Poseida Therapeutics Q1 2024 Updates and Financial Results

Poseida Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm focused on allogeneic cell therapies and genetic medicines, has disclosed significant updates and financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2024. According to Kristin Yarema, Ph.D., President and CEO, 2024 is anticipated to be a transformative year marked by considerable progress in their cell therapy and genetic medicine programs, along with high-value collaborations.

Poseida has expanded its strategic relationship with Astellas by entering a new research collaboration aimed at developing cell therapies for solid tumors. This partnership utilizes Poseida's proprietary allogeneic CAR-T platform and Astellas' ACCEL™ technology. The agreement includes an upfront payment of $50 million to Poseida and the potential for up to $550 million in development and sales milestones, along with tiered royalties based on net sales. Poseida also benefits from a $25 million equity investment by Astellas.

The company showcased new data at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, highlighting the efficacy of its P-BCMA-ALLO1 therapy for multiple myeloma patients. This included a remarkable 100% overall response rate in patients who had not previously received BCMA-targeted therapy. Among those who had undergone prior BCMA-targeted treatments, 60% showed clinical responses with P-BCMA-ALLO1. This therapy has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the FDA, underscoring its potential for treating a broad range of multiple myeloma patients.

Poseida is also advancing its P-MUC1C-ALLO1 program for solid tumors and P-CD19CD20-ALLO1 for B-cell malignancies, with updates expected in the latter half of 2024. Data presented at AACR emphasized the necessity for higher doses of lymphodepletion chemotherapy in treating solid tumors compared to hematologic malignancies.

In the realm of genetic medicine, Poseida's fully non-viral gene therapy platform is making strides. This approach offers lower immunogenicity and oncogenic risks, integrated and stable expression, and personalized dosing. The company is advancing two lead programs: P-KLKB1-101 for Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) and P-FVIII-101 for Hemophilia A. Interim data for P-KLKB1-101 showed promising results in non-human primates, demonstrating controlled dose-dependent reduction in kallikrein protein with minimal off-target editing. P-FVIII-101 has shown sustained FVIII expression over 13 months in preclinical studies.

Financially, Poseida reported revenues of $28.1 million for Q1 2024, a significant increase from $10.3 million in the same period of 2023. This growth was driven by the Astellas strategic investment and increased collaboration with Roche. Research and development expenses rose to $42.9 million, reflecting higher enrollment in allogeneic clinical trials. General and administrative expenses decreased to $9.8 million due to reduced personnel costs. The company's net loss for the quarter was $24.3 million, down from $38.8 million in Q1 2023.

As of March 31, 2024, Poseida's cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaled $198.6 million. This includes $50 million from the Astellas collaboration and $15 million from a milestone achievement with Roche, expected to fund operations into the second half of 2025.

In leadership updates, Poseida appointed Dr. Syed Rizvi as Chief Medical Officer in April 2024. Dr. Rizvi brings over 20 years of experience in drug development and clinical strategy.

Poseida's forward-looking agenda includes additional milestones in its CAR-T and genetic medicine programs, with ongoing efforts to cultivate strategic partnerships and expand its innovative therapies for cancer and rare diseases.