Cambridge Biotech Enumeral Biomedical Has Cash to Fund Its Operations Only Into Next Month
May 30, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Despite an infectious disease research deal with the International Consortium of Anti-Virals, beleaguered biotech Enumeral Biomedical is rapidly running out of cash.
In a statement issued last week, Enumeral said it has money sufficient to fund operations “only into June 2017.” As of March 31, Enumeral said it had cash and cash equivalents of $1.4 million—down from $3.1 million at the end of 2016. How far into the month of June the company did not specify in its statement.
In its statement, Enumeral said if it if is unable to raise additional funding, the company will be required to lay off some of its 10-employee workforce or “wind down its operations through liquidation, bankruptcy, or a sale of its assets.” In its quarterly report, Enumeral said it was exploring options including debt financing, equity offerings or other non-disclosed strategic alternatives.
This is not the first time Enumeral has sounded a cry about its financial state. Over the past 12 months, the Boston Business Journal noted that Enumeral issued several warnings about the state of its finances, but was able to raise additional funds to keep operations going. In December, the company completed a successful warrant tender offer for $3.4 million. At the time the company said that infusion of cash will help the company in its long-term growth plans.
Enumeral is focused on discovery and advancement of therapeutics for cancer, autoimmune disorders and other diseases. Enumeral’s current antibody discovery and development programs target the checkpoint proteins PD-1, OX40 and Lag3. Antibodies targeting PD-1, OX40 and Lag-3 may also have application in inflammatory, autoimmune and infectious diseases, in addition to cancer, the company said. On its website, Enumeral added it believes its technology enables it to determine rational development strategies across these diseases. PD-1 inhibitors are showing great promise in the treatment of cancers by allowing the body’s immune system to target cancerous cells with the PD-1 protein. Several companies have found success with PD-1 inhibitors, including Merck and its drug Keytruda, Bristol-Myer ’s Opdivo and Genentech ’s atezolizumab.
The company said it completed initial preclinical programs in 2015 and has been looking for partnerships to advance its developments.
In April, Enumeral and ICAV struck a developmental agreement to use Enumeral’s drug discovery platform to pursue an infectious disease collaboration. The goal of the collaboration is to isolate and characterize high affinity, broadly neutralizing human antibodies against select human pathogens from patients previously infected or vaccinated for therapeutic intervention, prophylaxis, and/or diagnostic utility, Enumeral said when the partnership was announced.
The Journal noted that Enumeral also had a research collaboration deal with Merck & Co., but as of the end of March, there were no clinical trials coming from that agreement.
Shares of Enumeral are up more than 18 percent this morning, trading at 13 cents per share.