Arbutus Provides Corporate Update and Announces First Quarter 2016 Financial Results Conference Call at 4:30 pm Eastern Time Today
May 04, 2016 16:00 ET | Source: Arbutus Biopharma Corporation
VANCOUVER, British Columbia and DOYLESTOWN, Pa., May 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (Nasdaq:ABUS), an industry-leading Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) therapeutic solutions company, today announced its first quarter 2016 unaudited financial results and provided a corporate update.
“We are focused on advancing the development of our candidates to support clinical combination studies in 2017. In addition, we continue to grow our HBV pipeline through new product innovation and partnerships,” said Dr. Mark J. Murray, Arbutus’ President and CEO. “HBV remains a significant global unmet medical need and market opportunity, and we believe our combination approach is the key to a cure. We are funded into late 2018, allowing us to execute our development plans with the aim of generating meaningful data.” Recent Highlights - Ongoing Phase II study of ARB-1467 evaluating at least two doses of ARB-1467 (0.2 mg/kg and 0.4 mg/kg) in HBV infected patients.
- Progress in developing a proprietary GalNAc conjugate technology to enable subcutaneous delivery of an RNAi therapeutic targeting hepatitis B surface antigen and/or other HBV targets.
- Licensing and research collaboration agreement with the Saint Louis University Liver Center to develop Ribonuclease H (RNaseH) inhibitors and further expand Arbutus’ HBV pipeline.
- Preclinical combination data presented at EASL 2016 showing additive to synergistic activity when combining AB-423 (core protein/capsid assembly inhibitor) with entecavir.
- Preclinical combination data presented at other scientific conferences in April 2016 showing:
- ARB-1467 (RNAi), AB-423 (core protein/capsid assembly inhibitor), and ARB-199 (cccDNA formation inhibitor) are potent and selective inhibitors of their respective targets;
- Additive or synergistic activity (and no antagonism) when combining these candidates with “nuc” standard of care; and
- Additive activity when combining ARB-1467 with AB-423.
Upcoming Milestones - 2016: Preclinical data release on multiple pipeline programs, including results from preclinical combination studies of proprietary pipeline candidates
- 3Q16: Single dose HBsAg reduction data from the ARB-1467 (RNAi) Phase II trial in HBV-infected patients
- 4Q16: HBsAg reduction data from the multiple dose portion of the Phase II trial testing ARB-1467 in HBV-infected patients
- 2H16: Initiate clinical immune biomarker study for TLR9 agonist ARB-1598 in chronically infected HBV patients
- 2H16: File IND (or equivalent) for cccDNA formation inhibitor
- 2H16: File IND (or equivalent) for core protein/capsid assembly inhibitor
- 2H16: File IND (or equivalent) for ARB-1740 (RNAi)
- 2H16: Phase II results for TKM-PLK1 in HCC
- 2017: Initiate clinical combination studies with two or more proprietary product candidates
Financial Results On January 1, 2016, Arbutus’ functional currency changed from the Canadian dollar to the U.S. dollar based on the analysis of changes in the primary economic environment in which the Company operates. The change in functional currency is accounted for prospectively from January 1, 2016 and financial statements prior to and including the year-ended December 31, 2015 will not be restated for the change in functional currency. Cash, Cash Equivalents and Investments As at March 31, 2016, Arbutus had cash and cash equivalents of $144.8 million and short-term and long-term investments of $37.9 million for an aggregate of $182.7 million, as compared to cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $191.4 million at December 31, 2015. | 
发表于 2016-5-5 15:29
