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Dosing underway in FOCUS-C9 clinical trial of WVE-004 in C9-ALS / C9-FTD – first oligonucleotide using PN backbone chemistry modifications in clinical study
Recruitment ongoing for clinical trials in HD and DMD
Generating clinical data in multiple trials through 2022 to enable decision making
Leading endogenous ADAR editing capability demonstrated restoration of functional AAT protein in vivo; new data at Wave Research Day September 28
Wave to host investor conference call and webcast at 8:30 a.m. ET today
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (Nasdaq: WVE), a clinical-stage genetic medicines company committed to delivering life-changing treatments for people battling devastating diseases, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021 and provided a business update.
“Since the start of the second quarter, Wave has achieved two significant milestones: the intrathecal dosing of patients with an oligonucleotide containing PN chemistry and preclinical proof-of-concept protein restoration in vivo with ADAR editing for our alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency program. Both accomplishments reflect the significant evolution of our PRISM platform since Wave’s founding,” said Paul Bolno, MD, MBA, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wave Life Sciences. “Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia are both areas of high unmet need; therefore we are excited to advance WVE-004 in the FOCUS-C9 clinical trial, which is open to both patient populations as they have the same genetic cause of disease. Additionally, we continue to progress our clinical trials for Huntington’s disease and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Our novel PN chemistry, stereochemical control and years of platform learnings have enabled us to lead the field on RNA editing and develop a best-in-class modality using endogenous ADAR enzymes, which further expands our genetic medicines toolkit. In June we delivered our first preclinical proof-of-concept data for our AATD program, and we believe RNA editing is the ideal approach to address this disease. Our upcoming Analyst and Investor Research Day in September will feature new data on our ADAR editing capability, AATD program, and updates on applications of ADAR editing beyond liver, including in the CNS.”
Highlights and upcoming milestones for clinical silencing and exon skipping programs:
WVE-004 for C9orf72-associated amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD):
Clinical trial update:
Presentations and preclinical data:
WVE-003 targeting SNP3 for Huntington’s disease (HD):
WVE-N531 for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) amenable to exon 53 skipping:
ADAR editing preclinical program progress and upcoming milestones:
ADAR editing (RNA editing using endogenous ADAR enzymes) capability:
Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) program with ADAR editing:
Preclinical CNS programs in collaboration with Takeda:
Multiple programs (including WVE-005) for central nervous system (CNS) indications:
Upcoming events:
Analyst and Investor Research Day to be held September 28, 2021:
Second Quarter 2021 Financial Results and Financial Guidance
Wave reported a net loss of $38.8 million in the second quarter of 2021 as compared to $40.5 million in the same period in 2020.
Research and development expenses were $31.6 million in the second quarter of 2021 as compared to $31.5 million in the same period in 2020. While the total research and development expenses remained relatively consistent year-over-year, there were changes in how the expenses were distributed between programs. There were increased external expenses related to Wave’s C9orf72 program and other discovery and development programs, including PRISM, and Wave’s reimbursed research and preclinical expenses related to its Takeda collaboration. These increases were almost entirely offset by decreased external expenses related to Wave’s discontinued clinical programs.
General and administrative expenses were $11.0 million in the second quarter of 2020 as compared to $10.2 million in the same period in 2020. The increase in general and administrative expenses in the second quarter of 2021 was mainly driven by increased external general and administrative expenses, as well as increased compensation-related expenses.
As of June 30, 2021, Wave had $143.8 million in cash and cash equivalents as compared to $184.5 million as of December 31, 2020. The decrease in cash and cash equivalents was mainly due to Wave’s year-to-date net loss of $81.2 million, partially offset by the receipt of $30.0 million in research support funding from Takeda under the company’s collaboration in the second quarter and $13.1 million in year-to-date net proceeds under Wave’s at-the-market equity program.
Wave expects that its existing cash and cash equivalents, together with expected and committed cash from its existing collaboration, will enable the company to fund its operating and capital expenditure requirements into the second quarter of 2023.
Investor Conference Call and WebcastWave management will host an investor conference call today at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss the company’s second quarter and 2021 financial results and provide a business update. The conference call may be accessed by dialing (800) 708-4540 (domestic) or (847) 619-6397 (international) and entering conference ID: 50197439. The live webcast may be accessed from the Investor Relations section of the Wave Life Sciences corporate website at ir.wavelifesciences.com. Following the webcast, a replay will be available on the website.
