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NATURE OF OPERATIONS
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2023
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
NATURE OF OPERATIONS NATURE OF OPERATIONS
VYNE Therapeutics Inc. (the "Company") is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing proprietary, innovative and differentiated therapies for the treatment of immuno-inflammatory conditions.

In August 2021, the Company entered into a transaction with Tay Therapeutics Limited (formerly known as In4Derm Limited, "Tay") providing the Company with exclusive worldwide rights to research, develop and commercialize products containing bromodomain and extra-terminal (“BET”) inhibitors for the treatment of any disease, disorder or condition in humans. Through the Company's access to this library of new chemical BET inhibitor compounds, the Company plans to develop product candidates for a diverse set of indications. Based on preclinical data generated to date, the Company has chosen to focus its initial efforts for this platform on select therapeutic areas in immuno-inflammatory disease.

The Company's lead program is VYN201, a locally administered pan-BET inhibitor designed as a “soft” drug to address diseases involving multiple, diverse inflammatory cell signaling pathways while providing low systemic exposure. To date, VYN201 has produced consistent reductions in pro-inflammatory and disease-related biomarkers, improvements in disease severity and a demonstrated local activity through several preclinical models. The Company believes that these data suggest potential broad utility for VYN201 across multiple routes of administration. In November 2022, the Company initiated a Phase 1a/b clinical trial evaluating a topical formulation of VYN201 for the treatment of nonsegmental vitiligo. In February 2023, the Company announced positive preliminary safety and tolerability data from the Phase 1a portion of the trial. In addition, in March 2023, the Company announced positive pharmacokinetic and hematology data from the Phase 1a trial. The first nonsegmental vitiligo patient was dosed in the Phase 1b portion of the trial in January 2023. The Company expects to announce preliminary Phase 1b safety and efficacy data in the third quarter of 2023, followed by final results in October 2023.

The Company's second program is VYN202, an oral small molecule BD2-selective BET inhibitor. VYN202 is in preclinical development for the treatment of immuno-inflammatory indications, and has been designed to achieve class-leading selectivity (BD2 vs. BD1), maximum potency versus BD2 and optimal oral bioavailability. By maximizing BD2 selectivity, the Company believes VYN202 has the potential to be a more conveniently-administered non-biologic treatment option for both acute control and chronic management of immuno-inflammatory indications, where the damaging effects of unrestricted inflammatory signaling activity are common. IND-enabling studies for VYN202 are ongoing, and the Company anticipates filing an IND by year-end 2023.

The Company intends to actively evaluate and enter into strategic partnerships to advance its product candidates through the clinic toward commercialization, and may also partner with leading pharmaceutical companies to advance the Company's molecules in therapeutic areas outside of its core focus in immunology. The Company believes selectively entering into collaborations has the potential to expand and accelerate the development of its programs and maximize the value of its pipeline.

In August 2021, the Company determined to dispose of its legacy commercial business and focus its strategy on the development of BET inhibitor product candidates through its licensing arrangements with Tay. For additional information regarding the sale of the Molecule Stabilizing Technology franchise, including AMZEEQ, ZILXI, and FCD105 (the “MST Franchise”) to Journey Medical Corporation ("Journey") in January 2022 and the Company's licensing arrangements with Tay, see "—Note 3 - Strategic Agreements."

