progress in 2019 advancing our development programs, as highlighted by the initiation of the ACROBAT Phase 2 clinical trials for acromegaly with our lead product candidate paltusotine," said Scott Struthers, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Crinetics. "Paltusotine is a first-in-class nonpeptide small molecule, which demonstrates our ability to develop novel drugs for diseases and patients that have not seen truly innovative therapies in a long time. We anticipate that 2020 will be a year of additional important milestones as our pipeline continues to advance. Importantly, we plan to provide guidance on timing of our acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumor programs early in the second quarter. In addition, we are advancing our ACTH antagonist development candidate for Cushing’s disease and congenital adrenal hyperplasia as well as our sst5 agonist development candidate for congenital hyperinsulinemia towards the clinic as IND enabling activities for both programs are underway."
Full Year 2019 Highlights
Dosed first patients in Phase 2 clinical trials of paltusotine (formerly CRN00808) for acromegaly. In March 2019, Crinetics dosed the first patients in the ACROBAT EDGE and EVOLVE trials for paltusotine in patients with acromegaly. EDGE is an open label exploratory study designed to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of paltusotine, an oral selective nonpeptide somatostatin receptor type 2 (sst2) biased agonist, in patients with acromegaly whose disease is not biochemically controlled by octreotide LAR or lanreotide depot alone. EVOLVE is a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized withdrawal study designed to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of paltusotine in patients with acromegaly whose disease is biochemically controlled by octreotide LAR or lanreotide depot monotherapy.
Initiated Phase 1 trial of CRN01941. In May 2019, Crinetics initiated a Phase 1, double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, single- and multiple-dose study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of CRN01941 in healthy volunteers. Like paltusotine, CRN01941 is an oral nonpeptide sst2 biased agonist. CRN01941 is initially in development as a potential treatment for neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) that originate from neuroendocrine cells commonly found in the gut, lung, or pancreas. Upon analysis of the cumulative data from the paltusotine and CRN01941 preclinical, nonclinical and clinical programs, Crinetics intends to decide whether to advance CRN01941 or paltusotine into a later stage trial in NETs.
Expanded management team and board of directors. In March 2019, Crinetics appointed Gina Ford, R.Ph., MBA, as Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Commercial Planning. Ms. Ford joined Crinetics from One Joule, LLC a commercial and corporate strategy consulting company she founded, where she provided biopharmaceutical clients with strategic advice on corporate, commercial, marketing and global market access strategy. Among her prior roles, Ms. Ford served as Head of Endocrinology with Ipsen Pharmaceuticals, where she led the endocrine franchise, which included the commercial leadership of a drug to treat acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumors. In July 2019, Crinetics appointed Stephanie S. Okey, M.S. to its board of directors as an independent board member. Ms. Okey brings extensive leadership and management experience in senior commercial roles including, most recently, Head of North America and U.S. General Manager of Rare Diseases at Genzyme.
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Financial Results
Research and development expenses were $12.1 million and $41.5 million for the three months and full year ended December 31, 2019, respectively, compared to $7.7 million and $24.5 million for the same periods in 2018. The increases were primarily attributable to clinical development and manufacturing activities for paltusotine and CRN01941 as well as the company’s preclinical programs.
General and administrative expenses were $3.4 million and $13.5 million for the three months and full year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $2.6 million and $6.7 million for the same periods in 2018. The increases were primarily due to costs to operate as a public company, as well as personnel costs to support the company’s growth.
Net loss for the three months ended December 31, 2019 was $14.5 million, compared to a net loss of $8.5 million for the same period in 2018. For the year ended December 31, 2019, the company’s net loss was $50.4 million compared to a net loss of $27.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2018.
Unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investments totaled $118.4 million as of December 31, 2019, compared to $131.7 million as of September 30, 2019 and $163.9 million as of December 31, 2018. Crinetics expects that its cash, cash equivalents and investments will fund its current operating plan into the second half of 2021.
As of February 28, 2020, the company had 24,566,896 common shares outstanding.