SAN DIEGO, APRIL 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:BTX) (“Brooklyn”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on exploring the role that cytokine, gene editing, and cell therapy can have in treating patients with cancer, blood disorders, and monogenic diseases, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2021.
Financial and corporate highlights for the quarter and year months ended December 31, 2021 and subsequently include the following:
Howard Federoff, M.D., Ph.D., Brooklyn’s President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “2021 was a transformational year for Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics. I am proud to be working with our new team of experts and seasoned professionals, Roger Sidhu, M.D., Jay Sial and Kevin D’Amour, Ph.D. Together with our board of directors and scientific advisors, we are committed to our mission to discover, develop and deliver innovative products to patients who need them. We believe that we have created a leading platform company in cell, gene-editing and cytokine therapies, with a broad and deep pipeline. Our accomplishments in 2021 reflect our continued progress towards our vision of transforming patients’ lives through science.
Dr. Federoff continued: “We began 2022 with the launch of our new research and development facilities in San Diego, California. Another sign of our growth is the transfer of our common stock listing from the NYSE American to the Nasdaq Global Market in late 2021, being named to represent the biotech sector as part of the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (Nasdaq:NBI) and being added to the ICE Biotechnology Index (NYSE:ICEBIO). We believe that our Nasdaq listing better aligns Brooklyn with industry peers, is more in line with the innovation we are pursuing and acknowledges and further validates our approach and technology.”
“We believe that we are well positioned for growth. As we await the readout of our Phase 2b trial for neoadjuvant head and neck cancer with our original asset, IRX-2, during the second quarter of 2022, we continue investigator-driven trials in a number of additional cancer types and look forward to sharing these outcomes as appropriate. I want to thank the team for all of their hard work and commitment and our shareholders, partners and investors for their continued support” concluded Dr. Federoff.
Operating expenses for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021 were $9.1 million and $113.6 million, respectively, compared to $21.4 million and $26.5 million of operating expenses for the same periods in 2020.
Research and development expenses were $4.2 million and $93.2 million for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021, respectively, compared to $1.7 million and $4.0 million for the same periods in 2020, respectively. Research and development expenses increased during the fourth quarter primarily due to increased license fees and non-cash stock-based compensation resulting from the issuance of equity awards. Research and development expenses increased for the full year of 2021 due to license fees, non-cash stock-based compensation and $80.5 million of acquired in-process research and development expense related to the Eterna Therapeutics acquisition in July 2021.
General and administrative expenses were $4.4 million and $14.7 million for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021, respectively, compared to $0.6 million and $3.3 million during the same periods in 2020. The quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year increases in general and administrative expense were primarily related to increased legal, accounting and consulting fees, costs associated with being a publicly traded company, increased headcount, increased insurance expense and increased non-cash stock-based compensation.
The change in the fair value of contingent consideration was $0.6 million of expense for the three months ended December 31, 2021 and a credit of $0.2 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 compared to expense of $19.2 million for both the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2020.
The Company recognized transaction costs of $5.8 million during the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 related to the value of shares issued to its banker for the merger transaction with NTN in March 2021, as well as a loss on the subsequent sale of the NTN assets of $9.6 million.
Net loss for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021 was $8.5 million and $122.3 million, respectively, compared to a net loss of $21.5 million and $26.5 million for the same period in 2020.
As of December 31, 2021, Brooklyn had approximately $17.0 million in cash, compared to $1.6 million as of December 31, 2020.
Brooklyn is focused on exploring the role that cytokine, gene editing, and cell therapy can have in treating patients with cancer, blood disorders, and monogenic diseases.
Brooklyn’s most advanced program is IRX-2, a human cell-derived cytokine therapy, studying the safety and efficacy of IRX-2 in patients with head and neck cancer in Phase 2B. In a Phase 2A clinical trial in head and neck cancer, IRX-2 demonstrated an overall survival benefit. Additional studies are either underway or planned in other solid tumor cancer indications.
Brooklyn has multiple next-generation cell and gene-editing therapies in preclinical development for various indications including acute respiratory distress syndrome, solid tumor indications, as well as in vivo gene-editing therapies for rare genetic diseases. For more information about Brooklyn and its clinical programs, please visit www.BrooklynITx.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are any statements that are not statements of historical fact and may be identified by terminology such as “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “project,” “will” or other similar words and the negatives of such words. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in any forward-looking statement as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, uncertainties related to: (i) the evolution of Brooklyn’s business model into a platform company focused on cellular, gene editing and cytokine programs; (ii) Brooklyn’s ability to successfully, cost-effectively and efficiently develop its technology and products; (iii) Brooklyn’s ability to successfully commence clinical trials of any products on a timely basis or at all; (iv) Brooklyn’s ability to successfully fund and manage the growth of its development activities; (v) Brooklyn’s ability to obtain regulatory approvals of its products for commercialization; and (vi) uncertainties related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business and financial condition of Brooklyn, including on the timing and cost of its clinical trials. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking statements made in this communication speak only as of the date on which they were made, and Brooklyn does not undertake any obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date hereof, except as required by applicable law. Factors that may cause Brooklyn’s actual results from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements contained in this press release are more fully disclosed in Brooklyn’s periodic public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly under the heading “Risk Factors” in Brooklyn’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Jon Yu
ICR Westwicke
475-395-5375
EternaPR@westwicke.com