SAN DIEGO, May 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TRACON Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TCON), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel targeted therapeutics for cancer, wet age-related macular degeneration and fibrotic diseases, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017.
First Quarter 2017 and Recent Corporate Highlights
- In April, preclinical data for TRC694, TRACON’s small molecule inhibitor of NF-kB inducing kinase (NIK), were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. The data demonstrated that TRC694 potently inhibits NIK in vitro and potently inhibits human myeloma and lymphoma cell lines in vivo. TRACON expects to file an IND for TRC694 in 2018.
- In March, the Company initiated a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of TRC253 in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). TRC253 is a novel, orally bioavailable small molecule high affinity competitive inhibitor of the androgen receptor (AR) and AR mutations.
- In March, the Company entered into a Common Stock Purchase Agreement with Aspire Capital Fund, LLC (“Aspire Capital”) providing for the sale of up to $21.0 million of common stock. Under the terms of the Agreement, Aspire Capital made an initial purchase of $1.0 million of TRACON common stock at $4.50 per share. In addition, Aspire Capital has committed to purchase up to $20.0 million of additional shares of the Company’s common stock at TRACON’s request from time to time during a 30-month period at prices based on the market price at the time of each sale.
- In February, the Company initiated dosing in its Phase 3 TAPPAS trial (a randomized Phase 3 trial of TRC105 And Pazopanib versus Pazopanib alone in patients with advanced AngioSarcoma). In January 2017, the Company announced that it received a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) agreement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The SPA covers the protocol design, clinical endpoints and statistical analysis approach used for the TAPPAS trial. The TAPPAS trial was recently awarded “Most Innovative Trial Design” at the 2017 Clinical and Research Excellence Awards.
- In February, the Company announced that the NCI-sponsored trial of the combination of TRC105 and Avastin® (bevacizumab) did not demonstrate improvement in median PFS versus single agent Avastin in recurrent GBM patients, although the combination was associated with a non-significant increase in overall survival. The Company expects the NCI to present detailed survival data and correlative analyses at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in June.
“We made several important advancements in our pipeline and corporate operations since the beginning of 2017. Following the receipt of guidance from European regulators and an SPA agreement from the FDA, we initiated dosing in the TAPPAS trial, the first pivotal study of TRC105 in patients with angiosarcoma. In addition, we recently initiated the first-in-human clinical trial of TRC253, one of the two compounds TRACON in-licensed from Janssen last year, in patients with prostate cancer,” said Charles Theuer, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of TRACON. “Our agreement with Aspire Capital provides TRACON with additional flexibility to execute on our business plan and deliver important data points throughout the remainder of 2017.”
Expected Upcoming Milestones for 2017
