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Curis, Inc. (CRIS)

Q4 2024 Earnings Call· Mon, Mar 31, 2025

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Curis's Fourth Quarter 2024 Business Update Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Diantha Duvall, Curis's Chief Financial Officer. Diantha, please go ahead.

Diantha Duvall

Analyst

Thank you, and welcome to Curis' fourth quarter 2024 business update call. Before we begin, I would like to encourage everyone to go to the Investors section of our website at www.curis.com to find our fourth quarter 2024 business update press release and related financial tables. I would also like to remind everyone that during the call, we will be making forward-looking statements, which are based upon our current expectations and beliefs. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. For additional details, please see our SEC filings. Joining me on today's call are Jim Dentzer, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Jonathan Zung, Chief Development Officer. We will also be available for a question-and-answer period at the end of the call. I'd now like to turn the call over to Jim.

Jim Dentzer

Analyst

Thank you, Diantha. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Curis' fourth quarter business update call. We made great progress this quarter in both NHL and AML. Let's start with our TakeAim Lymphoma study which is evaluating emavusertib in combination with ibrutinib in PCNSL. Before we discuss the clinical data, I'd like to highlight the encouraging feedback we received from the EMA and FDA on the potential for conditional marketing authorization in Europe and accelerated approval in the U.S. As a reminder, we engaged both agencies about the potential for accelerated filings after the initial early data from PCNSL patients treated with emavusertib in combination with ibrutinib last year. We met with the agencies in the second half of 2024 and are pleased to announce that both agencies reviewed and provided feedback on our proposed plans for the potential for an accelerated approval pathway based on our ongoing TakeAim Lymphoma study. As a reminder, the study is a single-arm open label study being conducted in the U.S., EU and Israel using ORR as the primary endpoint. Both agencies agreed that patients already enrolled in the trial can be used in the submission as long as they meet the same inclusion/exclusion criteria. They also provided helpful guidance on additional information such as contribution of effect to be included as part of the submission and initial thoughts on the design of our confirmatory study. In short, the discussions were very productive. The development timeline for emavusertib just got accelerated. Our current Phase1/2 study is now registrational for both the U.S. and Europe. Obviously this is the outcome we were hoping for with over 30 clinical sites now open for enrollment, our goal is to complete enrollment in the next 12 to 18 months. With that, let's turn to the clinical data. As a…

Diantha Duvall

Analyst

Thank you, Jim. Curis reported a net loss of $9.6 million or $1.25 per share for the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to a net loss of $117 million, or $2.03 per share for the same period in 2023. Curis reported a net loss of $43.4 million, or $6.88 per share, for the 12 months ended December 31, 2024, compared to a net loss of $47.4 million or $8.96 per share for the same period in 2023. Research and development expenses were $9 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to $10 million for the same period in 2023. The decrease was primarily attributable to lower clinical, research, consulting and employee related costs, partially offset by higher manufacturing costs. R&D expenses were $38.6 million for the 12 months ended December 31, 2024, compared to $39.5 million for the same period in 2023. General and administrative expenses were $3.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to $4.9 million for the same period in 2023. The decrease was primarily attributable to lower legal, facility, consulting and employee related costs. G&A expenses were $16.8 million for the 12 months ended December 31, 2024, compared to $18.6 million for the same period in 2023. In October, we completed a registered direct offering and concurrent private placement with net proceeds of approximately $10.8 million. On March 28, 2025, we priced a registered direct offering and concurrent private placement of common stock, pre-funded warrants and warrants with gross proceeds of approximately $10 million. The impact of these two offerings has extended our cash runway into the fourth quarter of 2025. With that, I'd like to open the call for questions. Operator?

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Kripa Devarakonda with Truist Securities. Please go ahead.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Hi, good morning, this is [Nicole] on for Kripa. Can you just talk a little bit more about cash runway, and how we should speak into that expenses going forward, and any additional cost modulations we should be considering, as we update our models?

Jim Dentzer

Analyst

Yes, actually, Diantha, why don't you walk through that?

Diantha Duvall

Analyst

Absolutely. So we've previously guided that our - burn is about $10 million a quarter, and that continues to be the case. So again, the proceeds from these two offerings that we did fourth quarter of last year, and first quarter of this year does extend our cash runway from mid '24 to 4Q of '25.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Okay. Great. And one quick follow-up. Can you just talk a little bit about any potential inbound interest from partners in this environment? Are there any additional hurdles for partnerships other than fitting into the landscape?

Jim Dentzer

Analyst

Sure. Well, as you can imagine, given the utility that we've seen so far at NHL and AML, we're on radar screens. I would say, just as a matter of course, we expect that we will be continuing to have discussions, on how to best move our program forward. And at some point, I suspect that's going to involve partnering with one of the major players in either the NHL or AML space. Stay tuned.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Thanks so much.

Operator

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Sean McCutcheon with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Sean McCutcheon

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Hi guys, thanks for the questions. Can you remind us how many primary central system - nervous system lymphoma patients have been given the 100 milligram BID dose of emavusertib to-date, either as monotherapy or in combination with ibrutinib. And perhaps walk us through the necessary steps to meet the FDA's requirement on the individual component contributions. And obviously, based on your commentary, it's a review issue for the number of patients you'll need. But would you anticipate the number, at a go forward dose being roughly in line with what the EMA expects? Thanks.

