aTyr Pharma - Earnings Call - Q1 2021

Transcript

Speaker 0

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Atyre Pharma First Quarter twenty twenty one Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session and instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. It is now my pleasure to hand the conference call over to Ashley Dunston, Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications.

Ms. Dunston, you may begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss aTyre's First Quarter twenty twenty one operating results and corporate update. We are joined today by Doctor. Sanjay Shukla, our President and CEO Ms. Jill Broadfoot, our CFO and Doctor.

Leslie Nangle, Vice President of Research. On the call, Sanjay will provide an update on our corporate strategy, including our clinical program for ATYR nineteen twenty three. Leslie will provide an update on our research and discovery programs in neuropilin two, including our preclinical program for ATYR two thousand eight hundred ten and our bispecific antibody program with our subsidiary Pangu BioPharma. Jill will review the financial results and our current financial positioning before handing it back to Sanjay to open the call up for any questions. Questions.

Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that except for statements of historical facts, the statements made by management and responses to questions on this conference call are forward looking statements under the Safe Harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward looking statements. Please see the forward looking statement disclaimer in the company's press release issued this afternoon as well as the risk factors in the company's SEC filings and included in our most recent annual report on Form 10 ks and quarterly reports on Form 10 Q. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made as facts and circumstances underlying these forward looking statements may change. Except as required by law, Atyre Pharma disclaims any obligation to update these forward looking statements to reflect future information, events or circumstances.

As I will now turn the call over to Sanjay.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Ashley. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our first quarter twenty twenty one results conference call. 2021 is shaping up to be an impactful year for the company. During the first quarter, we made meaningful progress with our clinical, preclinical and research and discovery programs. We remain focused on advancing our lead therapeutic candidate, ATYR1923 or 1923.

With enrollment completed in our Phase IbIIa clinical trial in pulmonary sarcoidosis, our initial interstitial lung disease, or ILD indication, we are tracking towards readout from this important proof of concept study. Having gained key mechanistic insights regarding nineteen twenty three anti inflammatory effects in patients from data obtained from our Phase II clinical trial in COVID-nineteen severe respiratory complications, we look forward to the following sarcoidosis trial readout expected in the third quarter of this year. Furthermore, we generated additional preclinical data for ATYR2810 or two thousand eight hundred ten, our anti neurofilin-two or NRP-two antibody in preclinical development for cancer. As we begin, I'll summarize a few additional highlights since we last spoke in March. We appointed leading sarcoidosis advocate, Andrea Wilson, co founder and former president and member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research, or FSR, as patient advisor to the company.

In collaboration with the FSR, we participated in a virtual town hall steroids and sarcoidosis to discuss the burden of steroid treatment and the need for new therapeutic options. We presented two posters at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research on preclinical data for 2810 in models of triple negative breast cancer and non small cell lung cancer. We entered into an agreement with Lonza, a leading contract development and manufacturing organization, for the manufacture of 2,810 to support the progression of 2810 to clinical stage development. Hanko BioPharma, or Pangu, our Hong Kong subsidiary, together with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, achieved the milestone for the first year of a two year project funded in part by a grant from the Hong Kong government's Innovation and Technology Commission to develop a high throughput platform for the development of bispecific antibodies targeting NRPG. And finally, we promoted Doctor.

Leslie Mangle to Vice President of Research. Doctor. Mangle will serve as a member of our executive leadership team, managing research and scientific operations. We're highly encouraged by what we've accomplished this year thus far and look forward to building upon clinical development programs and discovery pipeline from our novel biology platform as we move forward this year. Let's begin with our clinical program for 1923.

We're developing nineteen twenty three as a potential treatment for severe inflammatory lung disease. Nineteen twenty three is a potential first in class immunomodulator that down regulates avalanche immune responses in inflammatory disease states. IPA twenty three has been shown preclinically to downregulate inflammatory cytokines and immunomodulators inflammation and fibrosis. NRP two is upregulated on key immune cells known to play a role in inflammation and is enriched in inflamed lung tissue. NRP binds selectively to NRP two and therefore has the potential to normalize the immune system, serving to resolve inflammation and prevent progressive fibrosis, thereby stabilizing lung function and alleviating morbidity and mortality.

Our lead program is focused on ILD, a group of rare immune mediated disorders that cause progressive fibrosis of the lung. Our initial ILD indication is pulmonary sarcoidosis, the most inflammatory form of ILD, which is characterized by the formation of granulomas or pumps of immune cells in the lungs. If left untreated, it can lead to irreversible scarring and diminish lung function. Current treatment options are limited and often include treating the inflammation with corticosteroids and other immunosuppressive therapies, which have limited efficacy and serious long term toxicity. Additionally, many patients do not respond to this current standard of care.

