HUMANIGEN, INC - Quarter Report: 2019 September (Form 10-Q)
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-Q
(Mark One)
x QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2019
OR
o TRANSITION REPORT UNDER SECTION 13 OF 15(d) OF THE EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
From the transition period from to .
Commission File Number 001-35798
Humanigen, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware | 77-0557236 | |
(State or other jurisdiction of | (IRS Employer | |
incorporation) | Identification No.) |
533 Airport Boulevard, Suite 400 Burlingame, CA 94010
(Address of principal executive offices)
(Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (650) 243-3100
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on with registered |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes x No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:
Large accelerated filer o | Accelerated filer o | |
Non-accelerated filer x | Smaller reporting company x | |
Emerging growth company o | ||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes o No x
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Section 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court. Yes x No o
As of October 25, 2019, there were 112,780,386 shares of common stock of the issuer outstanding.
HUMANIGEN, INC.
FORM 10-Q
Item 1. | Financial Statements |
Humanigen, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in thousands, except share data)
(Unaudited)
September 30, | December 31, | |||||||
2019 | 2018 | |||||||
Assets | ||||||||
Current assets: | ||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 157 | $ | 814 | ||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 366 | 485 | ||||||
Total current assets | 523 | 1,299 | ||||||
Restricted cash | 71 | 71 | ||||||
Total assets | $ | 594 | $ | 1,370 | ||||
Liabilities and stockholders’ deficit | ||||||||
Current liabilities: | ||||||||
Accounts payable | $ | 3,932 | $ | 2,856 | ||||
Accrued expenses | 3,525 | 3,129 | ||||||
Advance notes | 1,730 | 807 | ||||||
Notes payable to vendors | 1,067 | 1,471 | ||||||
Total current liabilities | 10,254 | 8,263 | ||||||
Convertible notes | 3,006 | 1,217 | ||||||
Total liabilities | 13,260 | 9,480 | ||||||
Stockholders’ deficit: | ||||||||
Common stock, $0.001 par value: 225,000,000 shares authorized at | ||||||||
September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018; 112,780,386 and 109,897,526 shares issued and outstanding at September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively | 113 | 110 | ||||||
Additional paid-in capital | 270,090 | 266,381 | ||||||
Accumulated deficit | (282,869 | ) | (274,601 | ) | ||||
Total stockholders’ deficit | (12,666 | ) | (8,110 | ) | ||||
Total liabilities and stockholders’ deficit | $ | 594 | $ | 1,370 |
See accompanying notes.
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Humanigen, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
(Unaudited)
Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | |||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2019 | 2018 | |||||||||||||
Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||||||
Research and development | $ | 549 | $ | 535 | $ | 2,142 | $ | 1,808 | ||||||||
General and administrative | 1,497 | 1,804 | 5,122 | 7,793 | ||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | 2,046 | 2,339 | 7,264 | 9,601 | ||||||||||||
Loss from operations | (2,046 | ) | (2,339 | ) | (7,264 | ) | (9,601 | ) | ||||||||
Other expense: | ||||||||||||||||
Interest expense | (343 | ) | (116 | ) | (1,003 | ) | (542 | ) | ||||||||
Other income (expense), net | - | 319 | (1 | ) | 318 | |||||||||||
Reorganization items, net | - | (40 | ) | - | (106 | ) | ||||||||||
Net loss | (2,389 | ) | (2,176 | ) | (8,268 | ) | (9,931 | ) | ||||||||
Other comprehensive income | - | - | - | - | ||||||||||||
Comprehensive loss | $ | (2,389 | ) | $ | (2,176 | ) | $ | (8,268 | ) | $ | (9,931 | ) | ||||
Basic and diluted net loss per common share | $ | (0.02 | ) | $ | (0.02 | ) | $ | (0.07 | ) | $ | (0.11 | ) | ||||
Weighted average common shares outstanding used to | ||||||||||||||||
calculate basic and diluted net loss per common share | 112,766,614 | 109,766,974 | 111,303,918 | 89,655,878 |
See accompanying notes.
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Humanigen, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(in thousands)
(Unaudited)
Nine Months Ended | ||||||||
September 30, | ||||||||
2019 | 2018 | |||||||
Operating activities: | ||||||||
Net loss | $ | (8,268 | ) | $ | (9,931 | ) | ||
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities: | ||||||||
Depreciation and amortization | - | 19 | ||||||
Noncash interest expense | 961 | 512 | ||||||
Stock based compensation expense | 1,877 | 4,170 | ||||||
Issuance of common stock for payment of accrued compensation | 120 | 85 | ||||||
Issuance of common stock in exchange for services | 71 | 67 | ||||||
Gain on forgiveness of accrued legal fees | - | (275 | ) | |||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | ||||||||
Prepaid expenses and other assets | 119 | 308 | ||||||
Accounts payable | 1,076 | (159 | ) | |||||
Accrued expenses | 592 | 219 | ||||||
Net cash used in operating activities | (3,452 | ) | (4,985 | ) | ||||
Investing activities: | ||||||||
Changes in restricted cash | - | 30 | ||||||
Net cash provided by investing activities | - | 30 | ||||||
Financing activities: | ||||||||
Net proceeds from issuance of common stock | - | 2,781 | ||||||
Net proceeds from term loan | - | 50 | ||||||
Proceeds from exercise of stock options | 325 | - | ||||||
Net proceeds from issuance of convertible notes | 1,275 | 2,500 | ||||||
Net proceeds from issuance of advance notes | 1,700 | 925 | ||||||
Payments on notes payable to vendors | (505 | ) | - | |||||
Net cash provided by financing activities | 2,795 | 6,256 | ||||||
Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash | (657 | ) | 1,301 | |||||
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period | 885 | 737 | ||||||
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period | $ | 228 | $ | 2,038 | ||||
Supplemental cash flow disclosure: | ||||||||
Cash paid for interest | $ | 8 | $ | 6 | ||||
Supplemental disclosure of non-cash investing and financing activities: | ||||||||
Conversion of notes payable and related accrued interest and fees to common stock | $ | 981 | $ | 18,432 | ||||
Beneficial conversion feature of Advance notes | $ | - | $ | 271 | ||||
Beneficial conversion feature of Convertible notes | $ | 143 | $ | 1,465 | ||||
Issuance of stock options in lieu of cash compensation | $ | 195 | $ | 303 | ||||
Issuance of common stock for payment of accrued compensation | $ | 120 | $ | 85 | ||||
Issuance of common stock in exchange for services | $ | 71 | $ | 67 |
See accompanying notes.
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Humanigen, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Deficit
(in thousands, except share data)
(Unaudited)
Three and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Additional | Total | |||||||||||||||||||
Common Stock | Paid-In | Accumulated | Stockholders’ | |||||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit | Deficit | ||||||||||||||||
Balances at January 1, 2019 | 109,897,526 | $ | 110 | $ | 266,381 | $ | (274,601 | ) | $ | (8,110 | ) | |||||||||
Issuance of stock options for payment of accrued compensation | - | - | 195 | - | 195 | |||||||||||||||
Issuance of common stock for payment of accrued compensation | 93,358 | - | 90 | - | 90 | |||||||||||||||
Issuance of common stock in exchange for services | 82,432 | - | 68 | - | 68 | |||||||||||||||
Issuance of common stock upon note conversions | 2,179,622 | 2 | 979 | - | 981 | |||||||||||||||
Convertible note beneficial conversion feature | - | - | 143 | - | 143 | |||||||||||||||
Exercise of common stock options | 488,625 | 1 | 324 | - | 325 | |||||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation expense | - | - | 1,426 | - | 1,426 | |||||||||||||||
Comprehensive loss | - | - | - | (5,879 | ) | (5,879 | ) | |||||||||||||
Balances at June 30, 2019 | 112,741,563 | 113 | 269,606 | (280,480 | ) | (10,761 | ) | |||||||||||||
Issuance of common stock for payment of accrued compensation | 35,294 | - | 30 | - | 30 | |||||||||||||||
Issuance of common stock in exchange for services | 3,529 | - | 3 | - | 3 | |||||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation expense | - | - | 451 | - | 451 | |||||||||||||||
Comprehensive loss | - | - | - | (2,389 | ) | (2,389 | ) | |||||||||||||
Balances at September 30, 2019 | 112,780,386 | $ | 113 | $ | 270,090 | $ | (282,869 | ) | $ | (12,666 | ) |
Three and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Additional | Total | |||||||||||||||||||
Common Stock | Paid-In | Accumulated | Stockholders’ | |||||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit | Deficit | ||||||||||||||||
Balances at January 1, 2018 | 14,946,712 | $ | 15 | $ | 238,246 | $ | (262,597 | ) | $ | (24,336 | ) | |||||||||
Conversion of notes payable and related accrued interest | ||||||||||||||||||||
and fees to common stock | 76,007,754 | 76 | 18,356 | - | 18,432 | |||||||||||||||
Issuance of common stock | 18,653,320 | 19 | 2,762 | - | 2,781 | |||||||||||||||
Issuance of common stock in exchange for services | 88,333 | - | 51 | - | 51 | |||||||||||||||
Issuance of stock options for payment of accrued compensation | - | - | 303 | - | 303 | |||||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation expense | - | - | 3,455 | - | 3,455 | |||||||||||||||
Comprehensive loss | - | - | - | (7,755 | ) | (7,755 | ) | |||||||||||||
Balances at June 30, 2018 | 109,696,119 | 110 | 263,173 | (270,352 | ) | (7,069 | ) | |||||||||||||
Issuance of common stock in exchange for services | 25,000 | - | 16 | - | 16 | |||||||||||||||
Issuance of common stock for payment of accrued compensation | 151,407 | - | 85 | - | 85 | |||||||||||||||
Beneficial conversion feature of Advance notes | - | - | 271 | - | 271 | |||||||||||||||
Beneficial conversion feature of Convertible notes | - | - | 1,465 | - | 1,465 | |||||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation expense | - | - | 715 | - | 715 | |||||||||||||||
Comprehensive loss | - | - | - | (2,176 | ) | (2,176 | ) | |||||||||||||
Balances at September 30, 2018 | 109,872,526 | $ | 110 | $ | 265,725 | $ | (272,528 | ) | $ | (6,693 | ) |
See accompanying notes.
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Humanigen, Inc.
Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
(Unaudited)
1. Nature of Operations
Description of the Business
The Company was incorporated on March 15, 2000 in California and reincorporated as a Delaware corporation in September 2001 under the name KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Effective August 7, 2017, the Company changed its legal name to Humanigen, Inc.
During February 2018, the Company completed the restructuring transactions announced in December 2017 and furthered its transformation into a biopharmaceutical company pursuing cutting-edge science to develop its proprietary monoclonal antibodies to enhance T-cell engaging therapies for various oncology indications, potentially making these treatments safer, more effective and more efficiently administered. The Company has sharpened its focus to develop novel cell therapies leveraging its understanding of a potentially key pathway which includes its antibody and gene-editing assets.
The Company is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing its portfolio of next-generation cell and gene therapies for the treatment of cancers via its novel, human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (“GM-CSF”) neutralization and gene knockout platforms. As a leader in GM-CSF pathway science, the Company believes that it has the ability to transform chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (“CAR-T”) therapy and a broad range of other T-cell engaging therapies, including both autologous and allogeneic cell transplantation. There is a direct correlation between the efficacy of CAR-T therapy and the incidence of life-threatening toxicities (referred to as the efficacy/toxicity linkage).
