- Patient data from higher dose cNeT as monotherapy and cNeT in combination with checkpoint inhibitor expected in 2H 2022 -
- Strong cash position of $266 million supports clinical development and manufacturing expansion into 2H 2024 -
LONDON, March 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Achilles Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ACHL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing precision T cell therapies to treat solid tumors, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year-ended December 31, 2021, and recent business highlights.
"In 2021, we generated clinical data demonstrating the unique ability of our T cell platform to detect, quantify and track our clonal neoantigen-reactive T cells, or cNeT, in vivo, giving us the analytical platform to elucidate the mechanism of action of our cNeT product. cNeT dose is now being used in our clinical trials as a release parameter, highlighting our differentiated potential to develop potency assays that we believe are essential for the successful development and regulatory approval of TIL-based therapies," said Dr Iraj Ali, Chief Executive Officer of Achilles Therapeutics. "In the year ahead, we will build on the important learnings from our first cohort of patients by evaluating higher doses of our tumor-targeting cNeT therapies alone and in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor. We look forward to clinical readouts in our CHIRON and THETIS trials for non-small cell lung cancer and melanoma, respectively, including 6-week clinical activity and engraftment data in the second half of 2022.
Our unique ability to prospectively target and track clonal neoantigens is possible through PELEUS™, our proprietary bioinformatics platform. PELEUS was built on an advanced statistical framework to differentiate clonal from subclonal mutations and is further enhanced using Artificial Intelligence in a range of applications, including neoantigen prioritization. PELEUS is validated through our exclusive access to the landmark TRACERx clinical study of tumor evolution, which provides the extensive longitudinal sequencing data of over 3,200 tumor samples that have been collected over five years from over 795 patients. The detailed genomic analysis from PELEUS allows us to identify the unique clonal neoantigens of each patient. These clonal neoantigens are protein markers that are present on all of an individual's cancer cells but are absent from healthy tissue, making them ideal cancer targets. With this information, our VELOS manufacturing process uses the natural biology of dendritic cell antigen presentation to select and expand the T cells that are able to recognize the clonal neoantigen targets present in a patient's tumor. With these powerful, proprietary tools and our forthcoming clinical data, we are well-positioned to advance our precision T cell therapy.
We expect to continue to expand our global footprint with increased manufacturing capacity in the U.K., continued addition of clinical sites, and establishment of our U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia which will house our first U.S. R&D facility. With the capital raised in our successful IPO in April 2021, we have $266 million in cash and cash equivalents to support the clinical development of our cNeT therapy in melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck cancer, and other indications into the second half of 2024."
2021 Business Highlights and Recent Updates
Financial Highlights
2022 Milestones and Upcoming Events
Achilles will present at the upcoming conferences. Additional details will be available in the Events & Presentations section of the Company's website:
About Achilles Therapeutics
Achilles is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing precision T cell therapies targeting clonal neoantigens: protein markers unique to the individual that are expressed on the surface of every cancer cell. The Company has two ongoing Phase I/IIa trials, the CHIRON trial in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the THETIS trial in patients with recurrent or metastatic melanoma. Achilles uses DNA sequencing data from each patient, together with its proprietary PELEUS™ bioinformatics platform, to identify clonal neoantigens specific to that patient, and then develop precision T cell-based product candidates specifically targeting those clonal neoantigens.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains express or implied forward-looking statements that are based on our management's belief and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements relate to future events or our future operational or financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we have no current intention of doing so except to the extent required by applicable law. You should therefore not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
