Full Press Release Details
AVROBIO Reports Second Quarter 2021 Financial Results and
Provides Business Update
U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Fast Track Designation to
AVR-RD-04 for cystinosis
Company is planning to
initiate multiple registration trials in 2022
Multiple data and regulatory updates anticipated over next 12 months
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 5, 2021 AVROBIO, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVRO), a leading clinical-stage gene therapy company with a mission to free people
from a lifetime of genetic disease, today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, and provided a business update.
from the patients dosed to date across three indications continue to support our first-in-class, one-time investigational gene
therapies as potentially transformative treatments for the more than 50,000 people worldwide living with the life-limiting lysosomal disorders we are researching, said Geoff MacKay, president and CEO of AVROBIO. In the second half of
this year, we plan to share updated safety data from our ongoing clinical trials and plan to meet with regulatory agencies to discuss initiating potential registration trials in 2022 for Fabry disease, cystinosis and Gaucher disease type 3. With our
Pompe disease and Hunter syndrome programs anticipated to enter the clinic in 2022, we remain fiercely committed to our purpose: to free people living with genetic disease from a lifetime of symptoms, chronic treatment and inevitable disease
Multiple program milestones anticipated over the next 12 months
AVR-RD-01 in Fabry disease:
AVR-RD-04 in cystinosis:
Gaucher disease programs:
Second Quarter 2021 Financial Results
net loss of $31.4 million for the second quarter of 2021 as compared to a net loss of $28.8 million for the comparable period in 2020. This increase was driven by increased research and development expenses as well as increased general and
administrative expenses.
Research and development expenses were $22.5 million for the second quarter of 2021 as compared to
$20.9 million for the comparable period in 2020. This increase was driven by increased program development activities related to the advancement of the company s pipeline as well as increased personnel-related costs resulting from an
increase in employee headcount, which includes the impact of non-cash stock-based compensation.
administrative expenses were $8.9 million for the second quarter of 2021 as compared to $8.0 million for the comparable period in 2020. This increase was primarily due to an increase in employee headcount, which includes the impact of non-cash stock-based compensation, which was offset by a decrease in facilities costs, professional fees and legal fees.
As of June 30, 2021, AVROBIO had $226.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, as compared to $259.7 million in cash and cash equivalents as of
Dec. 31, 2020. Based on the company s current operating plan, AVROBIO expects its cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2021 will enable the company to fund its operating expenses and capital expenditure
requirements into the first quarter of 2023.
Our vision is to bring personalized gene therapy to the world. We aim to prevent, halt or reverse disease throughout the body with a single dose of gene
therapy designed to drive durable expression of therapeutic protein, even in hard-to-reach tissues and organs including brain, muscle and bone. Our ex vivo lentiviral
gene therapy pipeline includes clinical programs in Fabry disease, Gaucher disease type 1 and cystinosis, as well as preclinical programs in Hunter syndrome, Gaucher disease type 3 and Pompe disease. AVROBIO is powered by our
industry-leading plato gene therapy platform, our foundation designed to deliver gene therapy worldwide. We are headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., with an office in Toronto,
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains
forward-looking statements, including statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words and phrases such as aims,
anticipates, believes, could, designed to, estimates, expects, forecasts, goal, intends, may, plans,
possible, potential, seeks, will, and variations of these words and phrases or similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include,
without limitation, statements regarding our business strategy for and the
potential therapeutic benefits of our product candidates, the design, commencement, enrollment and timing of ongoing or planned clinical trials, clinical trial results, product approvals and
regulatory pathways, our plans and expectations with respect to the development of AVR-RD-01,
AVR-RD-04 and AVR-RD-06, including timing and design of potential registration trials for
such product candidates, the intended use of such trials as our registration trials for these product candidates, and anticipated interactions with regulatory agencies, the timing of new clinical and regulatory updates, anticipated benefits of our
gene therapy platform including potential impact on our commercialization activities, timing and likelihood of success, the expected benefits and results of our implementation of the plato
platform in our clinical trials and gene therapy programs, the expected safety profile of our investigational gene therapies, and statements regarding our financial and cash position and expected cash runway. Any such statements in this press
release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Results in preclinical or early-stage clinical trials may not be indicative of results from later stage or larger scale clinical trials and do not
ensure regulatory approval. You should not place undue reliance on these statements, or the scientific data presented.