The Company believes that its GM-CSF neutralization and gene-editing CAR-T platform technologies have the potential to reduce the inflammatory cascade associated with serious and potentially life-threatening CAR-T therapy-related side effects while preserving and potentially improving the efficacy of the CAR-T therapy itself, thereby breaking the efficacy/toxicity linkage. Clinical correlative analysis and pre-clinical in-vivo evidence points to GM-CSF as the key initiator of the inflammatory cascade resulting in CAR-T therapy’s side-effects. GM-CSF has also been linked to the suppressive myeloid cell axis through recruitment of myeloid derived suppressor cells (“MDSC’s”) that reduce CAR-T cell expansion and hamper CAR-T cell efficacy. The Company’s strategy is to continue to pioneer the use of GM-CSF neutralization and GM-CSF gene knockout technologies to improve efficacy and prevent or significantly reduce the serious side-effects associated with CAR-T therapy.
The Company believes that its GM-CSF pathway science, assets and expertise create two technology platforms to assist in the development of next-generation CAR-T therapies. Lenzilumab, the Company’s proprietary Humaneered® anti-GM-CSF immunotherapy, has the potential to be used in combination with any United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”)-approved or development stage T-cell therapies, including CAR-T therapy, as well as in combination with other cell therapies such as allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (“HSCT”), to make these treatments safer and more effective. In addition, the Company’s GM-CSF knockout gene-editing CAR-T platform has the potential to create next-generation CAR-T therapies that may inherently avoid any efficacy/toxicity linkage, thereby potentially preserving the benefits of the CAR-T therapy while reducing or altogether avoiding its serious and potentially life-threatening side-effects.
The Company’s immediate focus is combining FDA-approved and development stage CAR-T therapies with lenzilumab, its proprietary Humaneered® anti-human-GM-CSF immunotherapy, which is its lead product candidate. A clinical collaboration with Kite Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Gilead company (“Kite”), was recently announced to evaluate the use of lenzilumab with Yescarta®, axicabtagene ciloleucel (“Yescarta” or “Yescarta®”), in a multicenter clinical trial in adults with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma. The Company is also focused on creating next-generation combinatory gene-edited CAR-T therapies using strategies to improve efficacy while employing GM-CSF gene knockout technologies to control toxicity. The Company is also developing its own portfolio of proprietary first-in-class EphA3-CAR-Ts for various solid cancers and EMR1-CAR-Ts for various eosinophilic disorders. The Company is also exploring the effectiveness of its GM-CSF neutralization technologies (either through the use of lenzilumab as a neutralizing antibody or through GM-CSF gene knockout) in combination with other CAR-T, T-cell engaging, and immunotherapy treatments to break the efficacy/toxicity linkage, including the prevention and/or treatment of graft-versus-host disease (“GvHD”) in patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT. The Company has established several partnerships with leading institutions to advance its innovative cell and gene therapy pipeline.
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Lenzilumab
Lenzilumab, the Company’s lead product candidate, is a clinical-stage Humaneered monoclonal antibody (“mAb”) that neutralizes human GM-CSF and has the potential to prevent or reduce certain serious side-effects associated with CAR-T therapy and improve upon the efficacy of CAR-T therapy. Pre-clinical data generated by the Mayo Clinic (the “Mayo Clinic”) in collaboration with the Company, indicates that the use of lenzilumab in combination with CAR-T therapy may also enhance the proliferation and improve the efficacy of the CAR-T therapy. This may also result in durable, or longer term, responses.
The Company is continuing to advance the development of lenzilumab in combination with CAR-T therapy through a non-exclusive clinical collaboration with Kite, entered into on May 30, 2019, pursuant to which the Company and Kite will conduct a multi-center Phase 1b/2 study of lenzilumab with Kite’s Yescarta in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell lymphoma, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (“DLBCL”) (the “Study”). The primary objective of the Study is to determine the effect of lenzilumab on the safety of Yescarta. Kite’s Yescarta is one of two CAR-T therapies that have been approved by the FDA, is currently the CAR-T therapy market leader and the Company’s collaboration with Kite is currently the only clinical collaboration with the potential to improve both the safety and efficacy of CAR-T therapy. The Company also plans to measure other potentially beneficial effects on efficacy and healthcare resource utilization. In addition, lenzilumab’s success in preventing serious and potentially life-threatening side-effects could offer economic benefits to medical system payers in the United States and abroad by making the CAR-T therapy capable of being administered, and follow-up care subsequently monitored and managed, potentially on an out-patient basis in certain patients and circumstances. In turn, the Company believes that delivering such provider and payer benefits might accelerate the use of the CAR-T therapy itself, and thereby permit the Company to generate further revenues from sales of lenzilumab.
In addition to CAR-T therapy, the Company is committed to advancing its diverse platform for GM-CSF axis suppression for a broad range of other T-cell engaging therapies, including both autologous and allogeneic next generation CAR-T therapies, bi-specific antibody therapies, as well as other cell-based immunotherapies in development, including allogeneic HSCT, with its current and future partners.
In July 2019, the Company entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement (the “Zurich Agreement”) with the University of Zurich (“UZH”). Under the Zurich Agreement, the Company has in-licensed certain technologies that it believes may be used to prevent or treat GvHD, thereby expanding its development platform to include improving the safety and effectiveness of allogeneic HSCT, a potentially curative therapy for patients with hematological cancers. There are currently no FDA-approved agents for the prevention of GvHD, nor treatment of GvHD in patients identified as high risk by certain biomarkers. The Company believes that GM-CSF neutralization with lenzilumab has the potential to prevent or treat GvHD without compromising, and potentially improving, the beneficial graft-versus-leukemia (“GvL”) effect in patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT, thereby making allogeneic HSCT safer. The Company aims to position lenzilumab as a “must have” companion product to any allogeneic HSCT and as a part of the standard pre-conditioning that all patients receiving allogeneic HSCT should receive or as an early treatment option in patients identified as high risk for GvHD.
Given the Company’s focus on developing lenzilumab in the treatment of rare cancers, the Company believes that it has the opportunity to benefit from various regulatory incentives, such as orphan drug exclusivity, breakthrough therapy designation, fast track designation, priority review and accelerated approval.
GM-CSF Gene Knockout
The Company is advancing its GM-CSF knockout gene-editing CAR-T platform through an exclusive worldwide license agreement (the “Mayo Agreement”) that it entered into in June 2019 with the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (“Mayo Foundation”). Under the Mayo Agreement, the Company has in-licensed certain technologies that it believes may be used to create CAR-T cells lacking GM-CSF expression through various gene-editing tools including CRISPR-Cas9. The Company believes that its GM-CSF knockout gene-editing CAR-T platform has the potential to create next-generation CAR-T therapies that improve the efficacy and safety profile of CAR-T therapy.
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Preclinical data indicate that GM-CSF gene knockout CAR-T cells show improved overall survival compared to wild type CAR-T cells in addition to the expected benefits of reduced serious side-effects associated with CAR-T therapy. The Company is establishing a platform of next-generation combinatorial gene knockout CAR-T cells that have potential to be applied across both autologous and allogeneic approaches and is also investigating multiple CAR-T cell designs using precise dual and triple gene editing to significantly enhance the anti-tumor activity while simultaneously preventing CAR-T therapy induced toxicities. Through targeted gene expression and modulating cytokine activation signaling, the Company may be able to increase the proportion of younger and fitter T-cells produced during expansion, increase the proliferative potential, and inhibit activation induced cell death, thereby improving the cancer killing activity of its engineered CAR-T cells thereby making them more effective and safer in the treatment of cancers. The Company plans to continue development of this technology in combination approaches that could add to the observed efficacy benefits of current generation CAR-T products. In addition, the Company anticipates that its GM-CSF knockout gene-editing CAR-T platform may be a future backbone for controlling the serious side-effects that hamper CAR-T therapy that lead to serious and sometimes fatal outcomes for patients as a result of the CAR-T therapy itself.
EphA3-CAR: Targeting Tumor Stroma and Tumor Vasculature
The Company is working to generate its own pipeline of CAR-T therapies including an EphA3-CAR-T based on the ifabotuzumab v-region and backbone. Ifabotuzumab is a Humaneered anti-Eph Type-A receptor 3(“EphA3”) monoclonal antibody. Ifabotuzumab has the potential to kill tumor cells by targeting tumor stroma that protects them and the vasculature that feeds them. This unique combination of activities as a backbone of a CAR-T therapy may provide the potential to generate durable responses in a range of solid tumors by targeting the tissues that surround, protect, and nourish a growing cancer. By developing an EphA3-CAR-T using ifabotuzumab as the backbone, the Company may have the ability to target the tumor, tumor stroma, and tumor vasculature in a novel manner. The Company is collaborating with the Mayo Clinic and plans to move to clinical testing with an anti-EphA3 construct for a range of cancer types after completing Investigational New Drug (“IND”) enabling work.
EMR1-CAR: Targeting Eosinophils
The Company’s EMR1-CAR-T product is based on the HGEN005 (anti-EMR1 Humaneered monoclonal antibody) backbone and targets the epidermal growth factor-like module containing mucin-like hormone receptor 1 (“EMR1”). The Company’s EMR1-CAR-T based on the HGEN005 backbone is another approach in its growing platform of CAR-T therapies. The Company believes that because of its high selectivity, EMR1-CAR-T has significant potential to treat serious eosinophil diseases.
In pre-clinical work, HGEN005’s anti-EMR1 activity resulted in dramatically enhanced killing of eosinophils from normal and eosinophilic donors and also induced a rapid and sustained depletion of eosinophils in a non-human primate model without any clinically significant adverse events. The Company has engaged with National Institutes of Health (“NIH”) to discuss expanding the initial work they have conducted utilizing HGEN005 and discussions are underway with a leading center in the U.S. to perform the IND enabling testing in eosinophilic leukemia, an orphan condition with significant unmet need, as well as several other potential partners, although there is no assurance that the Company will reach any agreements for these next steps.
Liquidity and Going Concern
The Company has incurred significant losses since its inception in March 2000 and had an accumulated deficit of $282.9 million as of September 30, 2019. At September 30, 2019, the Company had a working capital deficit of $9.7 million. To date, none of the Company’s product candidates has been approved for sale and therefore the Company has not generated any revenue from product sales. Management expects operating losses to continue for the foreseeable future. The Company will require additional financing in order to meet its anticipated cash flow needs during the next twelve months. As a result, the Company will continue to require additional capital through equity offerings, debt financing and/or payments under new or existing licensing or collaboration agreements. If sufficient funds are not available on acceptable terms when needed, the Company could be required to significantly reduce its operating expenses and delay, reduce the scope of, or eliminate one or more of its development programs. The Company’s ability to access capital when needed is not assured and, if not achieved on a timely basis, could materially harm its business, financial condition and results of operations. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.
The Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 were prepared on the basis of a going concern, which contemplates that the Company will be able to realize assets and discharge liabilities in the normal course of business. The ability of the Company to meet its total liabilities of $13.3 million at September 30, 2019 and to continue as a going concern is dependent upon the availability of future funding. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might be necessary if the Company is unable to continue as a going concern.
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Basis of Presentation
The accompanying interim unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and on a basis consistent with the annual consolidated financial statements and include all adjustments necessary for the presentation of the Company’s condensed consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented. The Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries. These financial statements have been prepared on a basis that assumes that the Company will continue as a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities and commitments in the normal course of business. The December 31, 2018 Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet was derived from the audited financial statements but does not include all disclosures required by U.S. GAAP. These interim financial results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the year ending December 31, 2019, or for any other future annual or interim period. The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto included in the Company’s 2018 Form 10-K.
