CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June, 11,
2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Blueprint Medicines Corporation (NASDAQ:
BPMC), a leader in discovering and developing highly selective
kinase drugs for genomically defined diseases, today reported
financial results and provided a business update for the first
quarter ended March 31, 2015.
"We had a successful start to 2015, culminating in the
completion of our upsized IPO in May, which gives us the financial
strength to drive our three lead pipeline programs to
proof-of-concept data readouts over the next two years," said
Jeffrey Albers, Chief Executive
Officer of Blueprint Medicines. "In addition, we entered into a
strategic collaboration with Alexion to leverage the power of our
discovery engine to target an abnormally activated kinase that
causes a rare genetic disease, and we are excited to announce today
the achievement of the first milestone payment, marking advancement
in this program. We continue to make significant progress across
our development programs and expect to initiate Phase 1 trials with
BLU-554 in hepatocellular carcinoma and BLU-285 in gastrointestinal
stromal tumors and systemic mastocytosis in mid-2015."
First Quarter and Recent Business Highlights:
Platform and Pipeline:
- Published strategy for advancing kinase drug discovery and
development: Blueprint Medicines published an overview of its
kinase drug discovery and development strategy in the May issue of
the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The publication
highlights Blueprint Medicine's focus on identifying novel disease
drivers, and its use of unique chemistry to craft highly selective
kinase inhibitors for new and difficult-to-drug targets.
- Presented preclinical data demonstrating anti-tumor activity of
BLU-554 in models of HCC: At the 50th International
Liver Congress in April, Blueprint Medicines presented new
preclinical data showing that its drug candidate BLU-554 induced
complete tumor regression in models of hepatocellular carcinoma
(HCC) that are driven by abnormal signaling of fibroblast growth
receptor 4 (FGFR4). Blueprint Medicines also published an article
in Cancer Discovery highlighting the significant anti-tumor
activity of BLU9931 in several in vivo models of HCC with
aberrantly active signaling of FGFR4. The discovery of BLU9931 led
to the identification of BLU-554, which is the drug candidate
expected to advance into a Phase I clinical trial mid-2015.
- Presented preclinical data demonstrating anti-tumor activity of
BLU-285 in treatment-resistant GIST: At the American Association
for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in April, Blueprint
Medicines presented new preclinical data showing that BLU-285 has
significant anti-tumor activity in treatment-resistant models of
gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) and maintained complete
tumor regression in all mice treated at the highest dose level.
BLU-285 is the drug candidate expected to advance into Phase I
clinical trials mid-2015.
Corporate:
- Completed upsized initial public offering: In May, Blueprint
Medicines completed an initial public offering (IPO) of common
stock at $18.00 per share, raising
gross proceeds of approximately $168.6
million, before deducting customary underwriting discounts
and commissions and estimated offering expenses.
- Entered into rare genetic disease collaboration with Alexion
and achieved the first milestone payment: In March, Blueprint
Medicines announced a strategic collaboration with Alexion to
discover, develop and commercialize novel drug candidates for an
undisclosed kinase target known to cause a rare genetic disease.
Under the terms of the agreement, Blueprint Medicines received an
upfront payment of $15.0 million and
will be reimbursed for all research expenses related to the
collaboration. Blueprint Medicines is eligible to receive more than
$250.0 million in milestone payments
and additional royalties on sales. In May, Blueprint Medicines
received a $1.8 million payment for
the successful achievement of the first pre-defined research
milestone.
- Expanded corporate leadership with additions of prominent
industry veterans: During the first quarter, Blueprint Medicines
welcomed Andy Boral, M.D., Ph.D, to
its executive management team as Senior Vice President, Clinical
Development and Charles Rowland Jr.,
to its Board of Directors.
First Quarter 2015 Financial Results:
- Cash Position: Cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2015 were $50.3
million compared to $47.2
million as of December 31,
2014.
- Collaboration Revenue: Collaboration revenues were $0.7 million for the first quarter of 2015. This
revenue reflects reimbursement from Alexion for work conducted in
March by Blueprint Medicines under the collaboration, as well as a
portion of the $15 million upfront
payment, which will be amortized over the period of the research
term. This is the first time that the Company recognized
revenue.
- R&D Expenses: Research and development expenses were
$9.2 million, including non-cash
stock-based compensation expenses of $0.4
million, for the first quarter of 2015, compared to
$5.4 million, including non-cash
stock-based compensation expenses of $0.1
million, for the same period in 2014. The increase was
largely due to expenses associated with the IND-enabling activities
and increased personnel in the Company's pre-clinical and clinical
development organizations to advance its lead programs BLU-285 and
BLU-554 into Phase 1 trials in mid-2015.
- G&A Expenses: General and administrative expenses were
$2.8 million, including non-cash
stock-based compensation expenses of $0.4
million, in the first quarter of 2015, compared to
$1.6 million, including non-cash
stock-based compensation expenses of $0.1
million for the same period in 2014. The increase in G&A
expenses was primarily due to increased business personnel to
support the Company's overall growth as a publicly traded
entity.
- Net Loss: Net loss was $11.6
million in the first quarter of 2015, compared to net loss
of $7.0 million for the same period
in 2014.
