Transgene: Financial Visibility Extended to Q4 2020, Including $10 Million Revenue from Collaboration with AstraZeneca to Be Received in Q2 2019

May 13, 2019 Off By BusinessWire
  • €9.1 Million in Cash and Cash Equivalents as of March 31, 2019
  • €20 million revolving credit facility secured with Natixis
  • Key clinical trials confirmed to readout in H2 2019

STRASBOURG, France–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Transgene?src=hash" target="_blank"gt;#Transgenelt;/agt;–Regulatory News:

Transgene (Euronext Paris: TNG) (Paris:TNG), a biotech company that
designs and develops virus-based immunotherapies against cancers and
infectious diseases to transform the fight against solid tumors and
infectious diseases, today announces its business update for the quarter
ending March 31, 2019.

Operating revenue:

The following table summarizes the first quarter operating revenue for
2019 compared to the same period in 2018:

  Q1
In millions of euros 2019   2018
 
Revenue from collaborative and licensing agreements 0.4 0.2
Government financing for research expenditures 1.5 1.6
     
Operating revenue 1.9 1.8

During the first quarter of 2019, revenue from collaborative and
licensing agreements was mainly composed of research services and
royalties.

As of March 31, 2019, government financing for research expenditures
mainly consisted of 25% of the research tax credit expected for 2019
(€1.5 million in the first quarter of 2019, compared to €1.6 million for
the same period in 2018).

Cash, cash equivalents, available-for-sale financial assets and
other financial assets:

In the first quarter of 2019, Transgene’s cash burn was €7.8 million,
compared to €5.8 million for the same period in 2018. Cash, cash
equivalents, available-for-sale financial assets and other financial
assets stood at €9.1 million as of March 31, 2019, compared to
€16.9 million as of December 31, 2018. This cash position does not
include the €20 million credit facility available for the Company or the
$10 million receivable from AstraZeneca.

Key achievements:

  • Finance:

    • Transgene secured a €20 million revolving credit facility with
      a 30-month term with Natixis.
      Transgene will be able to draw
      on and repay the facility at its discretion. Transgene has used
      its shares in the Chinese biotech company Tasly Biopharmaceuticals
      as collateral for this loan (press release distributed on March
      18, 2019). As of May 13, 2019, the Company has not drawn down on
      this facility.
  • Invir.IO™:

    • Transgene and AstraZeneca signed a collaborative research,
      option and exclusive license agreement to co-develop five armed
      oncolytic vaccinia virus candidates
      deriving from the
      Invir.IO™ platform.
      Transgene is to receive $10 million in Q2
      2019 and additional pre-clinical success milestones of up to $3
      million. Transgene is eligible to receive an option exercise
      payment on each candidate in the event AstraZeneca exercises one
      or more of its license option, as well as development and
      commercial milestones and royalties (press release distributed on
      May 2, 2019).
    • Transgene and BioInvent extend their collaboration to develop
      additional multifunctional oncolytic viruses
      encoding for
      antibodies capable of treating a broad range of solid tumors
      (press release distributed on March 26, 2019).
  • myvac™:

    • Transgene announced that the NEOVIVA project, that is focused
      on Transgene’s individualized immunotherapy platform myvac™,
      was selected by the “Investments for the Future” Program
      (Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir) operated by Bpifrance
      .
      The NEOVIVA project will receive €5.2 million over the five-year
      duration of the program from Bpifrance, of which Transgene will
      receive €2.6 million (press release distributed on March 13, 2019).
  • TG4050:

    • Transgene announced its decision to initiate clinical
      developments of its lead myvac™ candidate, TG4050
      , and
      the finalization of its collaboration agreement with NEC
      (press release distributed on March 5, 2019).
    • Transgene received FDA IND clearance for TG4050 to commence
      clinical development in ovarian cancer (press release distributed
      on May 13, 2019).

Outlook:

Transgene expects its cash burn for 2019 to be between €15 million and
€20 million, based on its current development plan and cash-in from the
collaboration with AstraZeneca.

As a result of the financing agreement with Natixis and the signing of
the collaboration with AstraZeneca, Transgene has extended its financial
visibility to Q4 2020.

Transgene confirms that it expects readouts from its key clinical trials
in the second half of 2019.

– End –

Notes to editors:

About Transgene
Transgene (Euronext: TNG) is a
publicly traded French biotechnology company focused on designing and
developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and
infectious diseases. Transgene’s programs utilize viral vector
technology with the goal of indirectly or directly killing infected or
cancerous cells. The Company’s lead clinical-stage programs are: TG4010,
a therapeutic vaccine against non-small cell lung cancer, Pexa-Vec, an
oncolytic virus against liver cancer, and TG4001, a therapeutic vaccine
against HPV-positive head and neck cancers. The Company has several
other programs in clinical development, including TG1050 (a therapeutic
vaccine for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B) and TG6002 (an
oncolytic virus for the treatment of solid tumors).With its proprietary
Invir.IO™, Transgene builds on its expertise in viral vectors
engineering to design a new generation of multifunctional oncolytic
viruses.myvacTM, an individualized MVA-based
immunotherapy platform designed to integrate neoantigens, completes this
innovative research portfolio. TG4050, the first candidate selected from
the myvac™ platform, will enter the clinic for the treatment of
ovarian cancer and head and neck cancer.

Additional information about Transgene is available at www.transgene.fr
Follow
us on Twitter: @TransgeneSA

Disclaimer
This press release contains
forward-looking statements, which are subject to numerous risks and
uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially
from those anticipated. The occurrence of any of these risks could have
a significant negative outcome for the Company’s activities,
perspectives, financial situation, results, regulatory authorities’
agreement with development phases, and development. The Company’s
ability to commercialize its products depends on but is not limited to
the following factors: positive pre-clinical data may not be predictive
of human clinical results, the success of clinical studies, the ability
to obtain financing and/or partnerships for product manufacturing,
development and commercialization, and marketing approval by government
regulatory authorities. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties
which could cause the Company’s actual results, financial condition,
performance, or achievements to differ from those contained in the
forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors (“Facteurs
de Risque”) section of the Document de Référence, available on the AMF
website (http://www.amf-france.org)
or on Transgene’s website (www.transgene.fr).
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are
made, and Transgene undertakes no obligation to update these
forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in
the future.

Contacts

Transgene:
Lucie Larguier
Director Corporate
Communications & IR
+33 (0)3 88 27 91 04
[email protected]

Media: Citigate Dewe Rogerson
EU: David Dible/Sylvie Berrebi
US:
Marine Perrier-Barthez
+ 44 (0)20 7638 9571/+1 424 341 9140
[email protected]