uniQure Announces Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results and
Highlights Recent Company Progress
uniQure N.V. (NASDAQ: QURE), a leading gene therapy company
advancing transformative therapies for patients with severe medical
needs, today reported its financial results for the second quarter
of 2023 and highlighted recent progress across its business.
“In the second quarter of the year, we continued
to make strong progress advancing our programs, including
announcing encouraging data from the interim analysis of our Phase
I/II study of AMT-130 in Huntington’s disease,” stated Matt
Kapusta, chief executive officer of uniQure. “These data show that
patients treated with AMT-130 appear to have generally preserved
clinical and motor function and neurofilament light chain (NfL)
levels suggesting a stable to improving neurodegenerative profile.
We believe that, collectively, the data suggest early and promising
evidence of clinical benefit in patients treated with AMT-130
compared to a patient-matched natural history data set. We look
forward to providing another update in the fourth quarter of 2023
that will include data from our European study, as well as
preparing for regulatory interactions in the first quarter of 2024
to discuss the data and potential late-stage development of
AMT-130.”
“We are also working towards the initiation of
clinical trials for our gene therapy candidates in refractory
temporal lobe epilepsy and SOD1-ALS later this year, as well as the
submission of an IND for our Fabry disease gene therapy,” he added.
“With a strong cash position following achievement of the $100
million milestone for first U.S. commercial sale of HEMGENIX® and
completion of a royalty financing transaction, we are focused on
rapidly moving programs into clinical development and creating
near-term value to shareholders.”
Recent Updates
- Advancing AMT-130 for the treatment
of Huntington’s disease
- In June 2023, interim clinical data
were announced on the high-dose and low-dose cohorts of the
double-blinded and randomized U.S. Phase I/II study of AMT-130 for
the treatment of early-stage Huntington’s disease. After 12- and
24-months of follow-up, AMT-130 was generally well-tolerated with a
manageable safety profile at both doses. For patients in both dose
cohorts, clinical function was generally preserved, and compared to
natural history, demonstrated benefits at up to 24 months in each
of Total Motor Score, Total Functional Capacity and the composite
Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale. CSF NfL for the low-dose
cohort were below baseline at 24 months and were declining towards
baseline for the high-dose cohort at 12 months. Suppression of CSF
mHTT in the low-dose cohort during 24 months of follow-up support
target engagement, with greater variability observed in the
high-dose cohort during 12 months of follow-up.
- Four control patients in the
high-dose cohort of the U.S. study have now crossed over to
treatment with AMT-130. Three of these four patients received the
high dose of AMT-130, with one receiving the low dose. The
remaining two control patients in the high-dose cohort did not meet
the eligibility criteria for crossover. All crossover patients
received a short course of immunosuppression therapy concurrent
with the administration of AMT-130.
- All six patients have been enrolled
in the low-dose cohort of the European, open-label Phase I/II
clinical trial of AMT-130. The Company continues to make progress
enrolling the second, high-dose cohort of nine patients and expects
to complete enrollment in the third quarter of 2023.
- In the second half of 2023, uniQure
expects to initiate a third cohort in the ongoing U.S.
clinical trial to further investigate both doses in combination
with perioperative immunosuppression with a focus on evaluating
near-term safety and tolerability. The third cohort will enroll up
to 10 patients, all of whom will receive AMT-130 using the current,
established stereotactic neurosurgical delivery procedure.
- In the fourth quarter of 2023, the
Company plans to provide a clinical update from the U.S. and
European Phase I/II studies of AMT-130, including 18- and 30-month
follow-up data from the treated patients in the high- and low-dose
U.S. cohorts, respectively. The data update will include safety and
tolerability, biomarker and functional data across both high and
low dose cohorts.
- In the first quarter of 2024, the
Company plans on having regulatory interactions to discuss the U.S.
and EU data and potential late-stage development pathways for
AMT-130.
- Expanding the Clinical Pipeline
& Advancing Innovation
- AMT-260 for the treatment of
refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (rTLE) – In the first half of
2023, the Company completed its GLP toxicology study of AMT-260 in
non-human primates. The Company continues to expect submission of
an investigational new drug (IND) application and initiation of a
Phase I/II clinical study of AMT-260 in the second half of
2023.
- AMT-162 for the treatment of SOD1
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - In January 2023, the Company
entered into a global licensing agreement with Apic Bio for
ABP-102, now AMT-162 for the treatment of superoxide dismutase 1
(SOD1) amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a rare, genetic form of
ALS. The Company expects to initiate a Phase I/II clinical study of
AMT-162 in the second half of 2023.
