Oryzon Genomics, S.A. (ISIN Code: ES0167733015, ORY), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging epigenetics to develop therapies in diseases with a strong unmet medical need, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023 and provided a corporate update on recent developments.
Dr Carlos Buesa, Oryzon’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Oryzon continued with a strong path in its clinical programs in the fourth quarter. In CNS, we recently presented topline results for our Phase IIb PORTICO trial evaluating vafidemstat as a treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Although the primary endpoints were not met, two important secondary endpoints evaluating improvement in overall BPD disease severity and in agitation/aggression reached nominal statistical significance, and the results across all the primary and secondary efficacy endpoints favored vafidemstat over placebo. This is the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that a large, randomized Phase II trial in BPD had two secondary endpoints that met statistical significance reflecting clinically meaningful improvements in overall BPD severity and in agitation/aggression. In a disease with currently no approved drugs, and no established regulatory endpoints yet, PORTICO’s results across these two important endpoints are paving the way, in our opinion, to define a registrational Phase III trial, based for the first time on a well-controlled study that has enrolled a truly representative real-world BPD population. Once the full analysis is completed, the company will request an End-of-Phase II meeting with the FDA to discuss the design of a Phase III. Our Phase IIb trial with vafidemstat in schizophrenia, EVOLUTION, has also continued to enroll patients. We continue working for a future submission of an IND to initiate HOPE in 2024, the first randomized Phase I/II personalized medicine trial with an LSD1 inhibitor, in Kabuki Syndrome patients.”
Dr Buesa continued: “In oncology, we also continued to make progress this quarter in both iadademstat’s ongoing clinical trials. In the FRIDA trial in combination with gilteritinib in relapsed/refractory FLT3-mutant AML patients, the second cohort is fully enrolled and ongoing, and the company’s assessment on the initial preliminary data looks very promising when compared to gilteritinib alone in historical data. We expect to communicate some preliminary data at the EHA Conference next June in Madrid. The collaborative trial with the Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC) in combination with paclitaxel in neuroendocrine tumors is also actively recruiting patients. In addition, we are expanding iadademstat’s clinical development through additional clinical trials under our CRADA with the NCI and through investigator-initiated studies in SCLC in combination with ICIs and in first line AML in combination with venetoclax and azacitidine.”
Dr Buesa added: “While we have experienced a clear advance in our clinical pipeline, on the financial side, the company has continued its budgetary discipline. This, and the combination of non-dilutive funds (private and public grants and loans from commercial Spanish banks) with the withdrawal of €10 million from our €45 million Convertible Bond program allows us to extend the runway until 2025 and to focus now on the next conversations with the FDA and EMA and our clinical execution.”
Fourth Quarter and Recent Highlights
Vafidemstat in large multifactorial CNS indications:
Vafidemstat in monogenic CNS indications:
Iadademstat in oncology:
Earlier stage programs:
Financial Update: Fourth Quarter 2023 Financial Results
Research and development (R&D) expenses were $3.9 and $16.6 million for the quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2023, respectively, compared to $5.0 and $18.1 million for the quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
General and administrative expenses were $1.2 and $4.2 million for the quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2023, respectively, compared to $1.2 and $4.8 million for the quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
Net losses were $1.4 and $5.0 million for the quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2023, respectively, compared to $1.6 and $5.9 million for the quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2022. The result is as expected, given the biotechnology business model where companies in the development phase typically have a long-term maturation period for products, and do not have recurrent income.
Negative net result was $3.7 million (–$0.064 per share) for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, compared to a negative net result of $4.5 million (–$0.085 per share) for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $13.5 million as of December 31, 2023.