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts and disclosures reported in the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates. The Company believes judgment is involved in determining the valuation of the fair value-based measurement of stock-based compensation, accruals and warrant valuations. The Company evaluates its estimates and assumptions as facts and circumstances dictate. As future events and their effects cannot be determined with precision, actual results could differ from these estimates and assumptions, and those differences could be material to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
2. Chapter 11 Filing
On December 29, 2015, the Company filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The filing was made in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Bankruptcy Court”) (Case No. 15-12628 (LSS) (the “Bankruptcy Case”). The Company’s Plan of Reorganization filed with the Bankruptcy Court (the “Plan”) became effective June 30, 2016 and the Company emerged from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
The reconciliation of certain proofs of claim filed against the Company in the Bankruptcy Case, including certain General Unsecured Claims, Convenience Class Claims and Other Subordinated Claims, is complete. As a result of its examination of the claims, the Company asked the Bankruptcy Court to disallow, reduce, reclassify, subordinate or otherwise adjudicate certain claims the Company believes are subject to objection or otherwise improper. On July 11, 2018, the Company filed an objection to the remaining claims. By objection, the Company sought to disallow in their entirety the remaining claims totaling approximately $0.5 million. On September 17, 2018 the Bankruptcy Court issued a Final Decree and Order to close the Bankruptcy Case and terminate the remaining claims and noticing services.
For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, Reorganization items, net consisted of the following charges related to the bankruptcy proceedings:
Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | |||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2019 | 2018 | |||||||||||||
Legal fees | $ | - | $ | 32 | $ | - | $ | 85 | ||||||||
Professional fees | - | 8 | - | 21 | ||||||||||||
Total reorganization items, net | $ | - | $ | 40 | $ | - | $ | 106 |
There were no cash payments for reorganization for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019. Cash payments for reorganization items totaled $0.1 million and $0.2 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, respectively.
3. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
There have been no material changes in the Company’s significant accounting policies since those previously disclosed in the 2018 Form 10-K.
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In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-18, “Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Restricted Cash”. ASU 2016-18 requires the inclusion of restricted cash with cash and cash equivalents when reconciling the beginning-of-the period and end-of-period total amounts shown on the statement of cash flows. The Company adopted the standard effective January 1, 2018. As a result of the adoption, the Company will no longer present the change within restricted cash in the consolidated statements of cash flows. See below for the composition of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash shown on the statements of cash flow:
September 30, | ||||||||
2019 | 2018 | |||||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 157 | $ | 2,038 | ||||
Restricted cash | 71 | 71 | ||||||
Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash as shown on statement of cash flows | $ | 228 | $ | 2,109 |
In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) (“ASU 2016-02”), which sets out the principles for the recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of leases for both lessees and lessors. The FASB subsequently issued ASU No. 2018-10 and 2018-11 in July 2018, which provide clarifications and improvements to ASU 2016-02 (collectively, the “new lease standard”).
ASU No. 2018-11 provides the optional transition method which allows companies to apply the new lease standard at the adoption date instead of at the earliest comparative period presented and continue to apply the provisions of the previous lease standard in its annual disclosures for the comparative periods. The new lease standard requires lessees to present a right-of-use asset and a corresponding lease liability on the balance sheet. Additional footnote disclosures related to leases is also required.
On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted the new lease standard using the optional transition method and certain other practical expedients. Under the practical expedient package elected, the Company is not required to reassess whether expired or existing contracts are or contain a lease; and is not required to reassess the lease classifications or reassess the initial direct costs associated with expired or existing leases.
The new lease standard also provides practical expedients for an entity’s ongoing accounting. The Company elected the short-term lease recognition exemption for all leases that qualify. This means, for those leases that qualify, we will not recognize right of use assets or lease liabilities, and this includes not recognizing right of use assets or lease liabilities for existing short-term leases of those assets in transition. The Company elected the practical expedient to not separate lease and non-lease components for certain classes of assets. See Note 4 for a description of the Company’s current leases and their treatment under the new lease standard.
4. Leases
The Company leases an office-space under a month-to-month lease for $1,000 per month. Management has determined the lease term to be less than 12 months, including renewals, and therefore has not recorded a right-of-use asset and corresponding liability under the short-term lease recognition exemption. Lease costs for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 totaled approximately $3,400 and $9,800, respectively and are included in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss.
As described in Note 3, the Company has elected to adopt the transitional practical expedients, and was not required to reassess whether any existing or expired contracts contained embedded leases. The Company has not entered into any contracts during the 2019 fiscal year that contain an embedded lease.
5. Potentially Dilutive Securities
The Company’s potentially dilutive securities, which include stock options, restricted stock units and warrants, have been excluded from the computation of diluted net loss per common share as the effect of including those securities would be to reduce the net loss per common share and be antidilutive. Therefore, the denominator used to calculate both basic and diluted net loss per common share is the same in each period presented.
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The following outstanding potentially dilutive securities have been excluded from the computations of diluted net loss per common share:
As of September 30, | ||||||||
2019 | 2018 | |||||||
Options to purchase common stock | 15,139,374 | 15,551,023 | ||||||
Warrants to purchase common stock | 331,193 | 331,193 | ||||||
15,470,567 | 15,882,216 |
6. Fair Value of Financial Instruments
Cash, accounts payable and accrued liabilities are carried at cost, which approximates fair value given their short-term nature. Marketable securities and cash equivalents are carried at fair value. The Company has money market funds of approximately $71,000 at September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018 that are reported as restricted cash on the balance sheet. The amortized cost of these funds equals their fair value as there were no unrealized gains or losses at September 30, 2019 or December 31, 2018.
The fair value of financial instruments reflects the amounts that would be received upon the sale of an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date (exit price). The fair value hierarchy is based on three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value, of which the first two are considered observable, and the third is considered unobservable, as follows:
Level 1 — Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.
Level 2 — Inputs other than those included in Level 1 that are directly or indirectly observable, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets; quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.
Level 3 — Unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity and that are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities.
The Company measures the fair value of financial assets and liabilities using the highest level of inputs that are reasonably available as of the measurement date. The following tables summarize the fair value of financial assets that are measured at fair value and the classification by level of input within the fair value hierarchy:
Fair Value Measurements as of | ||||||||||||||||
September 30, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Total | ||||||||||||
Investments: | ||||||||||||||||
Money market funds | $ | 71 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 71 | ||||||||
Total assets measured at fair value | $ | 71 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 71 |
Fair Value Measurements as of | ||||||||||||||||
December 31, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Total | ||||||||||||
Investments: | ||||||||||||||||
Money market funds | $ | 71 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 71 | ||||||||
Total assets measured at fair value | $ | 71 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 71 |
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7. Debt
Notes Payable to Vendors
On June 30, 2016, the Company issued promissory notes in an aggregate principal amount of approximately $1.2 million to certain claimants in accordance with the Plan. The notes are unsecured, bear interest at 10% per annum and became due and payable in full, including principal and accrued interest on June 30, 2019. In July and August, 2019, following the receipt of proceeds from the 2019 Bridge Notes, the Company used approximately $0.5 million of the proceeds to retire a portion of these notes, including accrued interest. After giving effect to these payments, the aggregate principal amount and accrued but unpaid interest on these notes approximates $1.1 million as of September 30, 2019. As of September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, the Company has accrued $0.4 million and $0.3 million in interest related to these promissory notes, respectively. The outstanding principal amount and accrued but unpaid interest on these notes is currently payable to the respective holders without demand, notice or declaration, and the holders, without demand or notice of any kind, may exercise any and all other rights and remedies available to them under the notes, the Plan, at law or in equity. We do not have sufficient funds to repay the principal and accrued but unpaid interest on these notes in their entirety. See Part II, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” for more information.
Advance Notes
In June, July and August, 2018 the Company received an aggregate of $0.9 million of proceeds from advances made to the Company (the “Advance Notes”) by four different lenders including Dr. Cameron Durrant, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Cheval Holdings, Ltd., an affiliate of Black Horse Capital, L.P., the Company’s controlling stockholder; and Ronald Barliant, a director of the Company (collectively the “Lenders”). The Advance Notes accrued interest at a rate of 7% per year, compounded annually.
In accordance with their terms, on May 30, 2019, in connection with the Company’s announcement of the Collaboration Agreement with Kite, the lenders converted the amounts due under the Advance Notes into the Company’s common stock at the conversion price of $0.45 per share. The Company issued a total of 2,179,622 shares of common stock in connection with the conversion.
2018 Convertible Notes
Commencing September 19, 2018, the Company delivered a series of convertible promissory notes (the “2018 Notes”) evidencing an aggregate of $2.5 million of loans made to the Company by six different lenders, including an affiliate of Black Horse Capital, L.P., the Company’s controlling stockholder. The 2018 Notes bear interest at a rate of 7% per annum and will mature on the earliest of (i) twenty-four months from the date the 2018 Notes were signed, (ii) the occurrence of any customary event of default, or (iii) the certain liquidation events including any dissolution or winding up of the Company or merger or sale by the Company of all or substantially all of its assets (in any case, a “Liquidation Event”). The Company used the proceeds from the 2018 Notes for working capital.
The 2018 Notes are convertible into equity securities in the Company in three different scenarios:
If the Company sells its equity securities on or before the date of repayment of the 2018 Notes in any financing transaction that results in gross proceeds to the Company of at least $10 million (a “Qualified Financing”), the 2018 Notes will be converted into either (i) such equity securities as the noteholder would acquire if the principal and accrued but unpaid interest thereon (the “Conversion Amount”) were invested directly in the financing on the same terms and conditions as given to the financing investors in the Qualified Financing, or (ii) common stock at a conversion price equal to $0.45 per share (subject to ratable adjustment for any stock split, stock dividend, stock combination or other recapitalization occurring subsequent to the date of the Notes).
If the Company sells its equity securities on or before the date of repayment of the 2018 Notes in any financing transaction that results in gross proceeds to the Company of less than $10 million (a “Non-Qualified Financing”), the noteholders may convert their remaining 2018 Notes into either (i) such equity securities as the noteholder would acquire if the Conversion Amount were invested directly in the financing on the same terms and conditions as given to the financing investors in the Non-Qualified Financing, or (ii) common stock at a conversion price equal to $0.45 per share (subject to ratable adjustment for any stock split, stock dividend, stock combination or other recapitalization occurring subsequent to the date of the Notes).
The 2018 Notes may convert in the event the Company enters into or publicly announces its intention to consummate a Liquidation Event. Immediately prior to the completion of any such Liquidation Event, in lieu of receiving payment in cash, noteholders may convert the Conversion Amount into common stock at a conversion price equal to $0.45 per share (subject to ratable adjustment for any stock split, stock dividend, stock combination or other recapitalization occurring subsequent to the date of the Notes).
2019 Convertible Notes
Commencing on April 23, 2019, the Company delivered a series of convertible promissory notes (the “2019 Notes”) evidencing an aggregate of $1.3 million of loans made to the Company.
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The 2019 Notes bear interest at a rate of 7.5% per annum and will mature on the earliest of (i) twenty-four months from the date the 2019 Notes are signed (the “Stated Maturity Date”), (ii) the occurrence of any customary event of default, or (iii) the certain liquidation events including any dissolution or winding up of the Company or merger or sale by the Company of all or substantially all of its assets (in any case, a “Liquidation Event”). The Company used the proceeds from the 2019 Notes for working capital.