- AMT-191 for the treatment of Fabry
disease – In the third quarter of 2022, the Company initiated a GLP
toxicology study of AMT-191 in non-human primates which is expected
to support an IND submission in the second half of 2023.
- American Society of Gene and Cell
Therapy (ASGCT) 2023 – The company had a major presence at the
annual ASGCT meeting held in Los Angeles, CA from May 16-20, 2023.
Twelve abstracts were accepted for presentation, including two oral
presentations, that featured innovation in expanding the Company’s
research pipeline and advancements in AAV gene-therapy
manufacturing.
- Commercial launch of
HEMGENIX® (etranacogene dezaparvovec-drbl) for the
treatment of hemophilia B in the United States and European Union
- In June 2023, uniQure announced the
achievement of a $100 million milestone payment from CSL Behring
associated with the first commercial sale of HEMGENIX® in the
United States.
- In May 2023, uniQure announced the
sale of a royalty interest in HEMGENIX® for up to $400 million. The
company received a $375 million upfront cash payment in exchange
for the lowest royalty tier on CSL Behring’s worldwide net sales of
HEMGENIX® up to 1.85 times the purchase price until June
30, 2032 or, if such cap is not met by June 30, 2032, up
to 2.25x the purchase price through December 31, 2038. uniQure
will retain the rights to all other royalties under its existing
Commercialization and License Agreement with CSL Behring, as
well as contractual milestones totaling up to $1.4
billion.
- Strengthening of Leadership Team
- In June 2023, Walid Abi-Saab, M.D.,
was appointed as Chief Medical Officer, responsible for leading all
clinical research and development, regulatory affairs, medical
affairs, and program management at uniQure. Dr. Abi-Saab brings
more than 20 years of experience to the company having previously
served as Chief Medical Officer of Galapagos. Prior to joining
Galapagos, he served as Group Vice President, Global Clinical
Development at Shire, where he was responsible for the
clinical development plans of all programs in the therapeutic area
and oversaw the development of more than 10 marketed products and
other programs in rare diseases and specialty pharma. He also has
previously held leadership positions at Novartis, Abbott
Laboratories, and Pfizer.
- In May 2023, Jeannette Potts, Ph.D.
was appointed as Chief Legal Officer, following the planned
departure of David Cerveny. Ms. Potts has more than 25 years of
global legal experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Most
recently, she served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel
& Corporate Secretary at Forma Therapeutics, a clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on rare hematologic diseases and
cancer, which was acquired by Novo Nordisk in 2022. Prior to
joining Forma, Jeannette served as Head Counsel, Research and
Development, at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and had previously been
Vice President, Associate General Counsel at Millennium
Pharmaceuticals before it was acquired by Takeda.
- Strong cash position to advance the
Company’s programs
- As of June 30, 2023, the Company
had cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $628.6
million, which excludes the $100 million milestone payment received
from CSL Behring in July. The Company expects cash, cash
equivalents and investment securities will fund operations into the
second quarter of 2026.
Upcoming Investor Events
- Goldman Sachs Boston Bus Tour,
August 9, 2023 – Boston, MA
- Wells Fargo 2023 Healthcare
Conference, September 6, 2023 – Boston, MA
- Citi’s 2023 18th Annual BioPharma
Conference, September 7, 2023 – Boston, MA
- 2023 Cantor Global Healthcare
Conference, September 28, 2023 – New York, NY
Financial Highlights
Cash position: As of June 30,
2023, the Company held cash and cash equivalents and investment
securities of $628.6 million, compared to $392.8 million as of
December 31, 2022. The Company entered into a royalty agreement in
May 2023 and received an upfront payment of $375.0 million.
Revenues: Revenue for the three
months ended June 30, 2023 was $2.4 million, compared to $0.5
million in the same period in 2022. The increase is primarily a
result of contract manufacturing revenues of $1.3 million
recognized in the current period related to contract manufacturing
HEMGENIX® for CSL Behring and an increase in license revenues
of $0.8 million.
R&D expenses: Research and
development expenses were $46.0 million for the three months ended
June 30, 2023, compared to $46.2 million in the same period in
2022. The decrease in external program expense was offset by an
increase in various other expenses, including employee and
contractor-related expenses, facility expenses and research and
development disposable costs.
SG&A expenses: Selling,
general and administrative expenses were $21.2 million for the
three months ended June 30, 2023, compared to $12.5 million in the
same period in 2022. The increase was primarily related to an
increase in financial advisory fees, an increase in various other
professional fees and an increase in personnel and
contractor-related expenses.
