CLEVELAND, Ohio — Athersys Inc. continued enrollments during the third quarter in safety and efficacy trials of its adult stem cell therapy, MultiStem, for heart attack patients and those who run the risk of rejecting bone marrow transplants. At the same time, the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company looked for money for a third trial involving stroke patients.
“We believe MultiStem represents the first stem cell therapy that can be manufactured on a large scale, administered without tissue matching or immune suppression, is capable of delivering a therapeutic benefit in multiple ways,” Gil Van Bokkelen, chairman and chief executive of Athersys, said during a Thursday afternoon conference call with securities analysts.
“We are actively engaged in research programs exploring the potential utility of MultiStem across a number of disease areas, including cardiovascular, cancer treatment support, multiple neurological conditions, a range of diseases involving immune system dysfunction or chronic inflammation and other areas,” Van Bokkelen said.
Also during the third quarter, Athersys continued to develop drugs to treat obesity and cognitive problems.
Van Bokkelen said a key part of his company’s near-term strategy is finding the right funding partners for the right programs. “As we reported last quarter, over the past few months, we’ve been actively engaged in discussions with potential partners across multiple areas and will remain actively engaged in that process,” he said. “We do not necessarily intend to partner each program or opportunity. Rather, our goal is to selectively establish partnerships that not only provide us with additional capital, support and capabilities, but that are constructed to create substantial long-term value for our shareholders.”
Athersys revenue, comprising licensing fees and grants, fell 62 percent to $484,000 in the third quarter from $1.3 million a year ago, mostly because of the timing of revenue for meeting development milestones, as well as a large milestone payment and the end of an Ohio grant in the year-ago quarter, B.J. Lehmann, president and chief operating officer of Athersys, said during the conference call.
Athersys lost $3.4 million, or 18 cents a diluted share, in the third quarter. That was a 25-percent improvement from a loss of $4.5 million, or 24 cents a diluted share, in the same quarter a year ago. In that time, research and development costs fell by nearly one-half to $2.7 million, largely because Athersys stopped developing a drug to treat obesity early this year because it could not find a development partner.
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.
The company ended the third quarter with $22.4 million in cash, cash equivalents and sellable securities, which represents more than two years of operating cash, assuming no new financing, Lehmann said.
For the first nine months of the year, Athersys had revenue of $1.3 million, down 55 percent from $2.8 million in the same period last year. The company’s net loss was $10.4 million in that time, a 22-percent improvement from $13.3 million a year ago.
Athersys shares fell 2 cents to $1.03 Thursday on the NASDAQ Stock Market. The company’s earnings report and conference call came after the market closed for the day.
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