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spk03: Good morning and welcome to Munich's second quarter 2023 earnings call. My name is Jessica Bru, Head of Investor Relations and Communications at the Munich. I will also be the moderator on today's call. Speaking on the call are Dr. Daniel Fitt, our Chief Executive Officer and President, as well as Glenn Whaley, our Chief Financial Officer. Please note that all participants will be in listening mode and this event is being recorded. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. If you join the webcast via the Zoom platform, there are two ways to submit your questions. You can either submit in writing via the Q&A tool of the Zoom portal, or if you would like to speak with us directly, please use the raise hand function of the Zoom portal to queue your question. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this presentation may contain forward-looking statements. Such statements can be identified by words such as may, will, expect, anticipate, estimate, or words with a similar meaning, and such statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause Immunix's actual results to differ materially from those discussed here. Please note that these forward-looking statements reflect Immunix's opinions only as of the date of this presentation, and it undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the result of any revision to these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. please refer to Immunix SEC findings for a more detailed description of the risk factors that may affect Immunix results and these forward-looking statements. I would now like to turn the call over to our CEO and President, Dr. Daniel Fitt, to begin the presentation.
spk02: Yeah, thank you, Jessica. I would also like to welcome everybody to Immunix second quarter 2023 earnings call. Earlier this morning, we announced our financial results for the second quarter ended June 30th, 2023, and highlighted recent activities as well as upcoming milestones. During today's call, we will walk through our second quarter 2023 and subsequent highlights, financial and operating results, as well as anticipated upcoming milestones. After the presentation, as Jessica noted, we will open the line to give the audience an opportunity to ask questions. Let's start with a review of our second quarter 2023 and subsequent highlights. In April, we reported positive data from the maintenance phase of our Phase 2b CalDOS-1 trial of BFHC in patients with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. These results were extremely encouraging as they demonstrated statistically significant activity of E. coli as compared to placebo, while confirming the very favorable safety and tolerability profile for the drug already observed in other trials. As illustrated on the slide, data showed a dose linear increase in clinical remission as compared to placebo at week 50. An exploratory statistical analysis showed a p-value of 0.0358 confirmed the 30 milligram dose of VDF calcium to be statistically superior in achieving clinical remission and week 50 with a 33.7% absolute improvement over placebo. Overall, we believe the maintenance phase data confirms VDF calcium's activity in alternative colitis patients. Also in April, we welcomed Dr. Richard Rudick to our board of directors. Rick has spent decades as a clinical expert in multiple sclerosis and as a clinical trialist, overseeing multiple successful pivotal studies. His insights are already proving valuable as we continue to progress the development of Vitoflutimus calcium in multiple sclerosis, as well as in our earlier programs. In May, we reported stronger than expected positive results from the Part C portion of our phase one clinical trial of IMU 856 in patients with celiac disease during periods of gluten-free diet and gluten challenge. The data set shows the first clinical evidence of its ability, as observed preclinically, to regenerate the gut bone. In particular, the Phase Ib data showed that IMU856 was effective compared to placebo in improving four crucial aspects of celiac disease pathophysiology. Protection of gut architecture, improvement and reversal of patients' gluten-induced symptoms, biomarker response, and enhancement of nutrient absorption, such as vitamin B12. IMU 856 was also observed to be safe and well-treated in this trial. Most importantly, the observed protection of the lining of the gut and intestinal villi from gluten-induced destruction, independent of targeting immune mechanisms involved specifically in celiac disease, appears to be unique among proposed therapeutic approaches. We believe this data provides initial proof of concept that this oral first-in-class molecule may represent an entirely new therapeutic approach, which could be a game changer in the way we treat gastrointestinal disorders, such as celiac disease, but also, for example, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, or irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea. We are extremely enthusiastic about the potential for our IMU 856 program. On the heels of these results, was our announcement at the Digestive Disease Week in Chicago of clinical and preclinical data for INU856, including its molecular mode of action as a potent and highly selective modulator of SIRT6, a protein which serves as a transcription regulator of intestinal barrier function and regeneration of bowel epithelium. Through its effect on SIRT6, IMU856 has shown the ability in preclinical models to restore intestinal barrier function and regenerate bowel wall architecture. Importantly, in May, we also announced publication in the Journal of Medicine Chemistry of preclinical evidence showing that Vitoflutimus calcium acts as a potent NO1 activator. in addition to its known mode of action as a DHO-DH inhibitor. We believe that the activation of NO1 could be responsible for the drug's postulated neuroprotective effects and may contribute to the reduction of confirmed disability worsening events in MS patients as previously reported from our Phase II emphasis trial in patients with relapsing remitting MS. That said, these findings could be relevant not just in multiple sclerosis, but also in other neurological indications. As a reminder, the potential neuroprotective properties of VF calcium were already identified in our emphasis trial, where the trial data showed encouraging clinical signals regarding prevention of confirmed disability worsening, as well as a remarkable reduction of the biomarker neurofilament-like chain, NFL. Most recently, last month, we hosted a virtual Celiac Disease Expert Roundtable to discuss ongoing active celiac disease, or ACD, a serious lifelong autoimmune disorder, and the substantial unmet medical need for therapeutic solutions. We were honored to have been joined for this event by three renowned thought leaders from Harvard Medical School, Mayo Clinic, and the Celiac Disease Foundation. we could not be more grateful for their participation. During the call, our chief medical officer, Andreas Müller, also provided an overview of our IMU856 program, including our positive phase 1b trial results in celiac disease patients, which we discussed a little earlier this call. That concludes our summary of the second quarter 2023 and subsequent highlights. I would now like to turn the call over to Glenn to provide a financial overview. Glenn?