About Blueprint Medicines
Blueprint Medicines
Corporation makes kinase drugs to treat patients with genomically
defined diseases. Led by a team of industry innovators, Blueprint
Medicines integrates a novel target discovery engine and a
proprietary compound library to understand the blueprint of cancer
and craft highly selective therapies. This empowers the Blueprint
Medicines team to develop patient-defined medicines aimed at
eradicating cancer.
Forward-Looking Statements:
Various statements in
this release concerning Blueprint Medicines' future expectations,
plans and prospects, including without limitation,statements
regarding Blueprint Medicines' cash position, Blueprint Medicines'
expectations regarding how long its current cash and cash
equivalents will last; statements regarding the foundation for
Blueprint Medicines' drug discovery and development strategy, ,
Blueprint Medicines' expectations regarding BLU-554 as a treatment
for hepatocellular carcinoma, Blueprint Medicines' expectations
regarding BLU-285 as a treatment for gastrointestinal stromal
tumors and systemic mastocytosis, statements concerning the
anti-tumor activity of BLU9931, constitute forward-looking
statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In particular, it
should be noted that the strategies described in the JCI paper are
preliminary and interim in nature; the Phase 1 clinical trials for
BLU-554 and BLU-285 have not yet commenced. Any forward-looking
statements in this press release are based on management's current
expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks
and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from
those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of
various important factors, including, without limitation, the risk
of delay of any planned clinical trials and/or development of
Blueprint Medicines' drug product candidates, Blueprint
Medicines' ability to successfully demonstrate the efficacy and
safety of its drug product candidates, the pre-clinical and
clinical results for its drug product candidates, which may not
support further development of such drug product candidates, the
risk that Blueprint Medicines' collaboration with Alexion Pharma
Holdings will not continue or will not be successful, actions of
regulatory agencies, which may affect the initiation, timing and
progress of clinical trials, obtaining, maintaining and protecting
intellectual property, Blueprint Medicines' ability to enforce its
patents against infringers and defend its patent portfolio against
challenges from third parties, competition from others developing
products for similar uses, Blueprint Medicines' ability to manage
operating expenses, Blueprint Medicines' ability to obtain
additional funding to support its business activities and establish
and maintain strategic business alliances and new business
initiatives, Blueprint Medicines' dependence on third parties for
various functions, the outcome of litigation, and unexpected
expenditures, as well as those risks more fully discussed in the
section entitled "Risk Factors" in the final prospectus
related to Blueprint Medicines' initial public offering filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) of
the Securities Act, as well as discussions of potential risks,
uncertainties, and other important factors in Blueprint Medicines'
subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In
addition, any forward-looking statements represent Blueprint
Medicines' views only as of today and should not be relied upon as
representing its views as of any subsequent date. Blueprint
Medicines explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
Balance Sheet
Data
|
(in
thousands)
|
(Unaudited)
|
|
|
|
March
31,
|
|
December 31,
|
|
|
2015
|
|
2014
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash and cash
equivalents
|
|
$
|
50,298
|
|
$
|
47,240
|
Unbilled accounts
receivable
|
|
|
484
|
|
|
—
|
Working capital
(1)
|
|
|
37,550
|
|
|
41,510
|
Total
assets
|
|
|
55,910
|
|
|
49,925
|
Deferred
revenue
|
|
|
14,832
|
|
|
—
|
Term loan
payable
|
|
|
8,652
|
|
|
9,042
|
Warrant
liability
|
|
|
403
|
|
|
365
|
Convertible preferred
stock
|
|
|
114,808
|
|
|
114,811
|
Total stockholders'
(deficit)
|
|
|
(90,085)
|
|
|
(79,382)
|
Note 1 (Working capital): We define working capital as
current assets less current liabilities
Statements of
Operations Data
|
(in thousands,
except per share data)
|
(Unaudited)
|
|
|
|
Three Months
Ended
|
|
|
March 31,
|
|
|
2015
|
|
2014
|
Collaboration
revenue
|
|
$
|
652
|
|
$
|
—
|
Operating
expenses:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Research and
development
|
|
|
9,232
|
|
|
5,381
|
General and
administrative
|
|
|
2,770
|
|
|
1,572
|
Total operating
expenses
|
|
|
12,002
|
|
|
6,953
|
Other income
(expense):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other income
(expense), net
|
|
|
(37)
|
|
|
18
|
Interest
expense
|
|
|
(185)
|
|
|
(92)
|
Total other income
(expense)
|
|
|
(222)
|
|
|
(74)
|
Net loss
|
|
$
|
(11,572)
|
|
$
|
(7,027)
|
Convertible preferred
stock dividends
|
|
|
(2,270)
|
|
|
(1,249)
|
Net loss applicable
to common stockholders
|
|
$
|
(13,842)
|
|
$
|
(8,276)
|
Net loss per share
applicable to common stockholders — basic and
diluted
|
|
$
|
(8.23)
|
|
$
|
(6.44)
|
Weighted-average
number of common shares used in net loss per share applicable to
common stockholders — basic and diluted
|
|
|
1,681
|
|
|
1,285
|
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SOURCE Blueprint Medicines