CLEVELAND, Ohio — Biopharmaceutical company Athersys Inc. is looking for commercial partners to help it develop and test its stem cell and drug therapies aimed at treating a variety of health problems.
Late Thursday afternoon, Athersys Chairman and Chief Executive Gil Van Bokkelen told analysts during a conference call that though his company has cash equivalents of $25.3 million — enough to keep it running through 2011 — it would like to add to its capital base by partnering with other companies to finish developing and testing both therapy lines.
During the second quarter, Athersys narrowed its net loss to $3.3 million, or 18 cents a diluted share, from $4.1 million, or or 22 cents a diluted share, in the same quarter last year, the company said Thursday. The improvement came from lower development costs this year because Athersys halted a drug program, B.J. Lehmann, president and chief operating officer for Athersys, told analysts.
Revenues, which comprise license fees and grants because Athersys has no commercial sales yet, fell 44 percent to $436,000. The decline came mostly from the timing of development milestone payments to Athersys and the expiration of a state grant in 2008, Lehmann said. Interest and other income fell from a year ago largely because Athersys had less cash on which it earned interest.
Athersys shares fell 9 cents to $1.05 on the NASDAQ Stock Market Thursday. However, the shares have risen in the last three months from around 80 cents a share.
The company’s stem cell line, called MultiStem, is an off-the-shelf therapy that Athersys is testing as a treatment for heart attack and stroke victims, as well as bone marrow transplant recipients who develop certain disease. Unlike other stem cell therapies that aim “to achieve wholesale replacement of damaged tissue, MultiStem exhibits a more drug-like profile in which cells augment healing and exert a benefit in multiple ways, and then are cleared from the body over time,” Van Bokkelen said during the conference call.
“We believe these and other capabilities will allow them to be relevant in a number of therapeutic areas, and we and our collaborators are excited about the potential utility of MultiStem for treating major conditions,” he said. But the breadth of potential applications for MultiStem “represents a development challenge, esp for an emerging biopharmaceutical company.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“Accordingly, we believe that the optimal way to advance our MultiStem program is to find a significant commercial partner,” Van Bokkelen said. Athersys has been exploring partnering opportunities for months and is “greatly encouraged by the ongoing level of interest among potential partners,” he said. “We are confident that we will be able to secure strategic partnerships that will enable us to advance our MultiStem programs in a meaningful and substantial way.”
Athersys can tell a similar story about its drug development program, led by two drug candidates — one that could be used to treat obesity, the other, cognitive, attention and wakefulness problems — by controlling receptors in the brain. Athersys also has been talking to potential commercial partners to support development and testing of these drugs.
“Once again, we are greatly encouraged by the level of interest among potential partners in both areas, and believe we are in a strong position to construct relationships with leading companies that share our vision of developing best-in-class therapeutics,” Van Bokkelen said.