Contacts:
Investors:
Achilles Therapeutics
Lee M. Stern, VP, IR & External Communications
l.stern@achillestx.com
LifeSci Advisors
John Mullaly
jmullaly@lifesciadvisors.com
Media:
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott, Sukaina Virdi, Melissa Gardiner
+44 (0) 203 709 5000
achillestx@consilium-comms.com
ACHILLES THERAPEUTICS PLC
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
(expressed in U.S. Dollars, unless otherwise stated)
| December 31, | ||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||||
| ASSETS | ||||||||
| Current assets: | ||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | 266,319 | $ | 177,849 | |||||
| Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 18,430 | 9,948 | ||||||
| Total current assets | 284,749 | 187,797 | ||||||
| Non-current assets: | ||||||||
| Property and equipment, net | 17,743 | 13,369 | ||||||
| Operating lease right of use assets | 11,048 | 14,740 | ||||||
| Deferred tax assets | 26 | 4 | ||||||
| Restricted cash | 33 | — | ||||||
| Other assets | 3,507 | 3,008 | ||||||
| Total non-current assets | 32,357 | 31,121 | ||||||
| TOTAL ASSETS | $ | 317,106 | $ | 218,918 | ||||
| LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY | ||||||||
| Current liabilities: | ||||||||
| Accounts payable | $ | 3,722 | $ | 6,314 | ||||
| Income taxes payable | — | 7 | ||||||
| Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 10,906 | 6,590 | ||||||
| Operating lease liabilities—current | 4,482 | 3,712 | ||||||
| Total current liabilities | 19,110 | 16,623 | ||||||
| Non-current liabilities: | ||||||||
| Operating lease liabilities-non-current | 7,777 | 12,271 | ||||||
| Other long-term liability | 691 | 652 | ||||||
| Total non-current liabilities | 8,468 | 12,923 | ||||||
| Total liabilities | 27,578 | 29,546 | ||||||
| Commitments and contingencies | ||||||||
| Shareholders' equity: | ||||||||
| Ordinary shares, £0.001 par value; 40,603,489 and 4,389,920 shares authorized, issued and outstanding at December 31,2021 and 2020, respectively | 54 | 6 | ||||||
| Deferred shares, £92,451.851 par value, one share authorized, issued and outstanding at December 31, 2021; Deferred shares, £0.001 par value; 30,521 shares issued and outstanding at December 31,2020 | 128 | — | ||||||
| Convertible preferred shares, £0.001 par value; no shares authorized, issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2021; 104,854,673 shares authorized, issued and outstanding at December 31, 2020 | — | 134 | ||||||
| Additional paid in capital | 401,821 | 234,922 | ||||||
| Accumulated other comprehensive income | 6,636 | 12,322 | ||||||
| Accumulated deficit | (119,111 | ) | (58,012 | ) | ||||
| Total shareholders' equity | 289,528 | 189,372 | ||||||
| TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY | $ | 317,106 | $ | 218,918 | ||||
ACHILLES THERAPEUTICS PLC
Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
| Three Months Ended | Twelve Months Ended | |||||||||||||||
| December 31, | December 31, | |||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | |||||||||||||
| OPERATING EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | $ | 11,807 | $ | 8,961 | $ | 42,224 | $ | 22,629 | ||||||||
| General and administrative | 6,653 | 3,958 | 21,971 | 11,098 | ||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 18,460 | 12,919 | 64,195 | 33,727 | ||||||||||||
| LOSS FROM OPERATIONS: | (18,460 | ) | (12,919 | ) | (64,195 | ) | (33,727 | ) | ||||||||
| OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE), NET: | ||||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense) | 226 | 2 | 3,133 | 531 | ||||||||||||
| Total other income (expense), net | 226 | 2 | 3,133 | 531 | ||||||||||||
| Loss before income taxes | (18,234 | ) | (12,917 | ) | (61,062 | ) | (33,196 | ) | ||||||||
| Benefit (provision) for income taxes | 4 | (3 | ) | (37 | ) | (3 | ) | |||||||||
| Net loss | (18,230 | ) | (12,920 | ) | (61,099 | ) | (33,199 | ) | ||||||||
| Other comprehensive (loss) income: | ||||||||||||||||
| Foreign exchange translation adjustment | 886 | 7,301 | (5,686 | ) | 4,213 | |||||||||||
| Comprehensive loss | $ | (17,344 | ) | $ | (5,619 | ) | $ | (66,785 | ) | $ | (28,986 | ) | ||||
| Net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders—basic and diluted | $ | (0.45 | ) | $ | (9.32 | ) | $ | (2.13 | ) | $ | (31.14 | ) | ||||
| Weighted average ordinary shares outstanding—basic and diluted | 40,245,543 | 1,386,221 | 28,654,760 | 1,066,208 | ||||||||||||