Other non-operating items, net:
Other non-operating items net was an expense of $3.2 million for
the three months ended June 30, 2023, compared to net income of
$16.7 million for the same period in 2022. The decrease in other
non-operating items, net was primarily related to a decrease in
foreign currency gains of $19.0 million and an increase in interest
expense.
Net loss:The net loss for the
three months ended June 30, 2023, was $68.5 million, or $1.44 basic
and diluted loss per ordinary share, compared to $39.1 million net
loss for the same period in 2022, or $0.84 basic and diluted loss
per ordinary share.
About
HEMGENIX®
HEMGENIX® is a gene therapy that reduces the
rate of abnormal bleeding in eligible people with hemophilia B by
enabling the body to continuously produce factor IX, the deficient
protein in hemophilia B. It uses AAV5, a non-infectious viral
vector, called an adeno-associated virus (AAV). The AAV5 vector
carries the Padua gene variant of Factor IX (FIX-Padua) to the
target cells in the liver, generating factor IX proteins that are
5x-8x more active than normal. These genetic instructions remain in
the target cells, but generally do not become a part of a person’s
own DNA. Once delivered, the new genetic instructions allow
the cellular machinery to produce stable levels of factor IX.
HEMGENIX® is a registered trademark of CSL
Behring.
About uniQure
uniQure is delivering on the promise of gene
therapy – single treatments with potentially curative results. The
recent approvals of our gene therapy for hemophilia B – an historic
achievement based on more than a decade of research and clinical
development – represent a major milestone in the field of genomic
medicine and ushers in a new treatment approach for patients living
with hemophilia. We are now leveraging our modular and validated
technology platform to advance a pipeline of proprietary gene
therapies for the treatment of patients with Huntington's disease,
refractory temporal lobe epilepsy, ALS, Fabry disease, and other
severe diseases. www.uniQure.com
uniQure Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains forward-looking
statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact
are forward-looking statements, which are often indicated by terms
such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," “establish,” "estimate,"
"expect," "goal," "intend," "look forward to", "may," "plan,"
"potential," "predict," "project," “seek,” "should," "will,"
"would" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are
based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information
available to management only as of the date of this press release.
These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
the Company’s ability to fund operations into 2026, whether there
will be continued progress on the commercialization of HEMGENIX®
and the Company’s ability to meet certain milestones, statements
about the clinical benefits for patients treated with AMT-130, the
timing of patient enrollment in our AMT-130 clinical trial for
Huntington’s Disease, whether the Company will announce follow up
data from the U.S. Phase I/II clinical study of AMT-130 and whether
such announcement will include data from the Company’s European
study, whether that data will help to further guide our ongoing
clinical development of AMT-130, whether the Company will submit an
investigational new drug application for Fabry disease in 2023,
whether the company will initiate a Phase I/II clinical study of
AMT-162 for the treatment of ALS in the second half of 2023,
whether the Company will submit an investigational new drug
application or initiate a Phase I/II clinical study of AMT-260 for
rTLE in the second half of 2023, and whether the Company will begin
interactions with regulatory agencies in the first quarter of 2024.
The Company’s actual results could differ materially from those
anticipated in these forward-looking statements for many reasons,
including, without limitation, risks associated with the regulatory
approval and commercial launch of HEMGENIX®, material changes to
our interim or preliminary data, our clinical trial for
Huntington’s disease, the impact of financial and geopolitical
events on our Company and the wider economy and health care system,
our Commercialization and License Agreement with CSL Behring, our
clinical development activities, clinical results, collaboration
arrangements, regulatory oversight, product commercialization and
intellectual property claims and ongoing litigation, the as well as
the risks, uncertainties and other factors described under the
heading "Risk Factors" in the Company’s periodic securities
filings, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed February
27, 2023 and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed August 1,
2023. Given these risks, uncertainties and other factors, you
should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, and the Company assumes no obligation to update these
forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes
available in the future.