spk01: Thank you, Daniel. I will now review the financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30th, 2023. Let me start with the cash overview. We ended the quarter with $77.3 million in cash, which we expect will be sufficient to fund operations into the fourth quarter of 2024. Regarding the operating results, R&D expenses were $21.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023, as compared to $16.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2022. These costs were mainly driven by external development costs related to ongoing clinical trials of Vita flutimus calcium and IMU 856, and partially offset by a decrease in external development costs related to the Phase II clinical trial of Vita flutimus calcium and ulcerative colitis and IMU 935 program. For the six months ended June 30, 2023, R&D expenses were $44.1 million, as compared to $34 million for the same period ended June 30, 2022. These costs also were mainly driven by external development costs related to the ongoing clinical trials in vitoflutinous calcium and IMU-A56, and were partially offset by a decrease in external development costs related to the Phase II clinical trial of beta-fluidinous calcium and ulcerative colitis in the IMU935 program. General administrative expenses were $3.8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023, as compared to $4.1 million for the same period ended June 30, 2022. The slight decrease was chiefly driven by a decrease in non-cash based stock compensation partially offset by increased costs across a number of categories. For the six months ended June 30th, 2023, G&A expenses were $8.1 million as compared to $8 million for the same period ended June 30th, 2022. The nominal increase was related to an increase across a number of categories, which was partially offset by a decrease in personnel expense in G&A, primarily due to non-cash-based stock compensation decrease. Other income was $1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023, as compared to negative $1.3 million for the same period ended June 30, 2022. The increase was primarily attributable to a decrease in foreign exchange losses and an increase in interest income as a result of higher interest rates. This was partially offset by a decrease in R&D tax incentives for clinical trials in Australia. With the six months ended June 30, 2023, other income was $3 million, as compared to negative $0.7 million for the same period ended June 30, 2022. The increase was primarily attributable to an increase in interest income as a result of higher interest rates, a decrease in foreign exchange losses, and a research allowance attributable for the tax year 2021 from the German Federal Ministry of Finance. The increase was partially offset by a decrease in R&D tax incentives for clinical trials in Australia. The net loss for the three months ended June 30th, 2023 was approximately 24 million or 54 cents per basic and diluted share based on 44.4 million weighted average common shares outstanding compared to a net loss were approximately 21.9 million or 72 cents per basic and diluted share based on 30.2 million weighted average common shares outstanding for the same period ended June 30th, 2022. net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2023, was approximately $49.3 million, or $1.12 per basic and diluted share, based on 44 million weighted average common shares outstanding, compared to a net loss of approximately $42.7 million, or $1.49 per basic and diluted share, based on 28.7 million weighted average common shares outstanding, for the same period ended June 30, 2022. With that, I will turn the call back over to Daniel for a review of our upcoming clinical milestones. Daniel?
spk02: Thank you, Glenn. I would now like to provide an update on the anticipated upcoming milestones for our clinical development programs. Our current expectation is to report an interim biomarker analysis from our Phase II caliber trial in progressive MS, including serum neurofilament light gene, NFL, in the fall of this year. This now more precise timeline provides additional clarity compared to our previous guidance on the second half of 2023. We expect to read out this trial at the end of 2024. Additionally, we look forward to reporting data from the interim analysis of our Phase III INSURE program late next year and to read out the first of our identical twin Phase III INSURE trials in relapsing MS at the end of 2025. As we have stated before, based on the strong clinical activity observed thus far, and with the Fluidimus Calcium's solidly established safety and tolerability profile to date, we continue to believe that the design of the Phase III INSURE program will provide a straightforward path to potential regulatory approval in relapsing MS. As I noted earlier, the Phase II Caliper Trial is designed to corroborate the neuroprotective potential of VDF calcium in progressive MS and could therefore be an additional differentiator for the drug in the MS market. VDF calcium, with its combined anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and direct neuroprotective effects, may represent an important and unique treatment option targeting the complex pathophysiology of MS. With regards to our IMU856 program, as a result of the overwhelmingly positive data generated from the final portion of our phase one clinical trial in celiac disease patients, we have begun preparing for a phase two clinical trial in ongoing active celiac disease patients. Once again, we are very excited about this program and believe that IMU856 could represent an entirely new and innovative oral treatment option approach for a number of gastrointestinal diseases without the serious consequences associated with immunosuppressive therapies. This brings us to the end of our formal presentation. Jessica, please open the call for the Q&A session.
