Epizyme, a US-based, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company which is creating personalized therapeutics for patients with genetically defined cancers, and which is backed by biopharmaceutical company Celgene Corporation’s corporate venturing unit, released its second quarter 2013 financial results on 31 July.
Epizyme’s cash and cash equivalents, as of June 30, 2013, were $148.7m, compared to $98m at December 31, 2012. Collaboration revenue was $14.8m for the second quarter, research and development expenses were $13.9m, and general expenses were $3.1m; the net loss was $2.2m. Epizyme expects its cash pile to be $115m by the end of 2013, which it believes will last through until mid-2015.
Epizyme’s business highlights included closure on 5 June of its initial public offering (IPO): 5,913,300 shares were priced at $15 per share, including 771,300 additional shares taken up by the underwriters, raising gross proceeds of $88.7m and net proceeds of $79.8m, after underwriting discounts, commissions and other expenses.
Epizyme’s stock price came straight in at $20 per share on its first day of trading on 5 June, closing at $22.9, and since then hitting its highest closing price of $43.6 on 16 July.
Celgene owned 14.5% of Epizyme ahead of the initial public offering, while venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates owned 25.1%, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers 20.1%, Bay City Capital 15.5% and MPM Capital 12.8%.
Robert Gould, chief executive officer of Epizyme, said: “The second quarter was transformative for Epizyme. We completed a successful IPO, ending the period with $149 million in cash and cash equivalents.”
Epizyme has two programmes in clinical development: EPZ-5676 for the treatment of leukemia patients, where dose escalation is undergoing in its Phase 1 study, with plans to expand the cohort stage of the study later in 2013; and EPZ-6438 for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients, where Epizyme enrolled its first patient in a Phase 1/ 2 study in June, with plans to initiate Phase 2 in 2014, earning a $6m milestone payment from Japan-based pharmaceutical company Eisai (which was received in July and so not included in the Q2 results).
Gould said; “Our collaborations with Celgene, Eisai and GSK are important elements of our business strategy, including our retained United States rights for EPZ-5676 and EPZ-6438, and as sources of potential future milestones and royalties. Today, we are in a strong position to invest in and expand Epizyme’s product platform and pipeline of therapeutic programs.”