About PRISM™PRISM is Wave Life Sciences’ proprietary discovery and drug development platform that enables genetically-defined diseases to be targeted with stereopure oligonucleotides across multiple therapeutic modalities, including silencing, splicing and editing. PRISM combines the company’s unique ability to construct stereopure oligonucleotides with a deep understanding of how the interplay among oligonucleotide sequence, chemistry and backbone stereochemistry impacts key pharmacological properties. By exploring these interactions through iterative analysis of in vitro and in vivo outcomes and machine learning-driven predictive modeling, the company continues to define design principles that are deployed across programs to rapidly develop and manufacture clinical candidates that meet pre-defined product profiles.
About Wave Life SciencesWave Life Sciences (Nasdaq: WVE) is a clinical-stage genetic medicines company committed to delivering life-changing treatments for people battling devastating diseases. Wave aspires to develop best-in-class medicines across multiple therapeutic modalities using PRISM, the company’s proprietary discovery and drug development platform that enables the precise design, optimization, and production of stereopure oligonucleotides. Driven by a resolute sense of urgency, the Wave team is targeting a broad range of genetically-defined diseases so that patients and families may realize a brighter future. To find out more, please visit www.wavelifesciences.com and follow Wave on Twitter @WaveLifeSci.
Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements concerning our goals, beliefs, expectations, strategies, objectives and plans, and other statements that are not necessarily based on historical facts, including statements regarding the following, among others: the anticipated initiation, site activation, patient recruitment, patient enrollment, dosing, data readouts and completion of our adaptive clinical trials, and the announcement of such events; the protocol, design and endpoints of our ongoing and planned clinical trials; the future performance and results of our programs in clinical trials; future preclinical activities and programs; regulatory submissions; the progress and potential benefits of our collaborations with partners; the potential of our in vitro and in vivo preclinical data to predict the behavior of our compounds in humans; our identification of future product candidates and their therapeutic potential; the anticipated therapeutic benefits of our potential therapies compared to others; our ability to design compounds using multiple modalities and the anticipated benefits of that model; the anticipated benefits of our proprietary manufacturing processes and our internal manufacturing capabilities; the potential benefits of PRISM, including our novel PN backbone chemistry modifications, and our stereopure oligonucleotides compared with stereorandom oligonucleotides; the potential benefits of our novel ADAR-mediated RNA editing platform capabilities compared to others; the benefit of nucleic acid therapeutics generally; the strength of our intellectual property; the anticipated duration of our cash runway; and our expectations regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including the following: our ability to finance our drug discovery and development efforts and to raise additional capital when needed; the ability of our preclinical programs to produce data sufficient to support our clinical trial applications and the timing thereof; our ability to maintain the company infrastructure and personnel needed to achieve our goals; the clinical results of our programs, which may not support further development of product candidates; actions of regulatory agencies, which may affect the initiation, timing and progress of clinical trials, including their receptiveness to our adaptive trial designs; our effectiveness in managing future clinical trials and regulatory interactions; the effectiveness of PRISM, including our novel PN backbone chemistry modifications ; the effectiveness of our novel ADAR-mediated RNA editing platform capability; the continued development and acceptance of oligonucleotides as a class of medicines; our ability to demonstrate the therapeutic benefits of our candidates in clinical trials, including our ability to develop candidates across multiple therapeutic modalities; our dependence on third parties, including contract research organizations, contract manufacturing organizations, collaborators and partners; our ability to manufacture or contract with third parties to manufacture drug material to support our programs and growth; our ability to obtain, maintain and protect our intellectual property; our ability to enforce our patents against infringers and defend our patent portfolio against challenges from third parties; competition from others developing therapies for similar indications; the severity and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its negative impact on the conduct of, and the timing of enrollment, completion and reporting with respect to our clinical trials; and any other impacts on our business as a result of or related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the information under the caption “Risk Factors” contained in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and in other filings we make with the SEC from time to time. We undertake no obligation to update the information contained in this press release to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances.
