Two months after GlobeImmune Inc.’s hepatitis B drug failed a mid-stage study, the Louisville-based drug developer is running at a skeleton crew six people in size and is exploring a potential sale.
on Friday reported its second-quarter earnings, posting a $1.3 million net loss and recording just under $1.3 million in revenue. In the second quarter last year, GlobeImmune’s interest and stock expenses contributed to a net loss of $5.7 million and the company brought in $1.7 million in revenue.
In regulatory filings associated with the earnings report, GlobeImmune officials said the company now has six full-time employees — down from 22 at the start of the year — and is eyeing a sale of some or all of its assets. GlobeImmune on Thursday announced that it engaged Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. to explore means of improving shareholder value, but did not elaborate on potential outcomes.
The moves are part of a broader restructuring meant to preserve cash, officials have said. GlobeImmune closed the most-recent quarter, which ended on June 30, with just over $12.3 million in cash and cash equivalents.
In June, GlobeImmune officials said the company’s experimental hepatitis B drug was shown to not reduce infection in patients after 24 weeks of clinical study. The news rocked GlobeImmune’s stock, which lost 50 percent of its value, and triggered .
Earlier this week, GlobeImmune said partner to license medullary thyroid cancer treatment GI-6207. GlobeImmune will receive a $1.9 million upfront payment as part of the agreement, which could garner milestone payments of up to $120 million, officials disclosed.
GlobeImmune specializes in the development of Tarmogens, which are whole, heat-inactivated yeast that contain a protein to target T cells. GlobeImmune has development and license agreements with biopharma giants Gilead Sciences Inc., which has exclusive licenses for drug candidates to treat chronic hepatitis B, and Celegene Corp., which collaborates and can option certain cancer drug candidates.
“Three of our Tarmogen product candidates are being developed under strategic collaborations with leading biotechnology companies, Gilead Sciences and Celgene Corporation, for infectious disease and multiple cancer indications,” Dr. Timothy C. Rodell, GlobeImmune’s president and chief executive, said in a statement. “We also recently engaged Cantor Fitzgerald as our exclusive advisor to help us explore strategic alternatives. The goal of this strategy is to allow retention of the upside of our partnerships while exploring additional mechanisms to create stockholder value.”
Alicia Wallace: 303-954-1939, awallace@denverpost.com or twitter.com/aliciawallace