Options for patients with sarcoidosis, including alternatives to steroids. And we've made a concerted effort to better recognize the needs of the community. As part of these efforts, we have appointed Andrea Wilson, sarcoidosis patient and advocate, as an adviser to the company. Andrea has dedicated the past twenty years to promoting awareness and generating support to accelerate research to find a cure for this disease. She co founded the FSR, the leading international nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a cure and improving care for sarcoidosis patients, and previously served as president and a member of its board of directors.

Her firsthand knowledge of the patient, combined with her long standing advocacy experience and relationship with the sarcoidosis community, will help support patient strategies for advancing our 1923 clinical program in pulmonary sarcoidosis, and we look forward to our contributions in the future. Additionally, April was Sarcoidosis Awareness Month. And as part of our efforts to bring attention to this chronic debilitating disease, we were invited on the FSR to participate in a virtual town hall on steroids and sarcoidosis to discuss treatment options and strategies for patients living with sarcoidosis. I was honored to join this panel, which included two sarcoidosis patients and a leading pulmonologist. This panel brought provided a real world and firsthand perspective, highlighting the toxic effects of steroids and shedding a light on the need for better and more effective treatments.

The majority of sarcoidosis patients will receive steroids at some point during the course of treatment. Surgical steroids are highly associated with obesity, malaise, decreased bone density, cataracts, hyperglycemia, and edema. Nearly each of these side effects on their own are a condition to treat and manage. Currently used steroid sparing agents such as cytotoxic immunosuppressants have limited clinical evidence supporting their use in sarcoidosis and are associated with significant side effects such as infection, liver toxicity, and even malignancies. We believe that patients deserve better.

Nineteen twenty three presents a potential option to do better. In clinical studies to date, nineteen twenty three has shown a favorable safety profile. This includes data from a Phase one study in healthy volunteers, a phase two study in patients with COVID nineteen related severe respiratory complications, and two independent data safety monitoring board reviews from the ongoing phase one b two a study in pulmonary sarcoidosis. In each of these studies, nineteen twenty three was assessed to be generally safe and well tolerated with no drug related serious adverse events. Based on recent proof of mechanism and its favorable safety profile, nineteen twenty three could be a transformative alternative to steroids and other available treatments with improved patient outcomes.

As a reminder, our ongoing trial in pulmonary sarcoidosis is a Phase 1b2a, randomized, double blind, placebo controlled, multiple ascending dose clinical trial in thirty seven pulmonary sarcoidosis patients. The trial consists of three cohorts dosing doses of one, three, and five milligrams per kilogram of nineteen twenty three for placebo, dosed intravenously every month for six months. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of multiple ascending doses of nineteen twenty three. Secondary objectives include the assessment of potential steroid sparing effects of nineteen twenty three. In addition to other exploratory assessments of efficacy, such as lung imaging, lung function assessed by pulmonary function tests, and relevant serum biomarkers.

Based on our trial design, an integral element of the study is to assess steroid burden in the nineteen twenty three treatment groups compared to placebo. As we have discussed here a bit today, due to the side effects and toxicity of currently available treatment, there is a crucial need for alternatives to existing treatment options, including steroids. We look forward to the results of this study, which we expect to report in the third quarter of this year. I'd like to now turn the call over to Doctor. Leslie Manuel, VP of Research.

As I mentioned, we recently promoted Leslie to the company's executive leadership team to manage research and scientific operations. Leslie has dedicated her career to tRNA synthetase biology and the pathway that they regulate, having studied under Doctor. Paul Schimmel, cofounder, and having served in scientific research roles at ATAR since joining the company in 02/2007. We're very pleased to have her with us today to review recent updates from our research pipeline, starting with our NRP-two antibody program.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Sanjay. I'm thrilled to continue my tenure at ATAR and expand the scope of my responsibilities related to our research and scientific operations, particularly at a time when we are really starting to see some encouraging results from the work that we've been piecing together over the past few years. About two years ago, we initiated collaborations with experts in the NRP-two biology field to help advance our program. It is extremely gratifying to see these collaborations bear fruit, particularly in regards to helping us better understand the underlying mechanism of our therapeutic antibodies targeting NRP-two. Am very pleased to be here today to discuss some of the exciting research that we've been generating both in house and with our collaborators.

I'll begin with a bit of background about NRP-two, which is a compelling therapeutic target in a number of disease areas, including oncology and inflammation. NRP-two is upregulated on a variety of solid tumors, such as breast, renal, lung, and glioblastoma, and is particularly highly enriched in aggressive tumors. In addition, as we reported earlier this year, NRP-two is highly expressed on key immune cells implicated in regulating cancer progression, including tumor associated macrophages and myeloid derived suppressor cells, among others. High NRP-two expression has been linked to worsened patient outcomes in several cancers, which in some cases may include drug resistance to current therapies, such as chemotherapy or targeted agents, tumor recurrence, and overall survival. Antibodies that can selectively block different aspects of NRP-two signaling pathways may have therapeutic potential in these aggressive cancers where NRP-two is implicated.

