NEW YORK, May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Delcath Systems (NASDAQ: DCTH) today announced financial results and highlights for its first quarter 2012 ended March 31, 2012 and recent weeks.
Highlights for the first quarter 2012 and recent weeks include:
- Receipt of CE Mark approval for the second generation hemofiltration cartridge (“Generation 2") for Hepatic CHEMOSAT® delivery system
- Treatment of the first patient with Generation 2
- Additional patients treated with liver dominant metastases from multiple tumor types
- Presentation of the first evidence of the dramatically improved side-effect profile for chemosaturation therapy with Generation 2
- Addition of eight EU cancer centers to the CHEMOSAT initial launch and training program; the Company now has a presence in five of its seven target markets
- Receipt of the first commercial orders for CHEMOSAT
- Final preparations for filing the new drug application (NDA) for CHEMOSAT with the FDA
- Regulatory approval in Australia for CHEMOSAT
- Secure a $20 million working capital credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank
- Addition of pharmaceutical industry veterans Chris Houchins and Jennifer Simpson, Ph.D. to the management team
“During the first quarter, we delivered several significant accomplishments which build on the solid foundation we established in 2011 to help realize the commercial potential of our chemosaturation system,” said Eamonn P. Hobbs, President and CEO of Delcath. “The Generation 2 CHEMOSAT system received CE Marking in early April, and we believe that initial validation of the new system’s potential to dramatically improve the side-effect profile for chemosaturation therapy was immediately seen in the first case treated with Generation 2. Prior treatments in Europe also included patients suffering from a wide variety of tumor types, which we believe is a sign of the broad potential physicians at our early launch centers see for chemosaturation therapy. These successes culminated in receipt of our first commercial order for CHEMOSAT, which we are confident will be followed by others as the benefits of the Generation 2 CHEMOSAT system become more widely known.”
Mr. Hobbs stated, “At the same time, we are in the final stages of completing our New Drug Application (NDA) submission for filing with the FDA. Safety data collection and database migration is complete, the clinical sites have been notified that we will lock the databases on May 25th, and we are confident of submitting our NDA in mid-August. We have submitted an amendment to our Investigational New Drug application to include Generation 2 in our Expanded Access Program and all future clinical trials, compassionate use cases, and have initiated a dialogue with the FDA to discuss the optimal approval path for Gen 2 in the U.S.”
For the three months ended March 31, 2012, Delcath’s operating loss was $14.6 million, which included approximately $0.9 in non-cash stock-based compensation expense. Operating loss for the three months ended March 31, 2011 was $7.8 million, which included approximately $1.3 million in non-cash stock-based compensation expense. General and administrative (G&A) expenses were $7.4 million for the first quarter of 2012, compared to $4.2 million for the same period in 2011. The increase was primarily due to an expansion in staff particularly for the Company’s EU headquarters in Galway, Ireland and for sales and marketing support staff in the EU. Research and development (R&D) expenses were $7.1 million for the first quarter of 2012, compared to $3.6 million for the same period in 2011. The increase was primarily due to global regulatory efforts including continued preparation of the NDA submission to the FDA, securing CE Mark for Generation 2, and expansion of addressable markets through the pursuit of additional regional regulatory approvals.
At March 31, 2012, cash, cash equivalents and certificates of deposit were $20.8 million, compared to $30.8 million at December 31, 2011. Gross cash spend in the first quarter 2012 was $14.7 million, as compared to $7.8 million in the same period in the prior year. The increase was primarily driven by NDA submission related costs, staff increases in various functions to support commercialization, and operational costs related to the new EU headquarters. Average monthly operating gross spend was $4.9 million, which was in line with our expectation of between $4 million to $5 million. After proceeds generated from the Company’s At-the-Market facility, the net cash spend was approximately $10 million, or a monthly average of $3.3 million.
Following the anticipated NDA submission in mid-August, Delcath expects monthly cash expenses to decrease to $3 million to $4 million for the remainder of 2012. The Company expects revenue from CHEMOSAT sales in the second half of the year will partially offset cash expenditures.
Conference Call and Webcast
The Company will host a conference call today, May 8, 2012 at 4:30 p.m. ET. To participate in the live call by telephone, please dial 866-202-1971 for domestic participants and 617- 213-8842 for international participants, both using passcode 12208526. To access the live webcast, go to the Events & Presentations page on Delcath’s website at http://www.delcath.com/investors/events/.
A taped replay of the conference call will also be available beginning approximately two hours after the call’s conclusion and will be available for seven days. This replay can be accessed by dialing 888-286-8010 for domestic callers and 617-801-6888 for international callers, both using passcode 69501976. An archived webcast will also be available at http://www.delcath.com/investors/events/.
About Delcath Systems
Delcath Systems, Inc. is a specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company focused on oncology. Delcath’s proprietary system for chemosaturation is designed to administer high dose chemotherapy and other therapeutic agents to diseased organs or regions of the body, while controlling the systemic exposure of those agents. The Company’s initial focus is on the treatment of primary and metastatic liver cancers. In 2010, Delcath announced that its randomized Phase III clinical trial for patients with metastatic melanoma in the liver had successfully achieved the study’s primary endpoint of extended hepatic progression-free survival. The Company also completed a multi-arm Phase II trial to treat other liver cancers. The Company obtained authorization to affix a CE Mark for the Delcath Hepatic CHEMOSAT® delivery system in April 2011. The right to affix the CE mark allows the Company to market and sell the CHEMOSAT system in Europe. The Company has not yet received FDA approval for commercial sale of its system in the United States. The Company continues with the preparation of its NDA submission and intends to seek FDA approval for commercial sale of its chemosaturation system with melphalan. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.delcath.com.