The 2019 Notes are convertible into equity securities in the Company in four different scenarios:
If the Company sells its equity securities on or before the Stated Maturity Date in any financing transaction that results in gross proceeds to the Company of at least $10.0 million (a “Qualified Financing”) or the Company consummates a reverse merger or similar transaction, the 2019 Notes will be converted into either (i) (a) in the case of a Qualified Financing, such equity securities as the noteholder would acquire if the principal and accrued but unpaid interest thereon together with such additional amount of interest as would have been paid on the 2019 Notes if held to the Stated Maturity Date (the “Conversion Amount”) were invested directly in the financing on the same terms and conditions (including price) as given to the financing investors in the Qualified Financing or (b) in the case of a reverse merger, common stock at the same price per share paid by the buyer in such transaction (which in a stock for stock transaction, shall be based on the price per share used by the parties for purposes of setting the applicable exchange ration), or (ii) common stock at a conversion price equal to $1.25 per share (subject to ratable adjustment for any stock split, stock dividend, stock combination or other recapitalization occurring subsequent to the date of the 2019 Notes).
If the Company sells its equity securities on or before the date of repayment of the 2019 Notes in any financing transaction that results in gross proceeds to the Company of less than $ 10.0 million (a “Non-Qualified Financing”), the noteholders may convert their remaining Convertible Notes into either (i) such equity securities as the noteholder would acquire if the Conversion Amount were invested directly in the financing on the same terms and conditions (including price) as given to the financing investors in the Non-Qualified Financing, or (ii) common stock at a conversion price equal to $1.25 per share (subject to ratable adjustment for any stock split, stock dividend, stock combination or other recapitalization occurring subsequent to the date of the 2019 Notes).
The 2019 Notes may convert in the event the Company enters into or publicly announces its intention to consummate a Liquidation Event. Immediately prior to the completion of any such Liquidation Event, in lieu of receiving payment in cash, noteholders may convert the Conversion Amount into common stock at a conversion price equal to $1.25 per share (subject to ratable adjustment for any stock split, stock dividend, stock combination or other recapitalization occurring subsequent to the date of the 2019 Notes).
In addition, upon the six-month anniversary of the date the 2019 Notes are signed or such earlier time as the Company publicly announces that it has entered into a definitive arrangement with an unaffiliated third party (a “Strategic Partner”) pursuant to which, among other things, such Strategic Partner may agree to collaborate with the Company in conducting a clinical study to assess the efficacy of the Company’s lenzilumab monoclonal antibody in reducing adverse effects from neurotoxicity and cytokine release syndrome when used as a companion therapy in certain CAR-T cell therapies, noteholders may convert any portion of the outstanding principal amount of the 2019 Notes, together with (a) any unpaid and accrued interest on such principal amount to the date the noteholder’s notice of the noteholder’s intention to convert is received by the Company (the “Notice Date”), and (b) such additional amount of interest as would have been paid on such principal amount from the Notice Date to the Stated Maturity Date, into common stock at a conversion price equal to $1.25 per share (subject to ratable adjustment for any stock split, stock dividend, stock combination or other recapitalization occurring subsequent to the date of the 2019 Notes). The Company’s announcement of the Collaboration Agreement with Kite satisfied this requirement and accordingly, the 2019 Notes are convertible into common stock on the above terms.
The Advance Notes, the 2018 Notes and the 2019 Notes have an optional voluntary conversion feature in which the holder could convert the notes in the Company’s common stock at maturity at a conversion rate of $0.45 per share for the Advance Notes and the 2018 Notes and at a conversion rate of $1.25 for the 2019 Notes. The intrinsic value of this beneficial conversion feature was $1.8 million upon the issuance of the Advance Notes, the 2018 Notes and the 2019 Notes and was recorded as additional paid-in capital and as a debt discount which is accreted to interest expense over the term of the Advance Notes and Notes. Interest expense includes debt discount amortization of $0.2 million and $0.6 million for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2019.
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The Company evaluated the embedded features within the Advance Notes, the 2018 Notes and the 2019 Notes to determine if the embedded features are required to be bifurcated and recognized as derivative instruments. The Company determined that the Advance Notes, the 2018 Notes and the 2019 Notes contain contingent beneficial conversion features (“CBCF”) that allow or require the holder to convert the Advance Notes, the 2018 Notes and the 2019 Notes, as applicable, to Company common stock at a conversion rate of $0.45 per share for the Advance Notes and the 2018 Notes and $1.25 for the 2019 Notes, but did not contain embedded features requiring bifurcation and recognition as derivative instruments. Upon the occurrence of a CBCF that results in conversion of the Advance Notes, the 2018 Notes or the 2019 Notes to Company common stock, the remaining unamortized discount will be charged to interest expense. Upon conversion of the Advance Notes on May 30, 2019, the remaining unamortized discount was charged to interest expense. The remaining debt discount will be amortized over 12 and 19 months for the 2018 Notes and the 2019 Notes, respectively.
2019 Bridge Notes
On June 28, 2019, the Company issued three short-term, secured bridge notes (the “2019 Bridge Notes”) evidencing an aggregate of $1.7 million of loans made to the Company by three parties: Cheval Holdings, Ltd., an affiliate of Black Horse Capital, L.P., the Company’s controlling stockholder, lent $750,000; Nomis Bay LTD, the Company’s second largest stockholder, lent $750,000; and Cameron Durrant, M.D., MBA, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors, lent $200,000. The proceeds from the 2019 Bridge Notes were used to satisfy a portion of the unsecured obligations incurred in connection with the Company’s emergence from bankruptcy in 2016 and for working capital and general corporate purposes. Of the $1.7 million in proceeds received, $950,000 was received on June 28, 2019 and was recorded as Advance notes in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as of June 30, 2019. The remaining proceeds of $750,000 were received July 1, 2019 and recorded accordingly.
The 2019 Bridge Notes bear interest at a rate of 7.0% per annum and had an original maturity date of October 1, 2019. On October 8, 2019, the Company and the lenders agreed to extend the maturity date of the 2019 Bridge Notes from October 1, 2019 until December 31, 2019 and to waive any prior default up to and including the date of the amendment. No other changes to the terms of the 2019 Bridge Notes were made in connection with the extension of the maturity date. The 2019 Bridge Notes may become due and payable at such earlier time as the Company raises more than $3,000,000 in a bona fide financing transaction or upon a change in control. The 2019 Bridge Notes are secured by liens of substantially all of the Company’s assets.
Upon an event of default, which events include, but are not limited to, (1) the Company failing to timely pay any monetary obligation under the 2019 Bridge Notes; (2) the Company failing to pay its debts generally as they become due and (3) the Company commencing any proceeding relating to the Company under any bankruptcy reorganization, arrangement, insolvency, readjustment of debt, dissolution or liquidation or similar laws of any jurisdiction now or hereafter in effect, the interest payable on the 2019 Bridge Notes increases to 10.0% per annum. Further, upon certain events of default, all payments and obligations due and owed under the 2019 Bridge Notes shall immediately become due and payable without demand and without notice to the Company.
8. Commitments and Contingencies
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
As of September 30, 2019, other than the debt issuances described in Note 7 and the license agreements described in Note 10, there were no material changes to the Company’s contractual obligations from those set forth in the 2018 Form 10-K.
Guarantees and Indemnifications
The Company has certain agreements with service providers with which it does business that contain indemnification provisions pursuant to which the Company typically agrees to indemnify the party against certain types of third-party claims. The Company accrues for known indemnification issues when a loss is probable and can be reasonably estimated. The Company would also accrue for estimated incurred but unidentified indemnification issues based on historical activity. As the Company has not incurred any indemnification losses to date, there were no accruals for or expenses related to indemnification issues for any period presented.
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9. Stockholders’ Equity
Restructuring Transactions
As further described in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, on February 27, 2018, the Company completed a comprehensive restructuring of its outstanding indebtedness of approximately $18.4 million under a series of term loans (the “Term Loans”) with two lender groups, including affiliates of Black Horse Capital, L.P. and raised incremental new capital from Cheval Holdings, Ltd. At the closing of the restructuring, the Company: (i) in exchange for the satisfaction and extinguishment of the entire balance of the Company’s Term Loans and related accrued interest totaling $18.4 million, (a) issued an aggregate of 59,786,848 shares of Common Stock (the “New Lender Shares”), and (b) transferred and assigned to a joint venture controlled by one of the term loan lenders, all of the assets of the Company related to benznidazole (the “Benz Assets”), the Company’s former drug candidate; and (ii) issued to Cheval an aggregate of 32,028,669 shares of Common Stock for total consideration of $3.0 million.
The conversion of the outstanding debt for Common Stock at closing of the restructuring was accounted for as a decrease to Long-term debt and an increase to Common stock and Additional paid-in capital in the amount of the liabilities outstanding at the time of conversion.
In connection with the transfer of the Benz Assets to the joint venture, the joint venture partner paid certain amounts incurred by the Company after December 21, 2017 and prior to February 27, 2018 in investigating certain causes of action and claims related to or in connection with the Benz Assets. In addition, upon exercise of its rights under the terms of the joint venture, the joint venture partner assumed certain legal fees and expenses owed by the Company to its litigation counsel totaling $0.3 million.
Since the Benz Assets had no carrying value on the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet, the Company’s initial investment in the joint venture was recorded at $0.
Equity Financings
On March 12, 2018, the Company issued 2,445,557 shares of its common stock for total proceeds of $1.1 million to accredited investors.
On June 4, 2018, the Company issued 400,000 shares of its common stock for total proceeds of $0.2 million to an accredited investor.
2012 Equity Incentive Plan
Under the Company’s 2012 Equity Incentive Plan, the Company may grant shares, stock units, stock appreciation rights, performance cash awards and/or options to employees, directors, consultants, and other service providers. For options, the per share exercise price may not be less than the fair market value of a Company common share on the date of grant. Awards generally vest and become exercisable over three to four years and expire 10 years from the date of grant. Options generally become exercisable as they vest following the date of grant.
On March 9, 2018, the Board of Directors of the Company approved an amendment to the Company’s 2012 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Equity Plan”) to increase the number of shares of the Company’s common stock authorized for issuance under the Equity Plan by 16,050,000 shares, and to increase the annual maximum aggregate number of shares subject to stock option awards that may be granted to any one person under the Equity Plan during a calendar year to 7,500,000.
A summary of stock option activity for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 under all of the Company’s options plans is as follows:
Options | Weighted Average Exercise Price | |||||||
Outstanding at January 1, 2019 | 15,409,357 | $ | 0.95 | |||||
Granted | 728,610 | 1.10 | ||||||
Exercised | (488,625 | ) | 0.67 | |||||
Cancelled (forfeited) | (509,923 | ) | 0.62 | |||||
Cancelled (expired) | (45 | ) | 9.68 | |||||
Outstanding at September 30, 2019 | 15,139,374 | $ | 0.97 |
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The weighted average fair value of options granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 was $1.10 per share.
The Company valued the options granted using the Black-Scholes options pricing model and the following weighted-average assumption terms for the nine months ended September 30, 2019:
Nine months ended September 30, 2019 | |
Exercise price | $0.84 - $1.30 |
Market value | $0.84 - $1.30 |
Risk-free rate | 2.49% - 2.59% |
Expected term | 6 years |
Expected volatility | 99.1% - 99.3% |
Dividend yield | - |
Stock-Based Compensation
The Company recorded stock-based compensation expense in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss as follows:
Three months ended September 30, | Nine months ended September 30, | |||||||||||||||
2019 | 2018 | 2019 | 2018 | |||||||||||||
General and administrative | $ | 419 | $ | 715 | $ | 1,813 | $ | 3,969 | ||||||||
Research and development | 32 | - | 64 | 201 | ||||||||||||
Total stock-based compensation | $ | 451 | $ | 715 | $ | 1,877 | $ | 4,170 |
At September 30, 2019, the Company had $1.0 million of total unrecognized stock-based compensation expense, net of estimated forfeitures, related to outstanding stock options that will be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.7 years.