HR has generated a panel of antibodies to selectively target distinct domains of NRP-two, including those interacting with semaphorence, VEGF, and certain chemokines, such as CCL21. The role of NRP-two and VEGF signaling in the tumor microenvironment, and its importance in the progression of certain aggressive cancers, is becoming increasingly validated. 2,810, a fully humanized monoclonal antibody developed and optimized internally by our antibody engineering team, specifically and functionally blocks the interaction between NRP-two and VEGF. Based on compelling preclinical data in oncology models, both human derived and animal, we selected this candidate to advance to investigational new drugs or IND enabling activity. Just last month, we presented two posters at this year's American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, which built upon our preclinical work related to 02/2010, and strengthened our understanding of the blocking VEGF mediated NRP-two signaling as a potential approach to inhibiting tumor growth.

The research presented in these posters was conducted in collaboration with leading cancer researcher, Doctor. Arthur Mercurio, one of our scientific advisors, and his lab at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. These posters represent significant progress we have made towards understanding part of the underlying mechanism by which blocking NRP-two VEGF signaling in tumor cells can inhibit tumor growth and metastasis. These mechanistic insights strengthen the link between NRP-two and a seminal process involved in tumor progression, epithelial mesenchymal transition, or EMT, which is the acquisition of mesenchymal or stem cell like features by epithelial cells in the tumor that confirm migratory and invasive properties to these cells. EMT is of great importance in the tumor microenvironment, regulating tumor growth, progression, and metastatic cascade, as well as being implicated in tumor evasion of the immune system.

The data we presented demonstrate the therapeutic potential of inhibiting EMT through blocking the NRP-two VEGF signaling access in various types of solid tumors. In the work we presented, we generated two types of tumors with high NRP-two expression, triple negative breast cancer, or TNBC, and non small cell lung cancer. In TNBC patient derived organoids, as well as tumor venograph models, 2,810 sensitized tumor cells to widely used anticancer therapeutics, including the chemotherapeutic agent Cisplatin, or the targeted VEGF therapy bevacizumab, increasing the antitumor effects of each agent. Furthermore, treatment with two thousand eight hundred ten was shown to downregulate genes associated with EMT and stemness, in particular downregulating the expression of W1, a central regulator of these processes. This data suggests that two thousand eight hundred ten's ability to impact EMT may be one mechanism by which it mediates its antitumor effects.

In addition to TNBC, we have also generated data demonstrating efficacy in other solid tumor models, including non small cell lung cancer, both as a single agent and in combination with chemotherapy. The ability of this antibody to promote the differentiation of aggressive tumor cells away from a stem cell phenotype and render them more susceptible to conventional cancer therapies has the potential to be a significant advancement. Because therapy resistance, which is associated with tumor recurrence and metastasis, is a major challenge for patients with aggressive cancers. We continue to investigate 2,810 and its ability to block the NRP-two VEGF signaling axis, including its effect on sensitizing aggressive cancers to chemotherapy, in particular through its effect on inhibiting EMT and cancer stem cell properties. We expect to present more findings from our research on this evolving mechanism, including in models of patient derived xenografts at the upcoming Keystone Symposia on Cancer Stem Cells scheduled for later this month.

We are very pleased with the preclinical data generated for 2810 thus far, and plan to leverage the progress that we've made in further understanding its mechanism of action, both on tumor cells themselves, as well as critical immune cells in the tumor microenvironment, to build a compelling data package to inform our clinical strategy for 2810 in treating aggressive solid tumors. We really look forward to continuing IND enabling activities for 2810 to support advancement to clinical trials in the future. As we continue with our IND enabling activities for 02/2010, we are committed to progressing this program to clinical stage development. Last month, we announced that we've entered into an agreement with Lonza for the manufacture of 2,810.

Speaker 1

We are very pleased

Speaker 3

to be working with a partner with extensive proven capabilities in antibody manufacturing for the production of our first anti NRP-two antibody. Having a manufacturing commitment at this stage of development for 2810 is especially important due to the recent trends in the supply chain and increased demand for biopharma manufacturing, which is in part a result of the uptick in activity due to the COVID-nineteen pandemic. We feel that investing in securing these capabilities now will help us to best serve this program moving forward. In addition to our in house antibody engineering platform that is developing antibodies to selectively target distinct domains of NRP-two, Our Hong Kong subsidiary, Pangu, is working on a bispecific approach. Based on NRP-two's role in regulating inflammatory processes and interaction with various co receptors, we believe that bispecific antibodies present a unique approach to create highly specific agonists of the system, which may be therapeutically relevant in certain disease states.