WAVE LIFE SCIENCES LTD.UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(In thousands, except share amounts)
| June 30, 2021 | December 31, 2020 | |||||||
| Assets | ||||||||
| Current assets: | ||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 143,840 | $ | 184,497 | ||||
| Current portion of accounts receivable | — | 30,000 | ||||||
| Prepaid expenses | 9,188 | 10,434 | ||||||
| Other current assets | 6,403 | 5,111 | ||||||
| Total current assets | 159,431 | 230,042 | ||||||
| Long-term assets: | ||||||||
| Property and equipment, net | 25,842 | 29,198 | ||||||
| Operating lease right-of-use assets | 15,189 | 16,232 | ||||||
| Restricted cash | 3,651 | 3,651 | ||||||
| Other assets | 2,298 | 115 | ||||||
| Total long-term assets | 46,980 | 49,196 | ||||||
| Total assets | $ | 206,411 | $ | 279,238 | ||||
| Liabilities, Series A preferred shares and shareholders’ equity | ||||||||
| Current liabilities: | ||||||||
| Accounts payable | $ | 8,655 | $ | 13,795 | ||||
| Accrued expenses and other current liabilities | 9,923 | 11,971 | ||||||
| Current portion of deferred revenue | 24,177 | 91,560 | ||||||
| Current portion of operating lease liability | 3,966 | 3,714 | ||||||
| Total current liabilities | 46,721 | 121,040 | ||||||
| Long-term liabilities: | ||||||||
| Deferred revenue, net of current portion | 106,088 | 41,481 | ||||||
| Operating lease liability, net of current portion | 23,547 | 25,591 | ||||||
| Other liabilities | 339 | 474 | ||||||
| Total long-term liabilities | $ | 129,974 | $ | 67,546 | ||||
| Total liabilities | $ | 176,695 | $ | 188,586 | ||||
| Series A preferred shares, no par value; 3,901,348 shares issued and outstanding at June 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020 | $ | 7,874 | $ | 7,874 | ||||
| Shareholders’ equity: | ||||||||
| Ordinary shares, no par value; 50,576,466 and 48,778,678 shares issued and outstanding at June 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively | $ | 707,714 | $ | 694,085 | ||||
| Additional paid-in capital | 78,358 | 71,573 | ||||||
| Accumulated other comprehensive income | 269 | 389 | ||||||
| Accumulated deficit | (764,499 | ) | (683,269 | ) | ||||
| Total shareholders’ equity | $ | 21,842 | $ | 82,778 | ||||
| Total liabilities, Series A preferred shares and shareholders’ equity | $ | 206,411 | $ | 279,238 | ||||
WAVE LIFE SCIENCES LTD.UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS
(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)
| Three Months Ended June 30, | Six Months Ended June 30, | |||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | |||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 2,776 | $ | 3,027 | $ | 2,776 | $ | 7,188 | ||||||||
| Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | 31,635 | 31,478 | 65,028 | 72,636 | ||||||||||||
| General and administrative | 10,969 | 10,205 | 21,047 | 23,201 | ||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 42,604 | 41,683 | 86,075 | 95,837 | ||||||||||||
| Loss from operations | (39,828 | ) | (38,656 | ) | (83,299 | ) | (88,649 | ) | ||||||||
| Other income (expense), net: | ||||||||||||||||
| Dividend income and interest income, net | 8 | 133 | 19 | 521 | ||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | 1,054 | (2,005 | ) | 2,050 | 107 | |||||||||||
| Total other income (expense), net | 1,062 | (1,872 | ) | 2,069 | 628 | |||||||||||
| Loss before income taxes | (38,766 | ) | (40,528 | ) | (81,230 | ) | (88,021 | ) | ||||||||
| Income tax provision | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (38,766 | ) | $ | (40,528 | ) | $ | (81,230 | ) | $ | (88,021 | ) | ||||
| Net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders—basic and diluted | $ | (0.78 | ) | $ | (1.15 | ) | $ | (1.65 | ) | $ | (2.53 | ) | ||||
| Weighted-average ordinary shares used in computing net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders—basic and diluted | 49,973,185 | 35,212,291 | 49,220,140 | 34,836,898 | ||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive income (loss): | ||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (38,766 | ) | $ | (40,528 | ) | $ | (81,230 | ) | $ | (88,021 | ) | ||||
| Foreign currency translation | — | 5 | (120 | ) | 11 | |||||||||||
| Comprehensive loss | $ | (38,766 | ) | $ | (40,523 | ) | $ | (81,350 | ) | $ | (88,010 | ) | ||||
Investor Contact:Kate Rausch617-949-4827krausch@wavelifesci.com
Media Contact:Alicia Suter617-949-4817asuter@wavelifesci.com