10. License and Collaboration Agreements
Kite Agreement
On May 30, 2019, the Company entered into a collaboration agreement (the “Kite Agreement”) with Kite Pharmaceuticals, Inc., pursuant to which the Company and Kite will conduct a multi-center Phase 1b/2 study of lenzilumab with Kite’s Yescarta in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell lymphoma, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (“DLBCL”). The primary objective of the Study is to determine the effect of lenzilumab on the safety of Yescarta.
Pursuant to the Kite Agreement, the Company shall supply Lenz to the collaboration for use in the study and will contribute up to approximately $8.0 million towards the out-of-pocket costs of the study.
Mayo Agreement
On June 19, 2019 the Company entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement (the “Mayo Agreement”) with the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (“Mayo”) for certain technologies used to create CAR-T cells lacking GM-CSF expression through various gene-editing tools including CRISPR-Cas9 (GM-CSF knock-out). The license covers various patent applications and know-how developed by Mayo in collaboration with the Company. These licensed technologies complement and broaden the Company’s position in the GM-CSF neutralization space and expand the Company’s discovery platform aimed at improving CAR-T to include gene-edited CAR-T cells.
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Pursuant to the Mayo Agreement, the Company will pay $200,000 to Mayo within six months of the effective date, or upon completion of a qualified financing, whichever is earlier. The Mayo Agreement also requires the payment of milestones and royalties upon the achievement of certain regulatory and commercialization milestones. The Company accrued the initial payment in Accrued expenses in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as of September 30, 2019.
Zurich Agreement
On July 19, 2019 the Company entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement (the “Zurich Agreement”) with the University of Zurich (“UZH”) for technology used to prevent or treat Graft versus Host Disease (“GvHD”) through GM-CSF neutralization. The Zurich Agreement covers various patent applications filed by UZH which complement and broaden the Company’s position in the application of GM-CSF and expands the Company’s development platform to include improving allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (“HSCT”).
Pursuant to the Zurich Agreement, the Company paid $100,000 to UZH in July 2019. The Zurich Agreement also requires the payment of milestones and royalties upon the achievement of certain regulatory and commercialization milestones. The license payment of $100,000 was recorded as expense in Research and development in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss as of September 30, 2019.
11. Savant Arrangements
On June 30, 2016 the Company and Savant Neglected Diseases, LLC (“Savant”) entered into an Agreement for the Manufacture, Development and Commercialization of Benznidazole for Human Use (the “MDC Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company acquired certain worldwide rights relating to benznidazole (the “Compound”).
In addition, on the Effective Date the Company and Savant also entered into a Security Agreement (the “Security Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company granted Savant a continuing senior security interest in the assets and rights acquired by the Company pursuant to the MDC Agreement and certain future assets developed from those acquired assets.
On the Effective Date, the Company issued to Savant a five year warrant (the “Warrant”) to purchase 200,000 shares of the Company’s Common Stock, at an exercise price of $2.25 per share, subject to adjustment. The Warrant is exercisable for 25% of the shares immediately and exercisable for the remaining shares upon reaching certain regulatory related milestones. As of September 30, 2019 the number of shares for which the Warrant is currently exercisable totals 100,000 shares at an exercise price of $2.25 per share.
As a result of the FDA granting accelerated and conditional approval of a benznidazole therapy manufactured by a competitor for the treatment of Chagas disease and awarding such competitor a neglected tropical disease PRV in August 2017, the Company ceased development of benznidazole and re-evaluated the final two vesting milestones and concluded that the probability of achievement of these milestones had decreased to 0%.
In July 2017, the Company commenced litigation against Savant alleging that Savant breached the MDC Agreement and seeking a declaratory judgement. Savant has asserted counterclaims for breaches of contract under the MDC Agreement and the Security Agreement. The dispute primarily concerns the Company’s right under the MDC Agreement to offset certain costs incurred by the Company in excess of the agreed upon budget against payments due Savant. See Note 12, below, for more information regarding the Savant litigation. The aggregate cost overages as of June 30, 2017 that the Company asserts are Savant’s responsibility total approximately $3.4 million, net of a $0.5 million deductible. The Company asserts that it is entitled to offset $2.0 million in milestone payments due Savant against the cost overages, such that as of June 30, 2017, Savant owed the Company approximately $1.4 million. As of June 30, 2019, the cost overages totaled $4.1 million such that Savant owed the Company approximately $2.1 million in cost overages. Such cost overages have been charged to Research and development expense as incurred. Recovery of such cost overages, if any, will be recorded as a reduction of Research and development expense in the period received.
The $2.0 million in milestone payments due Savant are included in Accrued expenses in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as of September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018.
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12. Litigation
Savant Litigation
On July 10, 2017, the Company filed a complaint against Savant Neglected Diseases, LLC (“Savant”) in the Superior Court for the State of Delaware, New Castle County (the “Delaware Court”). KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Savant Neglected Diseases, LLC, No. N17C-07-068 PRW-CCLD. The Company asserted breach of contract and declaratory judgment claims against Savant arising under the MDC Agreement. See Note 11 - “Savant Arrangements” for more information about the MDC Agreement. The Company alleges that Savant has breached its MDC Agreement obligations to pay cost overages that exceed a budgetary threshold as well as other related MDC Agreement representations and obligations. In the litigation, the Company has alleged that as of June 30, 2017, Savant was responsible for aggregate cost overages of approximately $3.4 million, net of a $0.5 million deductible under the MDC. The Company asserts that it is entitled to offset $2.0 million in milestone payments due Savant against the cost overages, such that as of June 30, 2017 Savant owed the Company approximately $1.4 million.
On July 12, 2017, Savant removed the case to the Bankruptcy Court, claiming that the action is related to or arises under the Bankruptcy Case from which we emerged in July 2016. On July 27, 2017, Savant filed an Answer and Counterclaims. Savant’s filing alleges breaches of contracts under the MDC Agreement and the Security Agreement, claiming that the Company breached its obligations to pay the milestone payments and other related representations and obligations.
On August 1, 2017, the Company moved to remand the case back to the Delaware Court (the “Motion to Remand”).
On August 2, 2017, Savant sent a foreclosure notice to the Company, demanding that it provide the Collateral as defined in the Security Agreement for inspection and possession on August 9, 2017, with a public sale to be held on September 1, 2017. The Company moved for a Temporary Restraining Order (the “TRO”) and Preliminary Injunction in the Bankruptcy Court on August 4, 2017. Savant responded on August 7, 2017. On August 7, 2017, the Bankruptcy Court granted the Company’s motion for a TRO, entering an order prohibiting Savant from collecting on or selling the Collateral, entering our premises, issuing any default notices to us, or attempting to exercise any other remedies under the MDC Agreement or the Security Agreement. The parties have stipulated to continue the provisions of the TRO in full force and effect until further order of the appropriate court.
On January 22, 2018, Savant wrote to the Bankruptcy Court requesting dissolution of the TRO. On January 29, 2018, the Bankruptcy Court granted the Motion to Remand and denied Savant’s request to dissolve the TRO, ordering that any request to dissolve the TRO be made to the Delaware Court.
On February 13, 2018 Savant made a letter request to the Delaware Superior Court to dissolve the TRO. Also on February 13, 2018, the Company filed its Answer and Affirmative defenses to Savant’s Counterclaims. On February 15, 2018 the Company filed a letter opposition to Savant’s request to dissolve the TRO and requesting a status conference. A hearing on Savant’s request to dissolve the TRO was held before the Delaware Superior Court on March 19, 2018. The Delaware Superior Court denied Savant’s request to dissolve the TRO and the TRO remains in effect.
On April 11, 2018, the Company advised the Delaware Superior Court that it would meet and confer with Savant regarding a proposed case management order and date for trial. On April 26, 2018 the Delaware Superior Court so-ordered a proposed case management order submitted by the Company and Savant. The schedule in the case management order was modified by stipulation on August 24, 2018.
On April 8, 2019, the Company moved to compel Savant to produce documents in response to the Company’s document requests. The parties thereafter agreed to a discovery schedule through June 30, 2019, which the Superior Court so-ordered, and the parties produced documents to each other.
On June 4, 2019, Savant filed a complaint against the Company and Madison Joint Venture LLC (“Madison”) in the Delaware Court of Chancery (the “Chancery Action”) seeking to “recover as damages that amounts owed to it under the MDC Agreement, and to reclaim Savant’s intellectual property,” among other things. Savant also requested leave to move to dismiss the Company’s complaint on the grounds that the Company’s transfer of assets to Madison was champertous. On June 10, 2019, the Company requested by letter that the Superior Court hold a contempt hearing because the Chancery Action violated the TRO entered by the Bankruptcy Court, the terms of which have been extended by stipulation of the parties. On June 18, 2019, the Superior Court held a telephonic status conference. The parties agreed that the Chancery Action should be consolidated with the Superior Court action, after which the Superior Court would address the parties’ motions.
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On July 22, 2019, the Company moved for contempt against Savant. Savant filed its opposition on July 29, 2019. On August 12, 2019, the Superior Court denied the Company’s motion for contempt.
On July 23, 2019, Savant moved for summary judgment on the issue of champerty. The Company filed its response and cross-motion for summary judgment on August 27, 2019. Savant filed its reply on September 10, 2019 and the Company filed its cross-reply on September 20, 2019. The motion is fully briefed, but no argument date has been set.
On July 26, 2019, the Company moved to modify the previously agreed-upon discovery schedule to extend discovery through December 31, 2019, which the Court granted.
On July 30, 2019, the Company filed a motion to dismiss Savant’s Chancery Court complaint. Savant filed an amended complaint on September 4, 2019, and the Company filed its opening brief in support of its motion to dismiss on October 11, 2019. Savant’s opposition is due on November 22, 2019, and the Company’s reply is due on December 11, 2019.
On August 19, 2019, Savant moved to dismiss the Company’s amended Superior Court complaint. On September 27, 2019, the Company filed an opposition to Savant’s motion and, in the alternative, requested leave to file a second amended complaint against Savant. Savant consented to the filing of the second amended complaint and withdrew their motion to dismiss.
13. Subsequent Events
On October 8, 2019, the Company and the lenders agreed to extend the maturity date of the 2019 Bridge Notes from October 1, 2019 until December 31, 2019 and to waive any prior default up to and including the date of the amendment. See Note 7 for more information.