Last year, Pengu, together with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, or HKUST, was awarded a grant of approximately $750,000 from the Hong Kong government's Innovation and Technology Commission to build a high throughput platform for the development of bispecific antibodies targeting NRP-two. We are pleased to have announced this week that Pangu and HKUST have achieved the milestones set forth in the first year of the project. An integral part of this project was the development and implementation of a novel single cell antibody discovery approach, which has so far yielded numerous candidates, candidate high affinity NRP-two co receptor antibodies targeting GEGFR3 and PLUSNA1, currently being screened in functional assays. Bispecific antibody approaches are increasingly being considered as a novel and differentiated approach to relevant targets, and present a unique pipeline opportunity for us to explore. We are very excited about this progress thus far, and look forward to the outcome of the second year project.

With that, I will turn it over to our Chief Financial Officer, Jill Broadfoot, to review our financial results. Thank you, Leslie.

Speaker 4

Total revenues were $0 and $8,100,000 for the three months ended 03/31/2021 and 2020, respectively. Revenues for the three months ended 03/31/2020 consisted primarily of license and collaboration agreement revenues under the license agreement with Curran. Research and development expenses were $4,500,000 and $3,600,000 for the three months ended 03/31/2021 and 2020, respectively. The increase was due primarily to manufacturing costs related to 1923, increased research and development expenses related to 02/2010, and increased expenses related to the research program between Pengu HKUST and the Hong Kong government. General and administrative expenses were consistent between periods at $2,700,000 and $2,600,000 for the three months ended 03/31/2021 and 2020, respectively.

During the first quarter twenty twenty one, the company raised gross proceeds of $9,900,000 through its aftermarket offering program with H. C. Wainwright and Company LLC and $15,300,000 through its common stock purchase agreement with Aspire Capital Fund LLC. As of 03/31/2021, we had $50,600,000 in cash, cash equivalents and investments. We expect our expenses to continue to increase in 2021 as research and development of 1923 and 2810 progress.

This includes additional manufacturing costs for both 1923 and 2810 to prepare for future clinical trials. Now I'd like to turn the call back over to Sanjay before we open it up to Q and A.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Joe. Our accomplishments this year to date reflect the hard work, dedication, and thoughtful approach that we have invested in our clinical, preclinical, and discovery programs. The readout for our Phase 1b2a proof of concept study of 1923 in pulmonary sarcoidosis represents a key inflection point for HR. And we have laid a solid foundation for and invested heavily in a robust portfolio of translational work for 1923, which we believe presents a strong scientific rationale for its potential in Inclusive Monograph. We're implementing the same thoughtful and building block approach for 2810 as we generate preclinical data and evolve our understanding of its mechanism of action to inform our clinical strategy in cancer.

We have sufficient capital to take us through the readout in pulmonary sarcoidosis and launch a patient trial for two thousand eight hundred ten in cancer. This supports our ongoing activity to generate value for the company as we progress throughout the year. We appreciate your interest and continued support and look forward to providing you updates in the future. At this time, Jill, Leslie, and I would be happy to take your questions.

Speaker 0

Your first question comes from the line of Hartaj Singh from Oppenheimer. Your line is open.

Speaker 5

Thank you. Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. This is Jackie for Hartaj. Thanks for taking our questions.

First, just the upcoming readout. I remember when last year you announced the trial got fully recruited. I think that press release showed a study enrolled 36 patients. Today's press release showed 37 patients. So maybe first, just wondering, is that some patient dropped and then you're enroll additional patients?

And then second, obviously, 37 is not an even even number. I was just wondering, you know, which that additional patient gonna fit into your treatment or placebo group and which cohort that person will be on? And third, are you going to announce the the last patient last visit? Thank you.

Speaker 2

So thanks, Jackie. So we had previously announced that we had met target enrollment. At that time, as you can imagine, several patients are in the queue. One additional patient at that time was eligible. Therefore, final count is 37.

I think ethically, would be difficult to turn away a patient that's already been deemed eligible and have passed through screening. So that occurred right at that time when we were announcing that we met target enrollment. So the final enrollment is 37. Your second question is really around which cohort. They have not been assigned backwards into our one hundred three milligram cohort.

They are in our five milligram cohort. So the most important point here is it's not a backfill. It's simply a a patient that, as I said, had had moved through screening pretty much at the same time as a sick patient, and therefore, you really wanna do the right thing and allow that patient to to join. So over enrollment, not a not a big issue, not anything really tactical, but really more around clinical operations ethics. With regard to last patient, last visit, that's something we'll consider.

I think the main thing is we're on target to have full readouts here in third quarter. And that's really what we're focused on, is getting that thirty seventh patient to basically finish up dosing and any follow-up visits. And I think we're very much on track to have a Q3 readout.

Speaker 5

Yep. Got it. Thank you for that. And then, you know, great event with our current foundation last month on educating the side effects of steroids. If you could talk a little bit more on the side effects of, you know, those nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs, both short term and long term.

