UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
______________________
Form 8-K
______________________
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event Reported): March 9, 2016
CONATUS PHARMACEUTICALS INC.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)
Delaware | 001-36003 | 20-3183915 |
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation) | (Commission File Number) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) |
16745 West Bernardo Drive, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92127 |
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code) |
(858) 376-2600
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions: | ||
[ ] | Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425) | |
[ ] | Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12) | |
[ ] | Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)) | |
[ ] | Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) |
Item 2.02. Results of Operations and Financial Condition.
On March 9, 2016, Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. issued a press release announcing its financial results for the quarter and full year ended December 31, 2015. A copy of the press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated herein by reference.
In accordance with General Instruction B.2. of Form 8-K, the information in this Item 2.02, including Exhibit 99.1, shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that Section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as expressly set forth by specific reference in such a filing.
Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
| (d) | Exhibits |
Exhibit No. |
| Description |
99.1 |
| Press release issued on March 9, 2016 |
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
CONATUS PHARMACEUTICALS INC. | ||
Date: March 9, 2016 | By: | /s/ Charles J. Cashion |
Name: Charles J. Cashion | ||
Title: Senior Vice President, Finance, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary | ||
EXHIBIT 99.1
Conatus Pharmaceuticals Reports 2015 Financial Results and Program Updates
SAN DIEGO, March 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:CNAT), a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of novel medicines to treat liver disease, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2015, and provided updates on its clinical development programs.
Financial Results
The net loss for the fourth quarter of 2015 was $6.0 million compared with $5.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2014. The net loss for the full year 2015 was $24.1 million compared with $22.3 million for the full year 2014.
Research and development expenses were $4.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2015 compared with $3.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2014. Research and development expenses were $16.3 million for the full year 2015 compared with $14.9 million for the full year 2014. The full year increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to higher personnel costs and an increase in external costs related to emricasan.
General and administrative expenses were $1.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2015 compared with $1.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2014. General and administrative expenses were $7.8 million for the full year 2015 compared with $7.4 million for the full year 2014. The full year increase in general and administrative expenses was primarily due to higher personnel costs.
Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $36.5 million at December 31, 2015, compared with $37.1 million at December 31, 2014. The company believes current financial resources are sufficient to maintain operations and ongoing clinical development activities through at least the first quarter of 2017.
Program Updates
Conatus is developing emricasan, a first-in-class, orally active pan-caspase inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with chronic liver disease. During the first two months of 2016, the company announced:
During 2015, the company reported results from five emricasan clinical trials:
Conatus’ two most recent cirrhosis trials enrolled and treated patients whose cirrhosis was due to a variety of etiologies, including hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, alcohol or NASH. Following the FDA’s grant of Fast Track designation to the emricasan development program for the treatment of liver cirrhosis caused by NASH, and based on additional communications with the FDA recommending single-etiology clinical trials, the company plans to focus on advancing toward initial registration of emricasan for patients with NASH cirrhosis, with parallel development toward registration of emricasan for patients with NASH fibrosis.
The company also plans to extend the safety database and evaluate the efficacy of emricasan in focused single-etiology trials to address additional patient populations with cirrhosis due to alcohol or HCV for potential expansion of the targeted initial label for emricasan in NASH cirrhosis.
Conatus has three ongoing emricasan Phase 2 clinical trials:
The company plans to initiate the following additional emricasan clinical trials on a staggered basis through early 2017 as resources permit and expects top-line results to be available periodically beginning in 2018, which the company believes could position it to advance directly to filing for accelerated approval in NASH cirrhosis:
Conference Call and Audio Webcast
Conatus will host a conference call and audio webcast at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time today to discuss the financial results and provide a corporate update. To access the conference call, please dial 877-312-5857 (domestic) or 970-315-0455 (international) at least five minutes prior to the start time and refer to conference ID 48233480. A live and archived audio webcast of the call will also be available in the Investors section of the Conatus website at www.conatuspharma.com.
About Emricasan Clinical Development
To date, emricasan has been studied in over 650 subjects in 16 clinical trials across a broad range of liver disease etiologies and stages of progression. In multiple clinical trials, emricasan has demonstrated statistically significant, rapid and sustained reductions in elevated levels of key biomarkers of apoptosis and inflammation that are implicated in the severity and progression of liver disease. Recent emricasan clinical trial results have demonstrated emricasan’s ability to provide significant improvements in clinically important validated surrogate endpoints of portal hypertension and liver function across multiple etiologies in the subgroups of liver cirrhosis patients with highest medical need.