Item 2. | Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. |
You should read the following discussion and analysis together with our financial statements and the notes to those statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our 2018 Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains statements that discuss future events or expectations, projections of results of operations or financial condition, trends in our business, business prospects and strategies and other “forward-looking” information. In some cases, you can identify “forward-looking statements” by words like “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “intends,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of those words and other comparable words. These statements may relate to, among other things, our expectations regarding the scope, progress, expansion, and costs of researching, developing and commercializing our product candidates; our opportunity to benefit from various regulatory incentives; expectations for our financial results, revenue, operating expenses and other financial measures in future periods; and the adequacy of our sources of liquidity to satisfy our working capital needs, capital expenditures, and other liquidity requirements. Actual events or results may differ materially due to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors such as:
· | our lack of revenues, history of operating losses, bankruptcy, limited cash reserves and ability to obtain additional capital to develop and commercialize our product candidates, including the additional capital which will be necessary to pursue the Kite collaboration and undertake the clinical trials that we plan to initiate, and continue as a going concern; |
· | our ability to execute our strategy and business plan focused on developing our proprietary monoclonal antibody portfolio and our GM-CSF knockout gene-editing platform; |
· | our ability to preserve our stock quotation on the OTCQB Venture Market or, in the future, to list our common stock on a national securities exchange, whether through a new listing or by completing a reverse merger or other strategic transaction; |
· | our ability to successfully pursue the Kite collaboration; |
· | the success, progress, timing and costs of our efforts to evaluate or consummate various strategic alternatives if in the best interests of our stockholders; |
· | the timing of the initiation, enrollment and completion of planned clinical trials; |
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· | our ability to timely source adequate supply of our development products from third-party manufacturers on which we depend; |
· | the potential, if any, for future development of any of our present or future products; |
· | increasing levels of market acceptance of CAR-T therapies and the development of a market for lenzilumab; |
· | our ability to successfully progress, partner or complete further development of our programs; |
· | the potential timing and outcomes of development, pre-clinical and clinical studies of lenzilumab, ifabotuzumab, HGEN005, any of our CAR-T pipeline and the uncertainties inherent in development, pre-clinical and clinical testing; |
· | our plans to research, develop and commercialize our product candidates; |
· | our ability to identify and develop additional uses for our products; |
· | our ability to attain market exclusivity and/or to protect our intellectual property and to operate our business without infringing on the intellectual property rights of others; |
· | our ability to attract and retain collaborators with development, regulatory and commercialization expertise; |
· | the outcome of pending or future litigation; |
· | the ability of our controlling stockholder to influence control over all matters put to a vote of our stockholders, including elections of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, or approval of any merger, sale of assets, or other major corporate transaction; |
· | our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates, and any related restrictions, |
· | limitations, and/or warnings in the label of an approved product candidate; |
· | the accuracy of our estimates regarding expenses, future revenues, capital requirements and needs for additional financing; and |
· | changes in the regulatory landscape that may prevent us from pursuing or realizing any of the expected benefits from the various regulatory incentives, or the imposition of regulations that affect our products. |
These are only some of the factors that may affect the forward-looking statements contained in this Form 10-Q. For a discussion identifying additional important factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, see “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of Part I of our 2018 Form 10-K. You should review these risk factors for a more complete understanding of the risks associated with an investment in our securities. However, we operate in a competitive and rapidly changing environment and new risks and uncertainties emerge, are identified or become apparent from time to time. It is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this Form 10-Q. You should be aware that the forward-looking statements contained in this Form 10-Q are based on our current views and assumptions. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements made in this Form 10-Q to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.
Overview
We were incorporated on March 15, 2000 in California and reincorporated as a Delaware corporation in September 2001 under the name KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Effective August 7, 2017, we changed our legal name to Humanigen, Inc.
During February 2018, we completed the financial restructuring transactions announced in December 2017 and furthered our transformation into a biopharmaceutical company pursuing cutting-edge science to develop our proprietary monoclonal antibodies to enhance T-cell engaging therapies for various oncology indications, potentially making these treatments safer, more effective and more efficiently administered. The Company has sharpened its focus to develop novel cell therapies leveraging its understanding of a potentially key pathway which includes its antibody and gene-editing assets.
We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing our portfolio of next-generation cell and gene therapies for the treatment of cancers via our novel human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (“GM-CSF”) neutralization and gene-knockout platforms. As a leader in GM-CSF pathway science, we believe that we have the ability to transform chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (“CAR-T”) therapy and a broad range of other T-cell engaging therapies, including both autologous and allogeneic cell transplantation. There is a direct correlation between the efficacy of CAR-T therapy and the incidence of life-threatening toxicities (referred to as the efficacy/toxicity linkage).
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We believe that our GM-CSF neutralization and gene-editing CAR-T platform technologies have the potential to reduce the inflammatory cascade associated with serious and potentially life-threatening CAR-T therapy-related side effects while preserving and potentially improving the efficacy of the CAR-T therapy itself, thereby breaking the efficacy/toxicity linkage. Clinical correlative analysis and pre-clinical in-vivo evidence points to GM-CSF as the key initiator of the inflammatory cascade resulting in CAR-T therapy’s side-effects. GM-CSF has also been linked to the suppressive myeloid cell axis through recruitment of myeloid derived suppressor cells (“MDSCs”) that reduce CAR-T cell expansion and hamper CAR-T cell efficacy. Our strategy is to continue to pioneer the use of GM-CSF neutralization and GM-CSF gene knockout technologies to improve efficacy and prevent or significantly reduce the serious side-effects associated with CAR-T therapy.
We believe that our GM-CSF pathway science, assets and expertise create two technology platforms to assist in the development of next-generation CAR-T therapies. Lenzilumab, our proprietary Humaneered® anti-GM-CSF immunotherapy, has the potential to be used in combination with any United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”)-approved or development stage T-cell therapies, including CAR-T therapy, as well as in combination with other cell therapies such as allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (“HSCT”), to make these treatments safer and more effective. In addition, our GM-CSF knockout gene-editing CAR-T platform has the potential to create next-generation CAR-T therapies that may inherently avoid any efficacy/toxicity linkage, thereby potentially preserving the benefits of the CAR-T therapy while reducing or altogether avoiding its serious and potentially life-threatening side-effects.
Our immediate focus is combining FDA-approved and development stage CAR-T therapies with lenzilumab, our proprietary Humaneered® anti-human-GM-CSF immunotherapy, which is our lead product candidate. A clinical collaboration with Kite Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Gilead company (“Kite”), was recently announced to evaluate the use of lenzilumab with Yescarta®, axicabtagene ciloleucel (“Yescarta” or “Yescarta®”), in a multicenter clinical trial in adults with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma. We are also focused on creating next-generation combinatory gene-edited CAR-T therapies using strategies to improve efficacy while employing GM-CSF gene knockout technologies to control toxicity. We are also developing our own portfolio of proprietary first-in-class EphA3-CAR-Ts for various solid cancers and EMR1-CAR-Ts for various eosinophilic disorders. We are also exploring the effectiveness of our GM-CSF neutralization technologies (either through the use of lenzilumab as a neutralizing antibody or through GM-CSF gene knockout) in combination with other CAR-T, T-cell engaging, and immunotherapy treatments to break the efficacy/toxicity linkage including the prevention and/or treatment of graft-versus-host disease (“GvHD”) in patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT. We have established several partnerships with leading institutions to advance our innovative cell and gene therapy pipeline.
Lenzilumab
Lenzilumab, our lead product candidate, is a clinical-stage Humaneered monoclonal antibody that neutralizes GM-CSF and has the potential to prevent or reduce certain serious side-effects associated with CAR-T therapy and improve upon the efficacy of CAR-T therapy. Pre-clinical data generated by the Mayo Clinic (the “Mayo Clinic”) in collaboration with Humanigen indicates that the use of lenzilumab in combination with CAR-T therapy may also enhance the proliferation and improve the efficacy of the CAR-T therapy. This may also result in durable, or longer term, responses.
We are continuing to advance the development of lenzilumab in combination with CAR-T therapy through a non-exclusive clinical collaboration with Kite pursuant to which we will conduct a multi-center Phase 1b/2 study of lenzilumab with Kite’s Yescarta in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell lymphoma, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (“DLBCL”) (the “Study”). The primary objective of the Study is to determine the effect of lenzilumab on the safety of Yescarta. Kite’s Yescarta is one of two CAR-T therapies that have been approved by the FDA, is currently the CAR-T therapy market leader and our collaboration with Kite is currently the only clinical collaboration with the potential to improve both the safety and efficacy of CAR-T therapy. We also plan to measure other potentially beneficial effects on efficacy and healthcare resource utilization. In addition, lenzilumab’s success in preventing serious and potentially life-threatening side-effects could offer economic benefits to medical system payers in the United States and abroad by making the CAR-T therapy capable of being administered, and follow-up care subsequently monitored and managed, potentially on an out-patient basis in certain patients and circumstances. In turn, we believe that delivering such provider and payer benefits might accelerate the use of the CAR-T therapy itself, and thereby permit us to generate further revenues from sales of lenzilumab.
In addition to CAR-T therapy, we are committed to advancing our diverse platform for GM-CSF axis suppression for a broad range of other T-cell engaging therapies, including both autologous and allogeneic CAR-T 2.0 therapies, bi-specific antibody therapies, as well as other cell-based immunotherapies in development, including allogeneic HSCT, with our current and future partners.
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In July 2019, we entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement (the “Zurich Agreement”) with the University of Zurich (“UZH”). Under the Zurich Agreement, we have in-licensed certain technologies that we believe may be used to prevent or treat GvHD, thereby expanding our development platform to include improving the safety and effectiveness of allogeneic HSCT, a potentially curative therapy for patients with hematological cancers. There are currently no FDA-approved agents for the prevention of GvHD nor treatment of GvHD in patients identified as high risk by certain biomarkers. We believe that GM-CSF neutralization with lenzilumab has the potential to prevent or treat GvHD without compromising, and potentially improving, the beneficial graft-versus-leukemia (“GvL”) effect in patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT, thereby making allogeneic HSCT safer. We aim to position lenzilumab as a “must have” companion product to any allogeneic HSCT and as a part of the standard pre-conditioning that all patients receiving allogeneic HSCT should receive or as an early treatment option in patients identified as high risk for GvHD.
Given our focus on developing lenzilumab in the treatment of rare cancers, we believe that we have the opportunity to benefit from various regulatory incentives, such as orphan drug exclusivity, breakthrough therapy designation, fast track designation, priority review and accelerated approval.
GM-CSF Gene Knockout
We are advancing our GM-CSF knockout gene-editing CAR-T platform through an exclusive worldwide license agreement (the “Mayo Agreement”) that we entered into in June 2019 with the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (“Mayo Foundation”). Under the Mayo Agreement, we have in-licensed certain technologies that we believe may be used to create CAR-T cells lacking GM-CSF expression through various gene-editing tools including CRISPR-Cas9. We believe that our GM-CSF knockout gene-editing CAR-T platform has the potential to create next-generation CAR-T therapies that improve the efficacy and safety profile of CAR-T therapy.
Preclinical data indicates that GM-CSF gene knockout CAR-T cells show improved overall survival compared to wild-type CAR-T cells in addition to the expected benefits of reduced serious side-effects associated with CAR-T therapy. We are establishing a platform of next-generation combinatorial gene knockout CAR-T cells that have potential to be applied across both autologous and allogeneic approaches and we are also investigating multiple CAR-T cell designs using precise dual and triple gene editing to significantly enhance the anti-tumor activity while simultaneously preventing CAR-T therapy induced toxicities. Through targeted gene expression and modulating cytokine activation signaling, we may be able to increase the proportion of younger and fitter T-cells produced during expansion, increase the proliferative potential, and inhibit activation induced cell death, thereby improving the cancer killing activity of our engineered CAR-T cells thereby making them more effective and safer in the treatment of cancers. We plan to continue development of this technology in combination approaches that could add to the observed efficacy benefits of current generation CAR-T products. In addition, we anticipate that our GM-CSF knockout gene-editing CAR-T platform may be a future backbone for controlling the serious side-effects that hamper CAR-T therapy that lead to serious and sometimes fatal outcomes for patients as a result of the CAR-T therapy itself.
EphA3-CAR: Targeting Tumor Stroma and Tumor Vasculature
We are working to generate our own pipeline of CAR-T therapies including an EphA3-CAR-T based on the ifabotuzumab v-region and backbone. Ifabotuzumab is a Humaneered anti-Eph Type-A receptor 3 (“EphA3”) monoclonal antibody. Ifabotuzumab has the potential to kill tumor cells by targeting tumor stroma that protects them and the vasculature that feeds them. This unique combination of activities as a backbone of a CAR-T therapy may provide the potential to generate durable responses in a range of solid tumors by targeting the tissues that surround, protect, and nourish a growing cancer. By developing an EphA3-CAR-T using ifabotuzumab as the backbone, we may have the ability to target the tumor, tumor stroma, and tumor vasculature in a novel manner. We are collaborating with the Mayo Clinic and plan to move to clinical testing with an anti-EphA3 construct for a range of cancer types after completing Investigational New Drug (“IND”) enabling work.