And then second, you know, thinking about your upcoming third quarter readout, what types of data should we expect in there would be, like, steroid reduction, time to achieve that, or all different, dose cohort. If you could if you could, you know, help us frame that top line release release, that would be great.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Great questions about, you know, some of the toxic effects you heard quite a bit about what steroids can do and, from from the patients highlighted, one patient in particular on that call really talked a lot about, you know, weight gain and, some of the other mood and and irritability, insomnia effects. So many of the things that we see in steroids, we know, quite toxic to these patients. In those patients that have moved on to even the more heavy hitting immunosuppressants, that's really where you get even even scarier complications, things such as a higher degree of infection risk. Malignancy is is also a concern once you actually move to those agents.

Many of those agents were actually originally approved for chemotherapy. So you're really talking about a heavy toxic burden of some of those more cytotoxic immunosuppressants immunosuppressants that these patients have to advance to. So there's there's a tremendous amount of interest, and it's growing and it's accelerating to have a therapy like ours, which I mentioned, I think is is something that could be rather transformative, in changing the the paradigm on how we treat sarcoidosis. One of the ways and probably the most important way we're gonna be looking at it from an activity standpoint is to focus on steroid burden. The experts have said this is a key way that they will earn around the learn and and and feel good about the activity of 1923.

But we will be looking at a number of things here and highlighting these things, you know, in the upcoming months around what to expect with regards to percentage reduction that we'd like to see, absolute reduction we'd like to see, cumulative burden over six months, how much better we can with placebo. So these are all the things that we're focused on. We'll look to actually have potentially another event to really set the table here around expectations. From what I can understand from the experts, they are looking for that signal of steroid reduction in this trial. And I think that would really increase a tremendous amount of clinical confidence as we move into phase three if we were able to observe that in our current trial.

Speaker 5

Got it. That's very helpful. And the last question is I saw your press release earlier this week on that bispecific candidate coming from your subsidiary in Hong Kong. Can you talk about the rationale, you know, that European tool involved in a bispecific format? Like, what kind of advantages you can unveil, you know, you know, versus, I guess, you know, putting some combination therapy in mono specific, mono specific format.

Speaker 2

Yeah. I'll I'll comment that I may even ask Lovely to chime in as well. But our strategy is really as we understand neuro pill and biology, we like much of our in house work, which is, of course, working on targeting specific epitopes to neuropilin two and tuning the biology just looking at neuropilin two. But the literature has also informed us that neuropilin is a really interesting receptor in that it can quarterback other interactions with other receptors, such as plexins, integrins, other other VEGF receptors that Leslie has pointed out. So how do we leverage and learn more about that next level and potentially then create new pipeline opportunities?

This is why the Pangu collaboration and our ability to basically bring in nondilutive capital from the Hong Kong government on this type of bispecific approach is really exciting. And I think it offers us another opportunity to create a new pipeline, a discovery candidate by really understanding and mining, you know, that side of the biology. Leslie, do you wanna add anything about, just some of the some of the opportunities and some of those other, receptor, engagers with the neurotherm too?

Speaker 3

Sure, Sanjay. I mean, I think one important aspect of this as well is that it provided us an opportunity to expand our antibody engineering into the bispecific realm, and to bring on some really cutting edge technology and advance some of those things forward with some non dilutive funding in the grant, under this grant scheme that we have. Because it's really about setting up a platform. But Sanjay is absolutely right that if you're thinking about NRP-two as a receptor, and the fact that it is actually coming together with these other types of co receptors, there are novel ways to actually sort of tune those reactions and create agonists. So most of the time, you know, with our monoclonal antibodies, we're going to be blocking we're going to be blocking the natural ligands of NRP-two.

In this case, we can actually bring the receptors together, the co receptor and NRP-two itself, to derive some of that signaling. And so in certain disease states, for example, you may wanna send a form mimetic that would actually drive, a a response in that in that capacity. So it lets us come at it from the other side of the coin as well.

Speaker 2

Yeah. So I'll just add one I'll just add one other thing. You know, a bispecific approach, obviously, is just a few bispecifics on the market, but we've seen already that market at close to, you know, potentially $20,000,000,000 that has been quoted even this week when you think about bispecifics. So it really I think it's smart strategy for us to to look into this platform approach, a bispecific approach. And the fact that we can do this by accessing these grants with the Hong Kong government, I think it's a smart way for us to tap into what could be a really a large commercial opportunity in the future.

Speaker 5

Great. Great. Thanks a lot, Cutter, and really appreciate all the questions. Thank you.

Speaker 0

Your next question comes from the line of Emmanuel Brancetti from H. C. Wainwright. Your line is open.

Speaker 3

Good afternoon

Speaker 6

guys and thank you for taking my question. A couple for me. While waiting for the data in sarcoidosis with the entire 1923 the potential pivotal trial, are you guys planning to do any formulation work to explore the possibility of a different formulation for entire 1923 other than IV?

Speaker 2

Hi, Emmanuel. So that's a that's a great question. You know, I think it's a small company. We wanna, establish proof of concept with our IV administration. But I think from a patient perspective, certainly, once once a month therapy is great.

But then very quickly from a life cycle point of view, these patients will want something perhaps that could be administered even easier than that. When you look at when you look at sub q administration, you know, a lot of companies, as they advance in in their life cycle planning, they they consider things like that. I think from a formulation standpoint, your question makes a lot of sense in the strategy. But I think first things first, if we can establish proof of concept here, then absolutely, we can look at new formulations that I think would even make monotherapy more attractive to patients, perhaps a subcu administration that could be administered every, say, three to six months. That's what you see with some of the therapies as they advance in life cycle planning.

Speaker 4

Sure. Thank you for that.

Speaker 6

And with regards to the high throughput platform being developed by Tango, should we expect multiple INDs coming forward from this program? And can you give us a sense of your expectation in terms of timelines? Also, how should we think about the potential clinical development of these assets? Would this start in China and then move to The U. S?

Or have you I know it's early, but have you can you share your thoughts on this?

Speaker 2

Yes. It is early. I think I like the way you're thinking. Definitely think that this is an area we we tend to really start to understand the biology and then start to advance, you know, our discovery thinking. But the goal here really is, as you described, we'd like to be able to identify a discovery opportunity that leads to an IND candidate from this platform.

I think there's there's an ability to do that. I I hesitate to put a timeline on it just just right at this moment because we have just gotten through the first step of this milestone. But I do think that as we look to provide updates here in the future, that's the kind of things to pay attention to. Do we have a discovery candidate in the works, a bispecific antibody? With regard to development, I think it's a little bit too early to say with regards to how, we would interface with China.

Hong Kong is a little bit of a different situation, although it is becoming much more, you have to think about it a little bit more as the the connection to Mainland is a little stronger here. But but I I think that's that's, you know, a strategy that we'll we'll be working on and we'll be getting back to you. We we would like to actually emerge with a new discovery pipeline candidate from that platform.

Speaker 6

Sure, thank you. And again, another maybe forward looking question. When looking at the results reported, the AACR in triple negative breast cancer models, HIF-two thousand eight and ten seems to inhibit tumor growth when using conjunction with cisplatin and vegatuzumab. So you talked more before about the mechanism of action behind this effect, but how do you think the drug would be better positioned for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer should you decide to move forward with the clinical development in this population?

Speaker 2

Sure. And, again, I'll I'll have Leslie chime in here. But clearly, a very aggressive form of cancer where, we still have a lot of room to improve efficacy. We've made really amazing strides in the last couple of years treating TNBC, but there's quite a bit of resistance that also still develops. And I think what we are learning is our drugs can have utility in not only some of that tumor inhibition and growth, but you're also seeing quite a bit of exciting data that that can help patients who might become resistant to to existing therapies.

And that that's we we have a mechanistic understanding of how that might be occurring. So Leslie can also add some of her thoughts more specifically about that data.

Speaker 3

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, we are looking at a number of different types of aggressive solid tumors, and we have made the most amount of generated the most amount of data specifically in triple negative breast cancer because of our strong connection with UMass and Doctor. Arthur Mercurio's lab where they have a strong focus there. So that is where we're getting a lot of, you know, early data coming out that you're seeing. And I think, you know, Sanjay captured it very well.

And this is a very aggressive type of tumor that has very high NFP2 expression and has a lot of issues with resistance in patients, resistance to current therapies. And so we're seeing especially interesting to me is the tumor organoids that we see. So these are directly patient derived tumor organoids where we're seeing a response of sensitizing these tumor organoids to these chemotherapy or bevacizumab type treatment conventional therapies. And we're understanding the mechanism in those organoids and able to see, you know, genes changing that are indicating that processes surrounding EMT or this development of a stem cell like phenotype are being reversed in the presence of 2,810. And so we're starting to piece together that mechanism and figure out that that will be that is a potential population that could be that could really be helped with something that could do that in particular.

Speaker 6

Got it. Got it. Thank you very much.

Speaker 0

Question comes from the line of Zegbeh Jallah from ROTH Capital Partners. Your line is open.

Speaker 1

Hi guys, thanks for taking my questions and congrats, Leslie, really exciting for you. Just have

Speaker 3

a couple of questions.

Speaker 4

I think just follow-up to some of

Speaker 1

the questions that have been asked. I think the first one for me is that in terms of relationship with Pangu, just wanted to make sure that you're retaining full rights to the bispecific platform, or is that, you know, some kind of agreement that you have in place?

Speaker 2

Yeah. Certainly. That's a great question, Zegba. And, yes, we are retaining full rights for the work that we do there. So I think that's a that's a key component of of retaining the value of what we think is is a really outstanding opportunity for us to explore, you know, bispecifics.

Speaker 1

Thank you. And then the next one again, another follow-up for 1923. I know we're we're still waiting for the for the data, but, like, someone else alluded to the call that you participated on was really good in terms of really articulating, you know, the concerns about using steroids in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. And so I was just wondering, you know, that's kinda how this kind of study is set up in terms of, you know, figuring out if patients are using less steroids. I was just wondering if that's probably gonna be the same setup for your phase two, three potentially pivotal study.

Speaker 2

Yeah. I think we we are we are poised well to basically interrogate an endpoint that is accelerating in its validity as something that may even the FDA may really need to look at closely. I think you've heard the FSR that they are spending quite a bit of time with the FDA educating them, with Mary over there at the new CEO, around the importance and the clinical meaningfulness of this endpoint. Patients wanna get off steroids. We we always thought that, you know, at the doses we're we're looking at ten milligrams or higher, that was certainly the case.

But I think what you heard on the call is some patients now, they don't wanna go on steroids at all. So very quickly, I think our therapy is being looked at as a first line therapy, something that we can even, in our mind, be done on patient for a steroid sparing approach. But there's there's more and more momentum. We just have a better alternative in steroids. And based on our proof of mechanism in particular, I think our therapy, as I said, could be transformative here as a first line option for for sarcoidosis patients, especially given the fact that we thus far demonstrated really a great safety profile.

And I think we're poised well the sense that this endpoint is becoming more and more spotlighted by the FSR.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Sanjay. And then the last follow-up here is just on, you know, your efforts with your NRP two antibody. Got excited with the ACR data and then the the partnership with with Lonza. I was just wondering what else is left to kinda be done, for the IND. And then lastly, any comments on, some of discovery efforts with CSL bearing?

I think at one point you guys mentioned, you know, focusing on NK cell biology, and I was just wondering if you had any updates on that because that sounded really exciting.

Speaker 2

Yeah. I mean, with with regard to what's what are next steps for the neuropilin program, as I said, we'd like to get into we expect to be in a clinical trial next year in cancer. So as we continue to look at different in vivo models, tumor models, we know neuropilin is implicated in a number of different tumor settings. So we'll continue to look at a few other models, and that will then allow us to basically focus in on where we have our best effects and where we think, our best indication should be for our first cancer trial. So I think that is what you can expect to see us be active, for the remainder of the year with the follow on data, which then should focus everyone's attention to, okay, this is where two thousand eight and ten, has its best utility, and here's the best opportunity to really help patients.

So we'll be finishing some of that translational work throughout the course of this year. We'll complete some of that toxicology work that is required before we actually move into the clinic. And this is another reason why it was important for us to highlight the Lonza collaboration, because we're working with the preeminent, if you will, CDMO out there. Very important for us to actually get that relationship locked up so we can actually have really premium clinical material ready to go into the clinic. Also important right now, I think a lot about the companies are underestimating the supply chain demand with manufacturers.

So for us to get ahead of that, it's not something you hear a lot about other companies talk about because I think they're struggling with their ability to actually engage and plan ahead with those worldwide CMOs. So this is not gonna slow us down, and we we are really thrilled to have a a a top tier partner, like Lonza. With regard to some of the the findings we put out earlier this year with NK cell, we have still a lot of interest there to mature some of those findings and get a receptive candidate. We want to be transparent about that, put that out in some form of publication or abstract. So that's tracking well.

I think the important thing there is we're now in the process of validating those receptor targets on the NK cells. We like to be very, very thoughtful and make sure that we, you know, cross all the t's, not all the i's there. But but I expect big things from that program as well to be able to highlight what I think is gonna be our next receptor target, much like we did with miR4N2 a few years ago. I think that's what's in the cards there for that program.

Speaker 1

Perfect. Thanks again and congrats on the progress.

Speaker 0

Your next question comes from the line of Yale Jen from Laidlaw. Your line is open.

Speaker 7

Good afternoon, and thanks for taking the question. Just want to first question is about the 1923, just a little bit forward looking questions, which is that if the readout on the third quarter is robust, I assume you guys are going to advance into a potential pivotal study. My question is that, is the, sparing type of endpoint could be accepted by the FDA as a primary endpoint, or you need to conduct more functional, type of endpoint plus the way to potentially get, gain approval?

Speaker 2

Yeah. Thanks, Teo, for the question. Certainly our plans, and this will involve interaction with the FDA, is to propose and move aggressively into a pivotal trial. I think when you talk about a rare disease like sarcoidosis, patients don't have a lot of time to wait, and we can't be on a life cycle of ten years of running trials here. Many of these folks need therapy today.