uniQure Contacts:FOR
INVESTORS:Maria E. CantorDirect:
339-970-7536Mobile: 617-680-9452m.cantor@uniQure.com |
Chiara RussoDirect: 617-306-9137Mobile:
617-306-9137c.russo@uniQure.com |
FOR MEDIA:Tom MaloneDirect:
339-970-7558Mobile:339-223-8541t.malone@uniQure.com |
uniQure N.V.UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE
SHEETS |
|
|
June 30, |
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2023 |
|
|
|
2022 |
|
|
|
(in thousands, except share and per share
amounts) |
Current assets |
|
|
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents |
|
$ |
513,598 |
|
|
$ |
228,012 |
|
Current investment securities |
|
|
114,989 |
|
|
|
124,831 |
|
Accounts receivable and contract asset |
|
|
102,559 |
|
|
|
102,376 |
|
Inventories |
|
|
10,212 |
|
|
|
6,924 |
|
Prepaid expenses |
|
|
12,351 |
|
|
|
11,817 |
|
Other current assets and receivables |
|
|
3,250 |
|
|
|
2,814 |
|
Total current assets |
|
|
756,959 |
|
|
|
476,774 |
|
Non-current assets |
|
|
|
|
Property, plant and equipment, net |
|
|
48,567 |
|
|
|
50,532 |
|
Non-current investment securities |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
39,984 |
|
Operating lease right-of-use assets |
|
|
31,395 |
|
|
|
32,726 |
|
Intangible assets, net |
|
|
59,713 |
|
|
|
58,778 |
|
Goodwill |
|
|
26,016 |
|
|
|
25,581 |
|
Deferred tax assets, net |
|
|
13,995 |
|
|
|
14,528 |
|
Other non-current assets |
|
|
6,124 |
|
|
|
6,061 |
|
Total non-current assets |
|
|
185,810 |
|
|
|
228,190 |
|
Total assets |
|
$ |
942,769 |
|
|
$ |
704,964 |
|
Current liabilities |
|
|
|
|
Accounts payable |
|
$ |
9,373 |
|
|
$ |
10,984 |
|
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities |
|
|
23,537 |
|
|
|
30,571 |
|
Current portion of contingent consideration |
|
|
27,666 |
|
|
|
25,982 |
|
Current portion of operating lease liabilities |
|
|
7,780 |
|
|
|
8,382 |
|
Total current liabilities |
|
|
68,356 |
|
|
|
75,919 |
|
Non-current liabilities |
|
|
|
|
Long-term debt |
|
|
101,110 |
|
|
|
102,791 |
|
Liability from royalty financing agreement |
|
|
372,445 |
|
|
|
— |
|
Operating lease liabilities, net of current portion |
|
|
30,195 |
|
|
|
31,719 |
|
Contingent consideration, net of current portion |
|
|
9,581 |
|
|
|
9,334 |
|
Deferred tax liability, net |
|
|
6,802 |
|
|
|
8,257 |
|
Other non-current liabilities |
|
|
960 |
|
|
|
935 |
|
Total non-current liabilities |
|
|
521,093 |
|
|
|
153,036 |
|
Total liabilities |
|
|
589,449 |
|
|
|
228,955 |
|
Shareholders' equity |
|
|
|
|
Total shareholders' equity |
|
|
353,320 |
|
|
|
476,009 |
|
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity |
|
$ |
942,769 |
|
|
$ |
704,964 |
|
uniQure N.V.UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED
STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS |
|
|
Three months ended June 30, |
|
|
|
2023 |
|
|
|
2022 |
|
|
|
(in thousands, except share and per share
amounts) |
Total revenues |
|
$ |
2,422 |
|
|
$ |
497 |
|
Operating expenses: |
|
|
|
|
Cost of contract manufacturing revenues |
|
|
(1,352 |
) |
|
|
(832 |
) |
Research and development expenses |
|
|
(46,036 |
) |
|
|
(46,192 |
) |
Selling, general and administrative expenses |
|
|
(21,181 |
) |
|
|
(12,491 |
) |
Total operating expenses |
|
|
(68,569 |
) |
|
|
(59,515 |
) |
Other income |
|
|
1,302 |
|
|
|
3,186 |
|
Other expense |
|
|
(229 |
) |
|
|
(229 |
) |
Loss from operations |
|
|
(65,074 |
) |
|
|
(56,061 |
) |
Non-operating items, net |
|
|
(3,237 |
) |
|
|
16,682 |
|
Loss before income tax (expense) / benefit |
|
$ |
(68,311 |
) |
|
$ |
(39,379 |
) |
Income tax (expense) / benefit |
|
|
(163 |
) |
|
|
318 |
|
Net loss |
|
$ |
(68,474 |
) |
|
$ |
(39,061 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share |
|
$ |
(1.44 |
) |
|
$ |
(0.84 |
) |
Weighted average shares used in computing basic and diluted net
loss per ordinary share |
|
|
47,649,520 |
|
|
|
46,668,554 |
|
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