spk03: Yeah, thank you, Daniel. And also thank you to Daniel and Glenn for walking us through the first half of 2023 and subsequent highlights, as well as our upcoming value inflection points. We will now begin the question and answer session. As a reminder, if you joined the webcast via the Zoom platform, there are two ways to submit questions. You can either submit your questions in writing via the Q&A tool of the Zoom portal, or if you would like to speak with us directly, please use the raise hand function of the Zoom portal to queue your question. And we jump right into it with Yasmin Rahimi from Piper Sandler. Yasmin, please unmute yourself and go ahead.
spk00: Hi guys, this is Lauren on for Yaz. Congrats for all the pipeline progress. Two questions from us. So first, I know you guys have historically said that for NFL and GFAP, you want to see separation versus placebo. Maybe could you dig in a little bit and is there any type of magnitude that you want to see to be considered a strong signal? And with that, what do we know about this separation in regard to how it will correlate to percent brain volume change on the primary endpoint? And then the second question, Have you had your end of phase two meeting with the FDA or prior to the phase two in Celiac? And when can you come back and communicate your next steps for the phase two? Thanks.
spk02: Yeah, thank you, Lauren. Coming to NFL, I think, as you're aware, NFL is maybe a more established marker compared to GFAP. But we don't know a lot about other studies' effects in NFL changes in progressive MS. And therefore, it's difficult to really give a guidance for what we see. I think the goal is here to look for a signal. And specifically, and this may be the main purpose of this trial, is to look whether the sub-indications, so it's not groups, it's really indications we are testing here. So we have patients with primarily progressive, active, and non-active secondary progressive to see whether there is a specific indication where patients benefit more based on the biomarker signal. Everything else, I think, would be a little bit over-interpretation risk is done. And for the coronation of the brain wall, I don't think that's established. I think that's something we really want to observe and need to observe. And finally, also underlined then with other endpoints, more from the clinical side, for example, confirmed disability worsening, which I believe is a very important readout for the progressive MS study, for the cannabis study. Um, coming to the, um, eight, five, six question. Yeah. So we, this was a phase one B study, so there is no end of phase two, um, meeting plan. I think our, our regulatory interactions are currently focusing on IND submission. And based on that, I think there is an active dialogue done with the FDA. So that's ongoing there. And it's a more reliable timeline, I think. That's the main reason why we think this is the right track for the regulatory interaction right now.
spk03: Perfect. Thank you, guys.
spk02: Thank you so much.
spk03: Thank you, Lauren. And we have a follow-up question on the caliber interim analysis that came in writing from Thomas Smith at Learing. Can you elaborate on what data you expect to report with the interim biomarker analysis from the CALIPER trial analysis in the fall? What are your expectations for this readout?
spk02: Yeah, as I said, maybe I need to repeat myself a little bit here. So it's really more a qualitative analysis. So to see a difference here. If we, for example, see in the treatment groups a more benign NFL change effects or, for example, a reduction there, that would be great. But I think the main purpose is really to identify some indications where we believe what is the most promising path forward in the progressive MS space for the treatments here. And I really, I can't quantify here. I give any guidance on the amounts we expect. This is the forefront of research, I would say. There's there's not too much of historic comparison available here. So let's keep fingers crossed for good differentiations here between active and placebo in this study.
spk03: Thank you, Daniel. Thank you, Tom, for the question. Next one, we have live here in the queue Andreas Agiridis from Wetbush. Andreas, please unmute yourself and go ahead.
spk04: Good morning and thanks for taking our question. for the uh sorry let me just line my questions um so can you quickly also provide any insight into the pace of enrollment for insurer is it progressing according to your expectations and when do you expect the trial to be fully enrolled and then um quick one on the um a bit of fluid is calcium in ulcerative colitis can you can you update us on where the program stands and if you continue to look for a partner for the program thank you yeah um
spk02: First of all, I think the Insure enrollment goes well right now. We have the two studies, Insure 1 and Insure 2, running, and they are on track compared to the planned enrollment right now. So that's, I think, a pretty good situation there. On the UC front, yes, that's an ongoing discussion we are having. That's also important. Also an important thing is here that we, as you may have seen, we also have IMU381 added to the pipeline, which is a program which is dedicated to GI indications and may also benefit from the data we have obtained from the from the KELDOS study, from the maintenance phase, to potentially also come up with another molecule which may be effective there and can leverage the proof of concept we have generated for redoflutamase calcium in alternative colitis. So there's more potential in that. I strongly believe that the mode of action here we have was for the first time proven and that allows, I think, a pretty interesting development going forward in that space with both.