EMR1-CAR: Targeting Eosinophils
Our EMR1-CAR-T product is based on the HGEN005 (anti-EMR1 Humaneered monoclonal antibody) backbone and targets the epidermal growth factor-like module containing mucin-like hormone receptor 1 (“EMR1”). Our EMR1-CAR-T based on the HGEN005 backbone is another approach in our growing platform of CAR-T therapies. We believe that because of its high selectivity, EMR1-CAR-T has significant potential to treat serious eosinophil diseases. In pre-clinical work, HGEN005’s anti-EMR1 activity resulted in dramatically enhanced killing of eosinophils from normal and eosinophilic donors and also induced a rapid and sustained depletion of eosinophils in a non-human primate model without any clinically significant adverse events. We have engaged with National Institutes of Health (“NIH”) to discuss expanding the initial work they have conducted utilizing HGEN005 and discussions are underway with a leading center in the U.S. to perform the IND enabling testing in eosinophilic leukemia, an orphan condition with significant unmet need, as well as with several other potential partners, although we cannot assure you that we will reach any agreements for these next steps.
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We have incurred significant losses and had an accumulated deficit of $282.9 million as of September 30, 2019. We expect to continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future as we develop our drug candidates, expand clinical trials for our drug candidates currently in clinical development, expand our development activities and seek regulatory approvals. Significant capital is required to continue to develop and to launch a product and many expenses are incurred before revenue is received, if any. We are unable to predict the extent of any future losses or when we will receive revenue or become profitable, if at all.
We will require substantial additional capital to continue as a going concern and to support our business efforts, including obtaining regulatory approvals for our product candidates, clinical trials and other studies, and, if approved, the commercialization of our product candidates. We anticipate that we will seek additional financing from a number of sources, including, but not limited to, the sale of equity or debt securities, strategic collaborations, and licensing of our product candidates. Additional funding may not be available to us on a timely basis or at acceptable terms, if at all. Our ability to access capital when needed is not assured and, if not achieved on a timely basis, would materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. If adequate funds are not available, we may be required to delay, reduce the scope of, or eliminate one or more of our development programs. We may also be required to sell or license to others our technologies, product candidates, or development programs that we would have preferred to develop and commercialize ourselves and on less than favorable terms, if at all. If in the best interests of our stockholders, we may also find it appropriate to enter into a strategic transaction that could result in, among other things, a sale, merger, consolidation or business combination.
If management is unsuccessful in efforts to raise additional capital, based on our current levels of operating expenses, our current capital is not expected to be sufficient to fund our operations for the next twelve months. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
The condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 were prepared on the basis of a going concern, which contemplates that we will be able to realize our assets and discharge liabilities in the normal course of business. Our ability to meet our liabilities and to continue as a going concern is dependent upon the availability of future funding. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might be necessary if we are unable to continue as a going concern.
Critical Accounting Policies and Use of Estimates
Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP. The preparation of our financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires our management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts and disclosures reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates. Our management believes judgment is involved in determining revenue recognition, valuation of financing derivative, the fair value-based measurement of stock-based compensation, accruals and warrant valuations. Our management evaluates estimates and assumptions as facts and circumstances dictate. As future events and their effects cannot be determined with precision, actual results could differ from these estimates and assumptions, and those differences could be material to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. If our assumptions change, we may need to revise our estimates, or take other corrective actions, either of which may also have a material adverse effect on our statements of operations, liquidity and financial condition.
Until December 31, 2018, we qualified as an emerging growth company (“EGC”) under the JOBS Act. Emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We elected to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, we may not be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other smaller reporting companies that are not emerging growth companies.
We ceased to be considered as an EGC as of December 31, 2018. Accordingly, we are required to adopt new accounting standards on the same timeline as other smaller companies.
There were no significant and material changes in our critical accounting policies and use of estimates during the nine months ended September 30, 2019, as compared to those disclosed in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Critical Accounting Policies and Use of Estimates” in our 2018 Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on March 26, 2019.
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Results of Operations
General
We have not generated net income from operations for any periods presented. At September 30, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $282.9 million primarily as a result of research and development and general and administrative expenses. While we may in the future generate revenue from a variety of sources, including license fees, milestone payments, and research and development payments in connection with strategic partnerships, our product candidates may never be successfully developed or commercialized and we may therefore never realize revenue from any product sales, particularly because most of our product candidates are at an early stage of development. Accordingly, we expect to continue to incur substantial losses from operations for the foreseeable future, and there can be no assurance that we will ever generate significant revenue or profits.
Research and Development Expenses
Conducting research and development is central to our business model. We expense both internal and external research and development costs as incurred. We track external research and development costs incurred by project for each of our clinical programs. Our external research and development costs consist primarily of:
· | expenses incurred under agreements with contract research organizations, investigative sites, and consultants that conduct our clinical trials and a substantial portion of our pre-clinical activities; |
· | the cost of acquiring and manufacturing clinical trial and other materials; and |
· | other costs associated with development activities, including additional studies. |
Other research and development costs consist primarily of internal research and development costs such as salaries and related fringe benefit costs for our employees (such as workers compensation and health insurance premiums), stock-based compensation charges, travel costs, lab supplies, overhead expenses such as rent and utilities, and external costs not allocated to one of our clinical programs. Internal research and development costs generally benefit multiple projects and are not separately tracked per project.
The following table shows our total research and development expenses for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018:
Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | |||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | 2019 | 2018 | 2019 | 2018 | ||||||||||||
External Costs | ||||||||||||||||
Lenzilumab | $ | 401 | $ | 422 | $ | 1,680 | $ | 1,359 | ||||||||
Ifabotuzumab | 20 | 25 | 74 | 75 | ||||||||||||
Internal costs | 128 | 88 | 388 | 374 | ||||||||||||
Total research and development | $ | 549 | 535 | $ | 2,142 | $ | 1,808 |
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses consist principally of personnel-related costs, professional fees for legal, consulting, audit and tax services, rent and other general operating expenses not otherwise included in research and development.
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Comparison of Three Months Ended September 30, 2019 and 2018
Three Months Ended September 30, | Increase/ (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | 2019 | 2018 | Amount | % | ||||||||||||
Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||||||
Research and development | $ | 549 | $ | 535 | $ | 14 | 3 | |||||||||
General and administrative | 1,497 | 1,804 | (307 | ) | (17 | ) | ||||||||||
Loss from operations | (2,046 | ) | (2,339 | ) | (293 | ) | (13 | ) | ||||||||
Interest expense | (343 | ) | (116 | ) | 227 | 196 | ||||||||||
Other income | - | 319 | 319 | 100 | ||||||||||||
Reorganization items, net | - | (40 | ) | (40 | ) | (100 | ) | |||||||||
Net loss | $ | (2,389 | ) | $ | (2,176 | ) | $ | 213 | 10 |
Research and development expenses remained essentially the same at $0.5 million for the three month periods ended September 30, 2018 and September 30, 2019.
General and administrative expenses decreased $0.3 million from $1.8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 to $1.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019. The decrease is primarily due to lower compensation expense, including stock-based compensation costs related to lower headcount in the three months ended September 30, 2019.
Interest expense increased $0.2 million from $0.1 million recognized for the three months ended September 30, 2018 to $0.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019. Interest expense for the three months ended September 30, 2019 primarily consisted of interest related to the Advance Notes, entered into in June, July and August 2018, the 2018 Notes, entered into in September 2018, the 2019 Notes entered into in April 2019, the 2019 Bridge Notes entered into in June 2019 and the Notes payable to vendors related to our 2016 bankruptcy filing. Interest expense for the three months ended September 30, 2018 primarily consisted of interest on the Term Loans, which converted to common stock in February 2018 related to the Restructuring Transactions and the Notes payable to vendors related to our 2016 bankruptcy filing.
Other income decreased $0.3 million from $0.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 to zero for the three months ended September 30, 2019. For the three months ended September 30, 2018 Other income (expense) primarily consisted of legal fees assumed by Madison Joint Venture LLC in connection with their positive election related to the Benz Assets (see Note 9).
There were no reorganization costs incurred for the three months ended September 30, 2019. The bankruptcy was closed in September 2018 and, as a result, there were minimal costs for the three months ended September 30, 2018.
Comparison of Nine Months Ended September 30, 2019 and 2018
Nine Months Ended September 30, | Increase/ (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | 2019 | 2018 | Amount | % | ||||||||||||
Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||||||
Research and development | $ | 2,142 | $ | 1,808 | $ | 334 | 18 | |||||||||
General and administrative | 5,122 | 7,793 | (2,671 | ) | (34 | ) | ||||||||||
Loss from operations | (7,264 | ) | (9,601 | ) | (2,337 | ) | (24 | ) | ||||||||
Interest expense | (1,003 | ) | (542 | ) | 461 | 85 | ||||||||||
Other income (expense), net | (1 | ) | 318 | 319 | 100 | |||||||||||
Reorganization items, net | - | (106 | ) | $ | (106 | ) | (100 | ) | ||||||||
Net loss | $ | (8,268 | ) | $ | (9,931 | ) | $ | (1,663 | ) | (17 | ) |
Research and development expenses increased by $0.3 million, from $1.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 to $2.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019. The increase is primarily due to higher spending on the development of lenzilumab.
General and administrative expenses decreased $2.7 million from $7.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 to $5.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019. The decrease is primarily due to a $2.2 million decrease in stock-based compensation expense related to the issuance of options to management, consultants and board members subsequent to the completion of the Restructuring Transactions in 2018, with no similar issuances in 2019, a decrease of $0.2 million in other compensation costs and a decrease in outside consulting costs of $0.3 million.
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Interest expense increased $0.5 million from $0.5 million recognized for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 to $1.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019. Interest expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 primarily consisted of interest related to the Advance Notes, entered into in June, July and August 2018, the 2018 Notes, entered into in September 2018, the 2019 Notes entered into in April 2019, the 2019 Bridge Notes entered into in June 2019 and the Notes payable to vendors related to our 2016 bankruptcy filing. Interest expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 primarily consisted of interest on the Term Loans, which converted to common stock in February 2018 related to the Restructuring Transactions and the Notes payable to vendors related to our 2016 bankruptcy filing.
Other income (expense) decreased $0.3 million from $0.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 to essentially zero for the three months ended September 30, 2019. For the three months ended September 30, 2018 Other income (expense) primarily consisted of legal fees assumed by Madison Joint Venture LLC in connection with their positive election related to the Benz Assets (see Note 9).
Reorganization items, net, decreased $0.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 to zero for the nine months ended September 30, 2018. The decrease is related to the absence of reorganization expenses in the current nine-month period.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Since our inception, we have financed our operations primarily through proceeds from the public offerings of our common stock, private placements of our preferred stock, debt financings, interest income earned on cash, and cash equivalents, and marketable securities, and borrowings against lines of credit. At September 30, 2019, we had cash and cash equivalents of $0.2 million. As of October 25, 2019, we had cash and cash equivalents of approximately $48 thousand.
The following table sets forth the primary sources and uses of cash and cash equivalents for each of the periods presented below:
Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||
(In thousands) | 2019 | 2018 | ||||||
Net cash (used in) provided by: | ||||||||
Operating activities | $ | (3,452 | ) | $ | (4,985 | ) | ||
Investing activities | - | 30 | ||||||
Financing activities | $ | 2,795 | $ | 6,256 | ||||
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents | $ | (657 | ) | $ | 1,301 |
Net cash used in operating activities was $3.5 million and $5.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Cash used in operating activities of $3.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 primarily related to our net loss of $8.2 million, adjusted for non-cash items, such as $1.9 million in stock-based compensation, $1.0 million in noncash interest expense, and net increases in working capital items of $1.7 million.
