Troubled Unum Therapeutics announced its fourth quarter and full-year financial report yesterday. Among the news was that it is considering seemingly every possible strategic option, including a sale or merger.
Troubled Unum Therapeutics announced its fourth quarter and full-year financial report yesterday and among the news was that it is considering seemingly every possible strategic option, including a sale or merger.
The company has had three clinical holds by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It has also shifted its lead program while cutting 60% of its staff. On March 10, the company announced the FDA had placed a partial clinical hold on the company’s Phase I clinical trial for non-Hodgkin lymphoma over safety concerns. The FDA made the decision on March 4. The trial was of the company’s ACTR707 in combination with Genentech and Biogen’s Rituxan (rituximab) in patients with CD20+ B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. This came after an earlier announcement that it planned to end its clinical trial for ACTR707 as it restructured to focus its resources on developing a preclinical asset for solid tumors.
The clinical hold came after one patient experienced a Grade 3 serious adverse event that is being evaluated as a potential new malignancy and may be related to the drug. ACTR7078 was developed using the company’s proprietary Antibody-Coupled T-cell Receptor (ACTR) platform.
The original restructuring was designed to prioritize the development of BOXR1030 for solid tumors. BOXR1030 expressed a glypican-3 (GPC3) targeted CAR and incorporates a novel transgene glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase 2 (GOT2) to improve T-cell function in the solid tumor microenvironment.
The company had plans to reduce its workforce by 60% or 43 employees to focus on the BOXR1030 program.
In the financial report, the company indicated that potential strategic alternatives they were considering included, but were not limited to, an acquisition, merger, business combination, in-licensing or others. There is no timetable for the review and indicates it doesn’t plan to say anything else on the subject until the board of directors approves a definitive course of action, the review process is ended, or some other announcement is required.
“We recently announced the conclusion of our Phase I ACTR707 programs and restructuring to prioritize our capabilities and resources towards advancing our preclinical program, BOXR1030, and BOXR platform aimed at discovering novel ‘bolt-on’ transgenes to help T-cells survive longer and perform better in the solid tumor microenvironment,” said Chuck Wilson, president and chief executive officer of Unum. “While taking steps internally to advance BOXR1030 and the BOXR platform given the broad potential we see to improve cell therapies in solid tumors, we are also taking steps to evaluate external opportunities as well and in this context, and with alignment from our board of directors, we are also actively seeking strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value, including a sale or merger of the company at this time.”
In terms of financial disclosures, collaboration revenues for the quarter were $15.3 million and $22.5 million for the year compared to $3.8 million and $9.7 million, respectively, for the same periods in 2018. Research-and-development expenses were $10.4 million for the fourth quarter and $43.7 million for the full year. General and administration (G&A) expenses were $2.7 million for the fourth quarter and $11.0 million for the full year.
As of December 31, 2019, the company had $37.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, which it believes will fund operations and capital expenditures into mid-2021.