About Oryzon
Founded in 2000 in Barcelona, Spain, Oryzon (ISIN Code: ES0167733015) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company and the European leader in epigenetics, with a strong focus on personalized medicine in CNS disorders and oncology. Oryzon’s team is composed of highly qualified professionals from the pharma industry located in Barcelona, Boston, and San Diego. Oryzon has an advanced clinical portfolio with two LSD1 inhibitors, vafidemstat in CNS and iadademstat in oncology, in several Phase II clinical trials. The company has other pipeline assets directed against other epigenetic targets like HDAC-6, where ORY-4001 has been nominated as clinical candidate for the treatment of certain neurological disorders such as CMT and ALS. In addition, Oryzon has a strong platform for biomarker identification and target validation for a variety of malignant and neurological diseases. For more information, visit www.oryzon.com
About Iadademstat
Iadademstat (ORY-1001) is a small oral molecule, which acts as a highly selective inhibitor of the epigenetic enzyme LSD1 and has a powerful differentiating effect in hematologic cancers (see Maes et al., Cancer Cell 2018 Mar 12; 33 (3): 495-511.e12.doi: 10.1016 / j.ccell.2018.02.002.). A FiM Phase I/IIa clinical trial with iadademstat in R/R AML patients demonstrated the safety and good tolerability of the drug and preliminary signs of antileukemic activity, including a CRi (see Salamero et al, J Clin Oncol, 2020, 38(36): 4260-4273. doi: 10.1200/JCO.19.03250). Iadademstat has shown encouraging safety and efficacy data in combination with azacitidine in a Phase IIa trial in elder 1L AML patients (ALICE trial) (see Salamero et al., ASH 2022 oral presentation). Iadademstat is currently being evaluated in combination with gilteritinib in the ongoing Phase Ib FRIDA trial in patients with relapsed/refractory AML with FLT3 mutations. Beyond hematological cancers, the inhibition of LSD1 has been proposed as a valid therapeutic approach in some solid tumors such as small cell lung cancer (SCLC), neuroendocrine tumors (NET), medulloblastoma and others. In a Phase IIa trial in combination with platinum/etoposide in second line ED-SCLC patients (CLEPSIDRA trial), preliminary activity and safety results have been reported (see Navarro et al., ESMO 2018 poster). Iadademstat is being evaluated in a collaborative Phase II basket study with the Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC) in combination with paclitaxel in R/R neuroendocrine carcinomas, and the company is preparing a new trial in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in SCLC. Oryzon has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) to collaborate on potential further clinical development of iadademstat in different types of solid and hematological cancers; a first trial in combination with ICI in SCLC is under preparation. In total iadademstat has been dosed so far to more than 130 cancer patients in four clinical trials. Iadademstat has orphan drug designation for SCLC in the US and for AML in the US and EU.
About Vafidemstat
Vafidemstat (ORY-2001) is an oral, CNS-optimized LSD1 inhibitor. The molecule acts on several levels: it reduces cognitive impairment, including memory loss and neuroinflammation, and at the same time has neuroprotective effects. In animal studies vafidemstat not only restores memory but reduces the exacerbated aggressiveness of SAMP8 mice, a model for accelerated aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), to normal levels and also reduces social avoidance and enhances sociability in murine models. In addition, vafidemstat exhibits fast, strong, and durable efficacy in several preclinical models of multiple sclerosis (MS). Oryzon has performed two Phase IIa clinical trials in aggressiveness in patients with different psychiatric disorders (REIMAGINE) and in aggressive/agitated patients with moderate or severe AD (REIMAGINE-AD), with positive clinical results reported in both. Additional finalized Phase IIa clinical trials with vafidemstat include the ETHERAL trial in patients with Mild to Moderate AD, where a significant reduction of the inflammatory biomarker YKL40 has been observed after 6 and 12 months of treatment, and the pilot, small-scale SATEEN trial in Relapse-Remitting and Secondary Progressive MS, where anti-inflammatory activity has also been observed. Vafidemstat has also been tested in a Phase II in severe Covid-19 patients (ESCAPE) assessing the capability of the drug to prevent ARDS, one of the most severe complications of the viral infection, where it showed significant anti-inflammatory effects in severe Covid-19 patients. Vafidemstat is being investigated in neuropsychiatric disorders in two double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase IIb trials: one in schizophrenia, named EVOLUTION (recruitment ongoing), and another one in Borderline Personality disorder (BPD), named PORTICO, recently finalized, with topline data and in the process of completing the full data analysis. Based on PORTICO’s topline results, the company is planning to request an End-of-Phase II meeting with the FDA to discuss options for a registrational Phase III trial in BPD. The company is also deploying a CNS precision medicine approach with vafidemstat in genetically-defined patient subpopulations of certain CNS disorders and is preparing a clinical trial in Kabuki Syndrome patients. The company is also exploring the clinical development of vafidemstat in other neurodevelopmental syndromes.