Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Q2 Financial Results and Business Update

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CYCC, NASDAQ: CYCCP), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative cancer treatments, recently shared its financial results for the second quarter and gave an update on its ongoing business activities. The company highlighted significant progress in its clinical trials, particularly the Phase 2 proof of concept study for its lead drug candidate, oral fadraciclib.

President and CEO Spiro Rombotis announced that the Phase 2 stage of the 065-101 study, which was presented at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, is progressing well with patient enrollment. Initial data from the precision medicine cohort, which uses the CDK2/9 inhibitor fadraciclib as a monotherapy in patients with advanced solid tumors and T-cell lymphoma, is expected in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Interim Chief Medical Officer Brian Schwartz, M.D., elaborated on the study's focus on patients with CDKN2A/CDKN2B alterations, a group for whom no approved treatments currently exist. The precision medicine cohort is nearing enrollment completion, and a second cohort focusing on T-cell lymphoma patients is already enrolling participants. The company has received strong interest from investigators and looks forward to presenting emerging data from the study later in the year.

Financially, Cyclacel reported cash equivalents of $6.0 million as of June 30, 2024, up from $3.4 million at the end of 2023. The company used $3.6 million in net cash for operating activities in the first half of 2024, a significant reduction from $8.2 million in the same period last year. Financing activities provided approximately $6.3 million in the first half of 2024 through the issuance of common stock and warrants. These resources are expected to support planned programs until the fourth quarter of 2024.

Research and development (R&D) expenses for the three months ending June 30, 2024, were $2.0 million, down from $4.7 million in the same period in 2023. The decrease is attributed to reduced clinical trial and non-clinical expenditures related to their leading drug candidates, fadraciclib and plogosertib. Specifically, R&D expenses for fadraciclib dropped to $1.5 million from $3.0 million, and expenses for plogosertib decreased to $0.5 million from $1.4 million due to reduced manufacturing costs and other non-clinical expenses.

General and administrative expenses remained steady at approximately $1.6 million for both the second quarters of 2024 and 2023. Total other expenses, net, were $0.1 million for both periods.

The company also received $0.4 million in United Kingdom R&D tax credits for the second quarter of 2024, down from $0.6 million in the same period the previous year, reflecting reduced qualifying R&D expenditure.

Cyclacel's net loss for the second quarter of 2024 was $3.3 million, which includes $0.2 million in stock-based compensation expenses. This marks an improvement from a net loss of $5.5 million in the second quarter of 2023, which included $0.4 million in stock-based compensation expenses.

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals is committed to advancing its clinical-stage drugs, fadraciclib and plogosertib, targeting cancer cell biology. The company remains focused on building a robust biopharmaceutical pipeline addressing oncology and hematology indications, aiming to bring novel treatments to patients with significant unmet needs.