About Conatus Pharmaceuticals
Conatus is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of novel medicines to treat liver disease. Conatus is developing its lead compound, emricasan, for the treatment of patients with chronic liver disease. Emricasan is a first-in-class, orally active pan-caspase protease inhibitor designed to reduce the activity of enzymes that mediate inflammation and apoptosis. Conatus believes that by reducing the activity of these enzymes, emricasan has the potential to interrupt the disease progression across the spectrum of liver disease. For additional information, please visit www.conatuspharma.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are forward looking statements, including statements regarding: the sufficiency of current financial resources; the company’s focus on initial registration of emricasan for patients with NASH cirrhosis and parallel development toward registration of emricasan for patients with NASH fibrosis; plans to extend the safety database and evaluate the efficacy of emricasan in focused single-etiology trials to address additional patient populations with cirrhosis due to alcohol or HCV for potential emricasan label expansion; the timelines to announce results from the POLT-HCV-SVR trial, initial results from the second stage of the Liver Cirrhosis trial, and results from the ENCORE-NF trial; the timelines to initiate and announce results from the ENCORE-PH, ENCORE-LF and ENCORE-XT trials; the potential to file for accelerated approval of emricasan in NASH cirrhosis; the size, patient population and treatment duration of each ENCORE trial; the potential redesign of the ENCORE-LF trial as a Phase 3 clinical trial; and emricasan's potential to interrupt the disease progression across the spectrum of liver disease. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including: Conatus’ ability to initiate and successfully complete current and future clinical trials; Conatus’ dependence on its ability to obtain regulatory approval for, and then successfully commercialize emricasan, which is Conatus’ only drug candidate; Conatus’ reliance on third parties to conduct its clinical trials, enroll subjects, manufacture its preclinical and clinical drug supplies and manufacture commercial supplies of emricasan, if approved; potential adverse side effects or other safety risks associated with emricasan that could delay or preclude its approval; Conatus’ ability to use accelerated approval pathways and/or obtain orphan drug exclusivity for emricasan for any indication; results of current and future clinical trials of emricasan; the potential for competing products to limit the clinical trial enrollment opportunities for emricasan in certain indications; the uncertainty of the FDA’s and other regulatory agencies’ approval processes and other regulatory requirements; Conatus’ ability to fully comply with numerous federal, state and local laws and regulatory requirements applicable to it; Conatus’ limited operating history and its ability to operate successfully as a public company; Conatus’ ability to obtain additional financing in order to complete the development and commercialization of emricasan; Conatus may use its financial resources faster than it anticipates; and those risks described in Conatus’ prior press releases and in the periodic reports it files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The events and circumstances reflected in Conatus’ forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, Conatus does not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.
Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. | ||||||||||||||||
Selected Condensed Financial Information | ||||||||||||||||
(Unaudited) | ||||||||||||||||
Three Months Ended | Twelve Months Ended | |||||||||||||||
Statements of Operations | December 31, | December 31, | ||||||||||||||
2015 | 2014 | 2015 | 2014 | |||||||||||||
Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||||||
Research and development | $ | 4,240,620 | $ | 3,393,775 | $ | 16,297,617 | $ | 14,908,843 | ||||||||
General and administrative | 1,799,346 | 1,927,569 | 7,833,085 | 7,379,339 | ||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | 6,039,966 | 5,321,344 | 24,130,702 | 22,288,182 | ||||||||||||
Other income (expense): | ||||||||||||||||
Interest income | 18,809 | 9,511 | 67,885 | 57,616 | ||||||||||||
Interest expense | (17,500 | ) | (17,500 | ) | (70,000 | ) | (70,000 | ) | ||||||||
Other expense | (5,505 | ) | (7,018 | ) | (15,809 | ) | (19,325 | ) | ||||||||
Total other expense | (4,196 | ) | (15,007 | ) | (17,924 | ) | (31,709 | ) | ||||||||
Net loss | $ | (6,044,162 | ) | $ | (5,336,351 | ) | $ | (24,148,626 | ) | $ | (22,319,891 | ) | ||||
Net loss per share, basic and diluted | $ | (0.30 | ) | $ | (0.34 | ) | $ | (1.30 | ) | $ | (1.44 | ) | ||||
Weighted average shares outstanding used in computing | ||||||||||||||||
net loss per share, basic and diluted | 19,834,477 | 15,550,320 | 18,617,537 | 15,478,999 | ||||||||||||
December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
Balance Sheets | 2015 | 2014 | ||||||||||||||
Assets | ||||||||||||||||
Current assets: | ||||||||||||||||
Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities | $ | 36,508,109 | $ | 37,071,946 | ||||||||||||
Prepaid and other current assets | 1,982,031 | 796,818 | ||||||||||||||
Total current assets | 38,490,140 | 37,868,764 | ||||||||||||||
Property and equipment, net | 344,734 | 237,066 | ||||||||||||||
Other assets | 892,394 | 342,051 | ||||||||||||||
Total assets | $ | 39,727,268 | $ | 38,447,881 | ||||||||||||
Liabilities and stockholders' equity | ||||||||||||||||
Current liabilities | $ | 3,982,698 | $ | 4,175,233 | ||||||||||||
Note payable | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 | ||||||||||||||
Deferred rent | 204,224 | 58,699 | ||||||||||||||
Stockholders' equity | 34,540,346 | 33,213,949 | ||||||||||||||
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity | $ | 39,727,268 | $ | 38,447,881 |
MEDIA: David Schull
Russo Partners, LLC
(858) 717-2310
David.Schull@RussoPartnersLLC.com
INVESTORS: Alan Engbring
Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc.
(858) 376-2637
aengbring@conatuspharma.com