Secondly, we know and we we are learning more and more that these patients wanna desperately get off steroids, and the ones that are newly diagnosed even don't wanna be put on steroids. So I think to your second question, if there's ever a time for the regulators to really look seriously at steroid sparing and steroid endpoint as a primary endpoint, I can tell you that in the years I've been involved in this program, there is significant momentum moving in that direction. And this is the reason why engaging more with the patient community, how we have done this internally, in Andrea as a patient advisor, and then also the FSR's focus on highlighting the toxicity of steroids here. I think it sets us really well for us to have a real discussion with the regulators and say, this actually should now be thought of more as a primary endpoint. So I can't predict right now, what the outcomes of those discussions will be with worldwide regulators.

But I will say that right now, the momentum is really building for a steroid reduction endpoint, to be at a minimal part of a composite primary endpoint. I think it sets up really well for us that we've been focusing on this endpoint from the get go.

Speaker 7

Okay. Great. That's very helpful. And another question is that the for 02/2010, which is involved in the process called the EMT you mentioned, And that seems to be a space very few competitors. At least we cannot find any.

Do you have any comment in terms of, did you guys find other sort of competing program also in this space, or you are potentially could be the first in class, therapy if, successful?

Speaker 2

Well, you know, I mean, we we are a we're a cutting edge science company. You know, we come Leslie came out of Paul's lab. Paul has been a, tremendously successful scientific entrepreneur. You know, I've talked to you about, you know, founding Alnylam and Cubist and Zeppelins and places like that. So we we're not afraid to be bold around, some of the science.

As long as it makes sense, then we can see it mechanistically. So our findings from AMT, yes. We're we're really excited about that. We think, and some authors have even said that this could potentially be a backbone type therapy. If we are remodulating some of those mesenchymal cells that that as Rosy pointed out, the stemness there, we we significantly can can make leaps here in cancer, and maybe even attack resistance.

So so I do think that, it's an area that, we think is is is very much untapped. Our biology is pointing us, our mechanistic understanding is pointing us in that direction. So we're gonna follow it. And, I I think, again, we we we get the lead here, potentially an area where, even at AACR, in this last meeting and the meeting before that, you see more and more interest in EMT biology. So, you know, perhaps in about five years, this will be an area where we can teach some other companies what what we've learned about it.

So stay tuned for for that. I I really think that's that's an interesting area that Leslie certainly is going to be working hard on.

Speaker 7

Okay. Great. And then maybe the last question here is just follow your bispecific approach. I understood the NRP-two is not necessarily an IO immunooncology therapy. But given that it generally works in the tumor microenvironment, in terms of the bispecific, would it be considered one of the bi target could be in any kind of checkpoint related or other type of immuno oncology related targets?

I don't know whether that make any sense as a consideration. And thanks.

Speaker 2

No. That makes sense to me for sure. And I'm gonna have Leslie say something as well here. But the colocation two does here is is you see other receptors, I'd like to aggregate and colocate next to neroclin two. So it's very much, I think, a quarterback that we can if if we create a bispecific, essentially, to agonize and create a bridge with neroclin and say, another receptor, you're absolutely right.

This could be another asset that we could turbocharge and the immune response, if you will, and attack cancer cells. But we have to we have to understand that mechanistically and prove it. So I think this is really, part of our scientific rationale, and it's why we we were able we were awarded the grant because I think the literature and the science pointed everything in that direction. Now we're working to basically build a candidate that, you know, we we may exactly do what you say here. Leslie, do you wanna add anything for Yale?

Speaker 3

Absolutely. So, you know, I I think we we alluded to it a little bit as as we walked through, the call today around this expression that we see for NRP two on these key cells that are located in the tumor microenvironment. So not only the tumor cells itself, but also tumor associated macrophages and myeloid DRESS Pressor cells, to name a couple of them. So we presented a poster earlier this year at a Keystone where we walked through that work. And, you know, we're definitely in mode of heavy investigation to understand the role for neurothelin-two on those cells and how that might be interplaying with the activity and what's happening with these more mesenchymal epithelial cells of the tumor.

So I think, you know, it's stay tuned. We're heavily at work on that and really investigating it. And it'll still I think the mechanism itself will bear out whether or not it makes sense to go at that with a bispecific approach or whether there's really a monoclonal strategy that can work as well. So we're as Sanjay said, we try to be cutting edge and on, you know, really open to new science and let the mechanism and the data drive us where we should go. And so I think we're very open to, you know, the best way to drug these targets.

So stay tuned.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. Thanks a lot. And again, on the progress so far.

Speaker 0

And there are no further questions over the phone line at this time. I'd now like to turn back the call over to Sanjay Shupra. Sir?

Speaker 2

Thank you. Great questions today. Obviously, lot of interest in not only our clinical program, but the advances we're making in New York ILN biology, our bispecific platform in TANGL. And while I think many of you have picked up on how that could be a really intriguing new area, it opens up a lot of potential for our pipeline. Really appreciate the questions and interest from everyone today.

Looking forward to speaking to you on this call. So thanks, everyone. Be well.

Speaker 0

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.