Apogee Therapeutics Advances in Clinical Trials for Promising Treatments in Inflammatory Diseases, and Reported Net Loss of $(32.1)M, Held $816.2M in Cash

Author: Benzinga Newsdesk | May 13, 2024 07:12am

Apogee Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:APGE), a clinical-stage biotechnology company advancing differentiated biologics for the treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and other inflammatory and immunology (I&I) indications, today reported pipeline highlights and first quarter financial results.

"I am proud of the continued momentum our team has achieved this quarter, executing against our goals and successfully bringing our programs forward ahead of schedule," said Michael Henderson, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Apogee. "We continue to maintain that pace of progress with the selection of our development candidate for APG990 and now plan to initiate a Phase 1 trial in healthy volunteers by the end of the year. We commenced dosing of the first healthy participants in our second clinical program, APG808, and expect an interim readout in the second half of this year. Following that readout, we're planning a Phase 1b readout for APG808 in asthma to follow in the first half of 2025 that is designed to determine the doses to then take into a Phase 2 trial in COPD in the same year. We are on track to dose the first patient in the APG777 Phase 2 trial in patients with moderate-to-severe AD in the first half of this year. Additionally, on the heels of our successful interim Phase 1 APG777 data readout, we raised $483 million in an upsized public offering providing capital into 2028."

Pipeline and Corporate Highlights and Upcoming Milestones

• Initiated Phase 2 APG777 clinical trial: APG777 is a novel, subcutaneous (SQ) half-life extended monoclonal antibody (mAb) targeting IL-13 – a critical cytokine in inflammation and a primary driver of AD.
  • The company has commenced enrollment of patients for the Phase 2 clinical trial of APG777 in patients with moderate-to-severe AD in the first half of 2024, with 16-week proof-of-concept data from Part A of the trial expected in 2H 2025.
  • The trial is designed to combine the typical Phase 2a and 2b portions of a clinical trial into a single protocol. The primary endpoint of each part of the study is mean percentage changes in EASI score from baseline to Week 16.
  • Initiation of a Phase 2 APG777 trial in asthma is expected to commence in 2025.

• First participant dosed in APG808 Phase 1 trial: Apogee's second program, APG808, is a novel, SQ half-life extended mAb targeting IL-4Rα, a target with clinical validation across eight Type 2 allergic diseases. APG808 has similar binding and femtomolar affinity for IL-4Rα compared to picomolar affinity in the first generation mAb, DUPIXENT, and has demonstrated similar inhibition to DUPIXENT across three in vitro assays that measure downstream functional inhibition of the IL-13/IL-4 pathway (pSTAT6 induction, inhibition of TF-1 proliferation, and inhibition of TARC secretion).
  • In March 2024, Apogee initiated dosing of healthy volunteers in its Phase 1 clinical trial. The company expects to share initial data in the second half of 2024 followed by a Phase 1b clinical trial in asthma with data expected in the first half of 2025 and initiation of a COPD trial in the same year.

• APG990 development candidate selected: Apogee has selected a development candidate for its APG990 program, a novel, SQ half-life extended mAb targeting OX40L, initially being developed for AD. OX40L is located further upstream in the inflammatory pathway than IL-13 or IL-4Rα and targeting it could potentially have broader impact on the inflammatory cascade by inhibiting both Type 1 and Type 2 inflammation. With current approved biologics only targeting Type 2 inflammation (IL-13/IL4Rα) in AD, OX40L could represent another therapeutic option for patients, especially the portion of patients who do not benefit from currently available treatments. APG990 has been engineered to have differentiated attributes, including an extended half-life, which we expect will result in a more favorable dosing schedule of every three or six months. The company is also interested in testing the hypothesis that combining APG990 with APG777 will result in more extensive inhibition of the inflammatory cascade (Type 1 and Type 2 inflammation) than either approach alone. The company plans to present additional data on this at its R&D Day in the fourth quarter of this year.
  • Initiation of a Phase 1 APG990 trial in healthy volunteers is expected to begin ahead of schedule and is now expected in the second half of 2024.

• Completed $483 million upsized public offering: In March, the company closed on an upsized public offering of 7,790,321 shares of common stock, including the full exercise of the underwriters' option to purchase up to 1,016,128 additional shares, at a public offering price of $62.00 per share. The aggregate gross proceeds to Apogee from the offering were approximately $483.0 million before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses payable by Apogee.

Posted In: APGE