spk04: All right, and just one quick follow-up. Can you just also remind us what gives you confidence that the Nr1 activator would work in progressive forms of multiple sclerosis?
spk02: Thanks. Yeah, I think it's more the established biology on that coming from literature. And so far, also our hints we have seen on the unconfirmed disability worsening and our conclusion that dependent um disability worsening um and therefore it may then also work in in progressive MS um but that's I think the objective of the clinical study I think we we really need to prove that in this study great thanks and congrats on all the progress
spk03: Thank you, Andreas. Again, if you have a question, please use the raise hand function of the Zoom portal or the Q&A tool. And we also have Matt Kaplan in the line from Leidenberg. Matt, please unmute yourself and go ahead.
spk05: Thanks, Jessica. And good morning. Just a follow up. Thanks. Just a follow up on 856 and celiac. I guess you're in preparation mode with the IND. What are your current thoughts on the design of the phase two as you move it into phase two?
spk02: Yeah, thank you, Matt. That's, of course, an important thing right now here. As you see from our presentation, our excitement about the program, and we believe it really deserves to continue as quickly as possible into celiac disease. And therefore, we aligned with a couple of global experts, had a number of good meetings, discussed what is the right design, also carefully looked on the FDA draft guideline for phase phase three in celiac disease which was published second half of last year and based on that we maybe some things some thoughts and this is not set in stone so this is an ongoing discussion I'm happy to share some of the thoughts so we think we should the patient population should be really be A little bit equivalent to what the FDA guidance says. So we will look specifically on ongoing active celiac disease patients here and endpoints or things tested will be, for example, histological changes, symptomatic changes, and also some biomarkers and functional changes and improvements. I think the FDA guideline states that they want to see for phase 3 studies improvement of symptomatic and histological improvement here, which also should be tested in the phase 2 because we really want to define the right doses and the right design for the phase 3 studies. Duration also maybe 1 comment here, uh, as I said, not finally decided, but likely, um, the study will mainly look on and on a 3 months, um, timeline. For improvement on on those scores. Um, and what's what I can't say right now is the exact size of the trial that's work in progress to determine the exact, um. size of each group of the trial, but maybe one remark on the doses we are looking on the spread of doses, which would clearly result then in identification of this best suitable dose for a phase 3 study going forward.
spk05: That's very helpful. And then one follow-up on that, I guess, given the potential utility of 856 outside of celiac disease and also ulcerative colitis, how are you thinking internally about the development of 856 and 838 in ulcerative colitis?
spk02: Well, both are interesting options, honestly. I think the challenge with with 828 is that we are in a very important MS study at the same time. So, therefore, I think our GI focus is right now with the fresh results from the phase 1B study on 856. And clearly, I think HF6 has something very special. It is not immunosuppressive. And therefore, I think the drug could really add something new to the treatment landscape in GI disorders. And if you look on the current treatments and things in development for indications like Crohn's and colitis, clearly a non-immunosuppressive drug which is able to restore the proper healthy epithelial layer in the gut wall would add something substantial. And I think that's the beauty of that concept could easily be combined with other treatments as well down the road. And therefore maybe the first choice to overcome the so-called efficacy ceiling we see with just immunosuppressive therapies. So I think I see a very bright future for HF6 in the broader GI space, really beyond celiac disease as well. It's easier to say what indications exactly will be in the focus there, but likely IBD is a core theme in further development.
spk05: Thanks, Daniel. That's very helpful.
spk03: Thank you, Matt, and thank you to all our guests today. This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Daniel for any closing remarks.
spk02: Yeah, thanks, Jessica. And thank you to today's attendees for your insightful questions. In summary, we remain well funded with 77.3 million on our balance sheet, providing expected runway through multiple value-creating clinical milestones into the fourth quarter of 2024. Looking ahead, as noted, we expect to report data from the interim analysis of our Phase 2 Caliper Trial of EDFMS-Calcium in progressive MS in the fall of this year. As progress is made, we expect to also provide an update on our preparation for the Phase 2 clinical trial of IMU856 in patients with ongoing active Celiac disease. With that, I would like to close today's call. Thank you very much for joining. We're very happy to answer any additional questions one-on-one.
spk03: Thank you also from my side for joining in Munich's second quarter 2023 earnings call. The webcast has now concluded. You may now disconnect.
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