The Company is a Delaware corporation, has its principal executive offices in Bridgewater, New Jersey and operates as one business segment.
Reverse stock split and recasting of per-share amounts
On February 8, 2023, the Company's board of directors approved a 1-for-18 reverse stock split of its outstanding shares of common stock. The reverse stock split was effected on February 10, 2023 at 5:01 p.m. Eastern time. At the effective time, every 18 issued and outstanding shares of the Company's common stock were converted into one share of common stock. No fractional shares were issued in connection with the reverse stock split, and in lieu thereof, each stockholder holding fractional shares was entitled to receive a cash payment (without interest or deduction) from the Company’s transfer agent in an amount equal to such stockholder’s respective pro rata shares of the total net proceeds from the Company’s transfer agent sale of all fractional shares at the then-prevailing prices on the open market. A proportionate adjustment was also made to the maximum number of shares issuable under the Company’s 2019 Equity Incentive Plan, 2018 Omnibus Incentive Plan and 2019 Employee
Share Purchase Plan. The number of authorized shares of the Company's common stock and the par value of each share of common stock remained unchanged.
Unless noted, all common stock and per share amounts contained in the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been retroactively adjusted to reflect a 1-for-18 reverse stock split.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Since inception, the Company has funded operations primarily through private and public placements of its equity, debt and warrants and through fees, cost reimbursements and payments received from its licensees. The Company commenced generating product revenues related to sales of AMZEEQ and ZILXI in January 2020 and October 2020, respectively. AMZEEQ and ZILXI were sold as part of the sale of the MST Franchise on January 12, 2022 and, as such, the Company no longer generates revenue from the sale of these products. The Company has incurred losses and experienced negative operating cash flows since its inception and anticipates that it will continue to incur losses until such a time when its product candidates, if approved, are commercially successful, if at all. The Company will not generate any revenue from any current or future product candidates unless and until it obtains regulatory approval and commercializes such products. For the six months ended June 30, 2023, the Company incurred a net loss of $15.7 million and used $15.1 million of cash in operations.
As of June 30, 2023, the Company had cash and cash equivalents, and restricted cash of $20.7 million and an accumulated deficit of $678.6 million. The Company received a $5.0 million deferred payment from Journey on January 12, 2023, the one-year anniversary of the sale of the MST Franchise. The Company had no outstanding debt as of June 30, 2023.
In March 2022, the Company entered into an equity purchase agreement (the “Equity Purchase Agreement”) with Lincoln Park Capital Fund, LLC (“Lincoln Park”) which provides that, upon the terms and subject to the conditions and limitations set forth therein, the Company may sell to Lincoln Park up to $30.0 million of shares of its common stock over the 36-month term of the Equity Purchase Agreement. The Company has not made any sales pursuant to the Equity Purchase Agreement to date.
As described above, the Company refocused its limited resources on its immuno-inflammatory pipeline. Continued research and development activities for these programs, including preclinical and clinical testing of the Company's product candidates, will require significant additional financing. The future viability of the Company and its ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on its ability to raise sufficient working capital through either debt or equity financings to fund its operations and successfully develop commercially viable product candidates. There is no assurance the Company will be able to achieve these objectives under acceptable terms or at all.

In accordance with Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-15, Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40), the Company has evaluated whether there are conditions and events, considered in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date that its unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements are issued. The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern and contemplate the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. The Company's ability to continue as a going concern is expected to be impacted by the outcome of the plans outlined above, including the Company's ability to raise additional capital to fund its operations and the development and results from clinical trials for the BET inhibitor programs. Based on its current plans and assumptions, the Company believes that absent sufficient proceeds received from financing transactions or business development transactions, the Company will not have sufficient cash and cash equivalents to fund its operations beyond one year from the issuance of these unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements. This assumption does not include proceeds that can be drawn from Lincoln Park. Accordingly, the Company will, over the course of the next twelve months, require significant additional financing to continue its operations and meaningfully advance the development of its product candidates, including potentially selling a significant amount of shares pursuant to the Equity Purchase Agreement. The Company may also employ strategies to further extend its ability to fund its operations including: (1) identification of third-party partners to further develop, obtain marketing approval for and/or commercialize its product candidates, which may generate revenue and/or milestone payments and/or (2) refocusing its resources on research and development programs it chooses to prioritize and reducing spending on other programs by delaying or discontinuing development. In addition, the amount of proceeds the Company may be able to raise pursuant to its existing shelf registration statement on Form S-3 may be limited. As of the filing of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, the Company is subject to the general instructions of Form S-3 known as the "baby shelf rules." Under these instructions, the amount of funds the Company can raise through primary public offerings of securities in any 12-month period using its registration statement on Form S-3 is limited to one-third of the aggregate market value of the shares of its common stock held by non-affiliates of the Company. Therefore, the Company will be limited in the amount of proceeds it is able to raise by selling shares of its common stock using its Form S-3 until such time as its public float exceeds $75.0 million. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. Failure to successfully receive additional financing will require the Company to delay,
scale back or otherwise modify its business and its research and development activities and other operations. The accompanying unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments related to the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts and classification of liabilities or any other adjustments that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern.