Exhibit 99.1
Vaxxinity Reports Fourth Quarter and Full-Year
2021 Financial Results and Provides
Corporate Updates
DALLAS, March 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
Vaxxinity,
Inc. (Nasdaq: VAXX), a U.S. company pioneering the
development of a new class of immunotherapeutic vaccines, today reported
financial
results for the fourth quarter and full year
ended December 31, 2021.
“2021 was a transformational year
for Vaxxinity
as we completed an initial public offering
and bolstered our clinical research
and management teams in pursuit
of our mission to disrupt the existing
antibody therapy paradigm and democratize
health,” said Mei Mei Hu, CEO
of Vaxxinity.
“In the next 12 months we expect to demonstrate
our strength of execution by meaningfully
advancing multiple
pipeline programs through and into the clinic.
We look forward to key topline
readouts including UB-312 Phase
1 in Parkinson’s patients,
UB-612 Phase 3 as a heterologous boost
against Covid-19, as
well as proof of concept data in non-huma
n
primates for our anti-PCSK9
vaccine candidate for high cholesterol. We also expect to initiate first-in-human trials
for UB-313, our anti-CGRP vaccine
candidate for migraine as well as to begin late-stage
development of UB-311
in mild Alzheimer’s disease with a global
Phase 2b trial.”
2021 and Recent
Pipeline Developments
UB-311 targets toxic
forms of aggregated amyloid
-β in the brain to fight Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
l
Phase 1, Phase 2a and Phase 2a Long
Term
Extension trials have shown UB-311
to be well tolerated in mild-to-moderate
AD patients over three years of repeat dosing. We expect to initiate
the late-stage development of UB-311 with a Phase 2b trial in late 2022.
UB-312 targets toxic forms of aggregated
α-synuclein in the brain to
fight Parkinson’s disease (PD)
and other synucleinopathies.
l
In January 2022, we began dosing Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients in Part B of
its double-blinded, placebo-controlled Phase 1 trial of UB-312 in the
Netherlands. The Company expects
to
complete an end-of-treatment analysis
of Part B in the second half of 2022.
l
Also in January 2022, we announced a grant award from The Michael J. Fox Foundation
for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) to support our Phase 1 study,
specifically for the exploration of markers
for target engagement in individuals
with PD.
UB-313 targets calcitonin
gene-related peptide
(CGRP) to fight
migraines.
l
Investigational new drug application (IND)-enabling studies are ongoing
and we anticipate submitting a clinical trial
application (CTA) or an IND in
2022.
UB-612 employs a “multitope”
approach to neutralizing the ancestral
SARS-CoV-2 virus and its
variants.
l
In March 2022, we began a Phase 3 heterologous
boost study of UB-612 designed to demonstrate
the potential for UB-612 to boost immunity
against Covid-19 in subjects who have previously
received primary immunization from mRNA,
adenovirus vector,
or attenuated virus vaccines. This is a head-to-head study designed to demonstrate noninferior neutralizing antibodies compared to
the other three platforms. The Company
expects a topline readout in the second
half of 2022.
l
In February 2022, we announced results
from studies demonstrating the
ability of UB-612 to elicit a broad immune
response against multiple variants of concern, and specifically
more than three-
times higher titers of neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 than an approved mRNA vaccine with boosters.
We published these data in a
preprint article
, and plan to
present the findings at World Vaccine
Congress in April 2022.
Anti-PCSK9 vaccine candidate.
l
We plan to select a lead
candidate upon delivering proof of concept data in non-human primates and initiate
IND-enabling studies in 2022.
2021 and Recent
Corporate Updates
New Leadership and Board Appointments.
In January 2022, the Company appointed Jason Pesile, MBA, CPA,
as Senior Vice President, Finance & Accounting and George
Hornig, Chairman of
Xometry, to
its Board of Directors. On March 31, 2022, Peter Powchik,
MD, will join Vaxxinity’s
Board of Directors.
Completed Initial Public Offering
(IPO).
On November 15, 2021, the Company
closed its IPO of Class A common
stock at a public offering price
of $13.00 per share. Including shares
issued pursuant
to the exercise of the underwriters’ option,
the Company issued 6,537,711
shares of Class A common stock,
and received aggregate proceeds,
net of underwriting discounts and
commissions and other
offering expenses, of approximately
$71.1 million. Vaxxinity’s
class A common stock began trading on The
Nasdaq Global Market on November
11, 2021, under
the ticker symbol “VAXX.”
Fourth Quarter and Year
End 2021 Financial Results
As of December 31, 2021, cash and cash equivalents
were $144.9 million, as compared to $31.1 million
at December 31, 2020.
Comparison of three months ended December
31, 2021 to three months ended December 31,
2020
Research and development (R&D)
expenses for the three months ended
December 31, 2021 were $17.3 million compared
to $8.5 million for the three
months ended December 31, 2020.
The $8.8
million increase consisted of increases
in program-specific costs
of $6.3 million and non-program costs
of $2.5 million. Of the program-specific
increase, $4.0 million was related to our UB
-612 clinical
trial in Taiwan
(primarily consisting of materials and manufacturing costs),
and $1.0 million related to pre-clinical activities related to our UB-312 program.
The non-program increase was
driven primarily
by an increase of $2.4 million in personnel
costs (including $0.6 million of
stock-based compensation).
General and administrative (G&A) expenses
for the three months ended Decem
ber 31, 2021 were $30.5 million
compared to $2.8 million
for the three months ended December 31, 2020,
respectively.
The $27.7 million increase was primarily related
to a $23.9 million increase in stock-based compensation,
including $23.1 million of performance
-based grants issued by United Neuroscience
(UNS), a
predecessor entity to Vaxxinity,
and upon the successful completion of the Company’s initial public offering in November 2021. The
remaining $3.8 million increase consisted primarily
of $1.6 million
increase in personnel costs, as
well as increased costs related to becoming
a public company.
Net loss for the three months ended December 31, 2021 was $48.2 million or $0.48
per share compared to $12.7 million or $0.19 per share for the three
months ended December 31, 2020.
Comparison of the year ended December
31, 2021 to the year ended December 31,
2020
Research and development (R&D) expenses
for the twelve months ended December
31, 2021 were $71.4 million compared
to $20.6 million for the twelve
months ended December 31, 2020.
The
$50.8 million increase consisted of an
increase in program-specific
costs of
$44.6 million and non-program costs of $6.2 million. Of the program-specific
increase, $42.6 million was related to our UB-612 clinical
trial in Taiwan
(primarily consisting of materials
and manufacturing
costs, and related CRO costs). The non-program
increase was driven primarily by an increase
of $5.1 million in personnel costs
(including $1.2 million of stock-based compensation
).
General and administrative (G&A) expenses for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 were $51.8 million compared to $12.2 million for the twelve months
ended December 31, 2020. The $39.6
million increase was primarily related
to a $28.3 million increase in
stock-
based compensation, including $23.1 million
of performance-based grants previously
issued by UNS, earned upon the
successful completion of the Company’s
initial public offering in November
2021. The remaining $11.3
million increase consisted primarily
of a $4.7 million increase in personnel
costs, $2.6 million of
consulting and legal services, as
well as increased costs related to becoming
a public company.
Net loss for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 was $137.2 million
or $1.79 per share compared to $40.0 million or $0.61 per share
for the twelve months ended December
31, 2020.
About
Vaxxinity,
Inc. is a purpose-driven biotechnology company
committed to democratizing healthcare
across the globe. The company is
pioneering a new class of synthetic,
peptide-based
immunotherapeutic vaccines aimed at
disrupting the existing treatment
paradigm for chronic disease, increasingly
dominated by monoclonal antibodies,
which suffer from prohibitive costs
and
cumbersome administration. The company’s proprietary technology
platform has enabled the innovation of novel pipeline candidates designed to bring the efficiency of vaccines to the treatment of
chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s,
migraine, and hypercholesterolemia.
The technology is also implemented as part
of a COVID-19 vaccine program.
Vaxxinity
has optimized its
pipeline to achieve a potentially historic,
global impact on human health.
For more information about Vaxxinity,
Inc., visit www.vaxxinity.com
and follow us on social media @vaxxinity.
Forward-looking Statement
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The use
of certain words, including "believe,"
"may," “continue,”
“advancing,” and "will" and similar expressions,
are intended to identify forward- looking
statements. These forward-looking statements
involve substantial risks and uncertainties,
including statements
that are based on the current expectations
and assumptions of Vaxxinity’s
management about the development of
a new class of immunotherapeutic
vaccines and the innovation and efficacy
of
Vaxxinity’s
product candidates. Various
important factors could cause actual
results or events to differ
materially from those that may be expressed
or implied by our forward-looking
statements.