Jim Dentzer

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Yes, actually, Jonathan, you're probably the best to address that one.

Jonathan Zung

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Sure. So to-date, we've dosed 13 patients at 100 milligrams. Those patients have been dosed in Part B of the study. Remind me of your second part of the question?

Sean McCutcheon

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Second part was just - the steps you'll need in order to meet the FDA's requirement on the individual component contributions, and then, roughly the number of patients you expect to need within the U.S. at a go forward dose?

Jonathan Zung

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Yes. So we would expect that, the U.S. and Europe, will be using similar data. And when we think about the dose selection, we'll be able to make that, after about nine patients that have been dosed on 100 and 200.

Sean McCutcheon

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Thanks.

Operator

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Li Watsek with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead. Watsek, you might be on mute?

Li Watsek

Analyst

Yes, thank you. Good morning. Thank you so much for the update, and taking our question. We were wondering, if you could give us a little more color on what the EMA might expect in terms of compelling, and consistent data in terms of the response rates that you have mentioned? Thank you.

Jim Dentzer

Analyst

Sure. Well, why don't I start on that, and then I'll ask Jonathan to opine as well. So I think what both agencies clearly, I think, were so supportive of our efforts, to bring a treatment to primary CNS lymphoma. Based on the data that we've seen to-date, and the data that we've seen to-date are very compelling. Obviously, we would be hoping that as we complete enrollment in the study that the data remain consistent, and that the compelling results that we've seen to-date hold, as we finish out enrollment in that study. Jonathan, would you like to add your thoughts?

Jonathan Zung

Analyst

Yes. The only thing I would add, is both agencies clearly acknowledge there are no approved treatments in this space. And I think that's why we had favorable discussions with them. And as Jim mentioned, where the response rate is today, as long as we are probably north of 25% we'll, or we should have positive momentum with both agencies.

Li Watsek

Analyst

Great. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Ed White with H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.

Ed White

Analyst · H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. You just had mentioned the agency's looking for north of 25% ORR. Is this a bit of a change? I think in the past you mentioned that they're looking for a CR rate above 20%?

Jim Dentzer

Analyst · H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.

No. Let me add to that, and then I'll ask Jonathan to opine as well. I think what we're really looking to do, is to ensure that we've got data that are consistent with the past. And of course, give us a 95% confidence interval that we could beat a null hypothesis of 10%. So 20% clearly does that. We're much higher than that now. I think if we end up somewhere in a 25% range, where we've got a lot of cushion over the 95% confidence interval. So I think really that's all we were saying, that we're going at the salvage line setting in these patients simply, because there really aren't good options for these patients. So that if we continue to see the kind of efficacy that we've seen to-date, we should be in a good position. Jonathan, do you want to add your thoughts on that?

Jonathan Zung

Analyst · H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.

Yes. Nothing to add to that, Jim.

Ed White

Analyst · H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.

Okay. And Jim, how should we be thinking about TakeAim Leukemia? It seems like you're focusing on PCNSL patients. Should we expect to see more enrollment in the leukemia study, and also should we expect to see more data later this year?

Jim Dentzer

Analyst · H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.

Yes. So I want to be more cautious about, what kind of data in leukemia that we're going to see later this year. I think the two places where everybody's excited, is of course on the Triplet study, and then potentially a monotherapy study in FLT3. So on the Triplet study, as we mentioned in the release and in my comments. We've completed enrollment in the seven-day cohort, look safe and well tolerated, and our goal would be of course, to do the same for the 14 and 21-day studies. Once we've established safety, and that's the critical item in that study, make sure we can show that adding emavusertib to current standard of care is safe and tolerable. Well, then we would move, of course, to start dosing with all three drugs starting day one. And at that point, we're looking at for efficacy. We're looking to see whether adding EMA, does the same thing in the clinic that it did in the lab, and that is that it added efficacy to the ven/aza doublet. So that would be one thing that we would look to move toward in leukemia. And then on the other side, of course, there's a lot of interest among the KOLs for a monotherapy extension into the FLT3 population. It looks as though at this point the data we have suggest emavusertib is a best-in-class FLT3 drug as a monotherapy. Which makes sense, right? It's the only drug that blocks IRAK4 and FLT3, so it should be the best-in-class. We would need to run another study, a pivotal study, to prove that and to gain approval, but there's a lot of enthusiasm for that path as well. I would look forward hopefully, as the year progresses and we make progress in getting those studies initiated, we'll have a better sense of timelines, and can be able to set for you what data we would expect when. Does that make sense?

Ed White

Analyst · H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.

Yes. Thanks, Jim.

Jim Dentzer

Analyst · H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.

Great. Thanks, Ed.

Operator

Operator

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back to the company's President and CEO, Jim Dentzer, for any closing remarks.

Jim Dentzer

Analyst

Thank you, operator. And thank you everyone for joining us on today's call. And especially, thank you to our teammates at Curis, for their hard work and for our partners, especially at Aurigene, and the NCI and at academic sites helping us develop this important drug. We appreciate your time today, and we look forward to providing updates in the near future. Operator?

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.