Cash used in operating activities of $5.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 primarily related to our net loss of $10.0 million, adjusted for non-cash items, such as $4.2 million in stock-based compensation, $0.5 million in noncash interest expense, and net increases in working capital items of $0.4 million.
Net cash provided by financing activities was $2.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and consists primarily of $3.0 million received from the issuance of convertible notes and advance notes, $0.3 million from the exercise of stock options and $0.5 million in payments made on notes payable to vendors during the period. Net cash provided by financing activities was $6.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and consists primarily of $1.5 million received from Cheval related to the Restructuring Transactions (see “Restructuring Transactions” below), $1.1 million from the issuance of 2,445,557 shares of our common stock to accredited investors on March 12, 2018, $0.2 million received from the issuance of 400,000 shares of our common stock to an accredited investor on June 4, 2018, $0.9 million received from the issuance of the Advance Notes in June, July and August 2018 and $2.5 million received for the issuance of the Notes in September 2018.
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Restructuring Transactions
On February 27, 2018, we completed a comprehensive restructuring of our outstanding indebtedness of approximately $18.4 million under a series of term loans (the “Term Loans”) with two lender groups, including affiliates of Black Horse Capital, L.P. and raised incremental new capital from Cheval Holdings, Ltd. At the closing of the restructuring, we: (i) in exchange for the satisfaction and extinguishment of the entire balance of the Term Loans, (a) issued an aggregate of 59,786,848 shares of Common Stock (the “New Lender Shares”), and (b) transferred and assigned to a joint venture controlled by one of the term loan lenders, all of our assets related to benznidazole (the “Benz Assets”), our former drug candidate; and (ii) issued to Cheval an aggregate of 32,028,669 shares of Common Stock for total consideration of $3.0 million.
In connection with the transfer of the Benz Assets to the joint venture, the joint venture partner paid certain amounts we incurred after December 21, 2017 and prior to February 27, 2018 in investigating certain causes of action and claims related to or in connection with the Benz Assets. In addition, upon exercise of its rights under the terms of the joint venture, the joint venture partner assumed certain legal fees and expenses owed us to our litigation counsel totaling $0.3 million.
Upon completion of the Restructuring Transactions, the Black Horse Entities collectively held 66,870,851 shares of our common stock, or approximately 62.6% of our outstanding common stock. Accordingly, the completion of the Restructuring Transactions resulted in a change in control of our company, as the Black Horse Entities and their affiliates owning more than a majority of our outstanding common stock. Dr. Dale Chappell, a member of our board of directors from June 30, 2016 until November 10, 2017, controls the Black Horse Entities and accordingly, will be able to exert control over matters of our company and will be able to determine all matters of our company requiring stockholder approval.
We will require substantial additional capital to continue as a going concern and to support our business efforts, including obtaining regulatory approvals for our product candidates, clinical trials and other studies, and, if approved, the commercialization of our product candidates. The amount of capital we will require and the timing of our need for additional capital will depend on many factors, including:
· | the progress and timing of the Study we are pursuing with Kite, and related costs we are required to incur; |
· | the type, number, timing, progress, costs, and results of the other product candidate development programs that we are pursuing or may choose to pursue in the future; |
· | the scope, progress, expansion, costs, and results of our other pre-clinical and clinical trials; |
· | the timing of and costs involved in obtaining regulatory approvals; |
· | the success, progress, timing and costs of our efforts to evaluate or consummate various strategic alternatives if in the best interests of our stockholders; |
· | our ability to preserve our stock quotation on the OTCQB Venture Market or, in the future, to list our common stock on a national securities exchange, whether through a new listing or by completing a strategic transaction; |
· | our ability to establish and maintain development partnering arrangements and any associated funding; |
· | the emergence of competing products or technologies and other adverse market developments; |
· | the costs of maintaining, expanding, and protecting our intellectual property portfolio, including potential litigation costs and liabilities; |
· | the resources we devote to marketing, and, if approved, commercializing our product candidates; |
· | the scope, progress, expansion and costs of manufacturing our product candidates; and |
· | the costs associated with being a public company. |
We are pursuing efforts to raise additional capital from a number of sources, including, but not limited to, the sale of equity or debt securities and strategic collaborations. Additional funding may not be available to us on a timely basis or at acceptable terms, if at all. Our ability to access capital when needed is not assured and, if not achieved on a timely basis, would materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any financing we may obtain may be dilutive to existing stockholders. If adequate funds are not available, we may be required to delay, reduce the scope of, or eliminate one or more of our development programs. We may also be required to sell or license to others our technologies, product candidates, or development programs that we would have preferred to develop and commercialize ourselves and on less than favorable terms, if at all. If in the best interests of our stockholders, we may also find it appropriate to enter into a strategic transaction that could result in, among other things, a sale, merger, consolidation or business combination.
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If management is unsuccessful in efforts to raise additional capital, based on our current levels of operating expenses, our current capital will not be sufficient to fund our operations for the next twelve months. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
Our cash position as of June 30, 2019 was insufficient for us to satisfy in full at maturity on June 30, 2019 all of the outstanding principal amount and accrued but unpaid interest on unsecured promissory notes we made to certain of our vendors upon our emergence from bankruptcy. We paid approximately $0.5 million to extinguish certain of these notes in July and August 2019. As of September 30, 2019, the aggregate principal amount and accrued but unpaid interest on these notes approximates $1.1 million. The outstanding principal amount and accrued but unpaid interest on these notes is currently payable to the respective holders without demand, notice or declaration, and the holders, without demand or notice of any kind, may exercise any and all other rights and remedies available to them under the notes, the Plan, at law or in equity. We do not have sufficient funds to repay the principal and accrued but unpaid notes. See “Risk Factors” in Part II, Item 1A for more information.
Our common stock currently trades on the OTCQB Venture Market under the ticker symbol “HGEN”. Although our common stock is listed for quotation on the OTCQB Venture Market, trading is limited and an active market for our common stock may never develop in the future, which could harm our ability to raise capital to continue to fund operations.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We currently have no off-balance sheet arrangements, such as structured finance, special purpose entities or variable interest entities.
Item 4. | Controls and Procedures. |
Management’s Evaluation of our Disclosure Controls and Procedures
“Disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, means controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms.
Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, those designed to ensure that this information is accumulated and communicated to our management to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Management, including our Chief Executive Officer, who is also acting as our Chief Financial Officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based upon the evaluation our Chief Executive Officer, who is also acting as our Chief Financial Officer, concluded that the disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of September 30, 2019 to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports we file and submit under the Exchange Act is (i) recorded, processed, summarized and reported as and when required and (ii) accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer, who is also acting as our Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely discussion regarding required disclosure.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act). On June 28, 2019, J. Greg Jester, our then Chief Financial Officer, died unexpectedly. Dr. Cameron Durrant, our Chief Executive Officer, is acting, on an interim basis, as the Company’s principal financial and accounting officer. Our Chief Executive Officer assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2019. In making this assessment, our Chief Executive Officer used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, or COSO, in Internal Control—Integrated Framework. Based on that assessment and using the COSO criteria, our Chief Executive Officer has concluded that, as of September 30, 2019, our internal control over financial reporting was not effective because of the material weaknesses described below.
A material weakness is defined as “a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.”
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The ineffectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting at September 30, 2019, was due to an insufficient degree of segregation of duties among our accounting and financial reporting personnel.
During the remainder of 2019, we intend to work to remediate the material weaknesses identified above, which could include the addition of accounting and financial reporting personnel and/or the engagement of accounting and personnel consultants on a limited-time basis until we add a sufficient number of personnel. However, our current financial position could make it difficult for us to add the necessary resources.
Inherent Limitations of Controls
Management does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all error and all fraud. Controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within the Company have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of a simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls also is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.
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Item 1. | Legal Proceedings. |
Please see Note 12 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for a summary of legal proceedings and developments during the quarter ended September 30, 2019.
Item 1A. | Risk Factors. |
If we cannot obtain additional financing, we may not be able to pursue our collaboration with Kite or other business issues, or continue as a going concern.
As previously disclosed, we do not expect to recognize any revenues while we continue to pursue the development of lenzilumab and our other product candidates. As a result, we require substantial additional capital to support our business efforts, including our collaboration with Kite (a Gilead company). Under our agreement with Kite, the parties have agreed to conduct a multi-center Phase 1/2 study of lenzilumab with Kite’s Yescarta® (axicabtagene ciloleucel) in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell lymphoma. The primary objective of the study is to determine the effect of lenzilumab on the safety of Yescarta, as well as to determine potential enhanced efficacy and healthcare resource utilization associated with the combination. We currently project we will be responsible for an aggregate of approximately $8 million in out-of-pocket costs assuming a total of 72 patients are enrolled in the study, of which $2 million will be required to be paid to Kite thirty days prior to the initiation of the study.
As of September 30, 2019, our current liabilities of approximately $10.3 million exceeded our current assets of approximately $0.5 million. Our cash position as of June 30, 2019 was insufficient for us to satisfy in full at maturity on June 30, 2019 all of the outstanding principal amount and accrued but unpaid interest on unsecured promissory notes we made to certain of our vendors upon our emergence from bankruptcy. We paid approximately $0.5 million to extinguish certain of these notes in July and August 2019. As of September 30, 2019, the aggregate principal amount and accrued but unpaid interest on these notes approximates $1.1 million. The outstanding principal amount and accrued but unpaid interest on these notes is currently payable to the respective holders without demand, notice or declaration, and the holders, without demand or notice of any kind, may exercise any and all other rights and remedies available to them under the notes, the Plan, at law or in equity. We do not have sufficient funds to repay the principal and accrued but unpaid notes, as our available cash balance as of the date of this filing was approximately $48 thousand.
Accordingly, we are seeking financing from a number of sources, including, but not limited to, the sale of equity or debt securities, strategic collaborations, and licensing of our product candidates, to enable us to pursue the Kite collaboration and our other business initiatives. As disclosed in Note 7 to the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, since 2018, our capital-raising efforts have succeeded in raising a series of short-term bridge loans and convertible debt financings, most recently a short-term bridge financing advanced by our two largest stockholders which collectively control approximately 91% of our outstanding common stock, and our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Cameron Durrant. The bridge loans bear interest at 7% per year; are secured by liens on substantially all of our assets; and had an original maturity date of October 1, 2019. On October 8, 2019, the Company and the lenders agreed to extend the maturity date of the bridge loans from October 1, 2019 until December 31, 2019 unless earlier repaid or extended and to waive any prior default up to and including the date of the amendment. The interest on the bridge loans would increase to 10% per year upon any default of our obligations.
Additional funding may not be available to us on a timely basis or at acceptable terms, if at all. Our ability to access capital when needed is not assured and, if not achieved on a timely basis, would materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the lenders under our bridge financing would be entitled to exercise all available remedies available to them, and we may not be able to continue as a going concern.
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Item 6. | Exhibits. |
____________________
* | The Certifications attached as Exhibits 32.1 and 32.2 that accompany this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are not deemed filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are not to be incorporated by reference into any filing of Humanigen, Inc. under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, whether made before or after the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, irrespective of any general incorporation language contained in such filing. |
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Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
HUMANIGEN, INC. | |||
Date: October 28, 2019 | By: | /s/ Cameron Durrant | |
Cameron Durrant | |||
Chief Executive Officer | |||
(Principal Executive Officer) | |||
Date: October 28, 2019 | By: | /s/ Cameron Durrant | |
Cameron Durrant | |||
Acting Chief Financial Officer | |||
(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
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