Any forward-looking statements in
this press release are based on AVROBIO s current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry as well as management s current beliefs and expectations of future events only as of today and are subject to a number of risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk that any one or more
of AVROBIO s product candidates will not be successfully developed or commercialized, the risk of cessation or delay of any ongoing or planned clinical trials of AVROBIO or our collaborators, the risk that regulatory agencies may disagree with
our anticipated development approach for our product candidates such as AVR-RD-01,
AVR-RD-04 and AVR-RD-06, including that regulatory agencies may require additional
clinical testing prior to initiating registration trials for such product candidates, that we may not be able to utilize our planned registration trial of AVR-RD-01 for
full approval but instead be required to conduct additional testing, that we may be required to conduct our planned testing in a more time-consuming, expensive, challenging or otherwise different manner than we envision or have conducted for our
existing trials, particularly in light of the FDA s preference for clinical trials to be double-blinded and potentially include sham controls, the risk that we may not be able to utilize our envisioned surrogate endpoint to support full
approval of AVR-RD-01 but instead be required to measure a different endpoint such as a clinical outcome, the risk that AVROBIO may not successfully recruit or enroll a
sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials, the risk that AVROBIO may not realize the intended benefits of our gene therapy platform, including the features of our plato platform,
the risk that our product candidates or procedures in connection with the administration thereof will not have the safety or efficacy profile that we anticipate, the risk that prior results, such as signals of safety, activity or durability of
effect, observed from preclinical or clinical trials, will not be replicated or will not continue in ongoing or future studies or trials involving AVROBIO s product candidates, the risk that we will be unable to obtain and maintain regulatory
approval for our product candidates, the risk that the size and growth potential of the market for our
product candidates will not materialize as expected, risks associated with our dependence on third-party suppliers and manufacturers, risks regarding the accuracy of our estimates of expenses and
future revenue, risks relating to our capital requirements and needs for additional financing, risks relating to clinical trial and business interruptions resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak or similar public
health crises, including that such interruptions may materially delay our enrollment and development timelines and/or increase our development costs or that data collection efforts may be impaired or otherwise impacted by such crises, and risks
relating to our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our product candidates. For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause AVROBIO s actual
results to differ materially and adversely from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled Risk Factors in AVROBIO s most recent Quarterly Report, as well as discussions of potential risks,
uncertainties and other important factors in AVROBIO s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AVROBIO explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law.
Christopher F. Brinzey
Westwicke, an ICR Company
Ten Bridge Communications
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
| June 30, | December 31, | |||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 226,438 | $ | 259,682 | ||||
| Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 7,081 | 7,560 | ||||||
| Property and equipment, net | 3,990 | 3,064 | ||||||
| Other assets | 586 | 928 | ||||||
| Total assets | $ | 238,095 | $ | 271,234 | ||||
| Accounts payable | $ | 2,029 | $ | 2,682 | ||||
| Accrued expenses and other current liabilities | 14,924 | 13,932 | ||||||
| Deferred rent, net of current portion | 150 | 276 | ||||||
| Total liabilities | 17,103 | 16,890 | ||||||
| Total stockholders equity | 220,992 | 254,344 | ||||||
| Total liabilities and stockholders equity | $ | 238,095 | $ | 271,234 |
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(In thousands, except per share data)
| Three Months Ended June 30, | Six Months Ended June 30, | |||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | |||||||||||||
| Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | $ | 22,544 | $ | 20,866 | $ | 41,024 | $ | 39,140 | ||||||||
| General and administrative | 8,831 | 7,991 | 17,235 | 16,306 | ||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 31,375 | 28,857 | 58,259 | 55,446 | ||||||||||||
| Loss from operations | (31,375 | ) | (28,857 | ) | (58,259 | ) | (55,446 | ) | ||||||||
| Total other (expense) income, net | (12 | ) | 29 | (27 | ) | 645 | ||||||||||
| Net loss | ($ | 31,387 | ) | ($ | 28,828 | ) | ($ | 58,286 | ) | ($ | 54,801 | ) | ||||
| Net loss per share basic and diluted | ($ | 0.74 | ) | ($ | 0.80 | ) | ($ | 1.39 | ) | ($ | 1.57 | ) | ||||
| Weighted-average number of common shares outstanding basic and diluted | 42,510 | 36,105 | 42,067 | 34,886 |