Small Pharma has Nov. 30 cash position of $22.7-million Small Pharma has Nov. 30 cash position of $22.7-million
2023-01-25 12:03 ET - News Release
Mr. George Tziras reports
SMALL PHARMA REPORTS FISCAL THIRD QUARTER 2023 HIGHLIGHTS
Small Pharma Inc. has released its financial results for the three and nine months ended Nov. 30, 2022. A full copy of the financial results can be found under the company's profile on SEDAR.
Financial highlights (including postperiod events):
- Cash on hand as of Nov. 30, 2022, was $22.7-million. Cash is net of an unrealized foreign exchange loss of $2.3-million due to a strengthening of the Canadian dollar against the British pound sterling (GBP) during the nine months ended Nov. 30, 2022, however, as most of the company's operating costs are incurred in GBP, the loss has little impact on the underlying cash burn of the company.
- Cash used in operating activities was $5.4-million for the three months ended Nov. 30, 2022.
- Operating expenses for the three months ended Nov. 30, 2022, were $7.2-million.
- 1,788,000 common shares were purchased and cancelled to date through the normal course issuer bid.
Recent operational highlights (including postperiod events):
- Ultra short-duration psychedelic program:
- Phase 2a trial investigated the safety and efficacy of intravenous (IV) SPL026, with supportive therapy, in 34 patients with moderate/severe major depressive disorder (MDD). SPL026 demonstrated a rapid and durable antidepressant response, and a statistically significant and clinically relevant reduction in depressive symptoms versus placebo, as measured by the Montgomery-Asberg depression rating scale (MADRS):
- Primary end point met with a statistically significant minus-7.4 point difference between SPL026 (21.5 milligrams (mg)) and placebo at two weeks postdose, as measured by MADRS change from baseline (p equals 0.02).
- Antidepressant effect of SPL026 with supportive therapy demonstrated a rapid onset at one week postdose with a statistically significant difference in MADRS of minus-10.8 versus placebo (p equals 0.002).
- Durable antidepressant effect with a 57-per-cent remission rate at 12 weeks following a single SPL026 dose with supportive therapy.
- No apparent differences identified in antidepressant effect between a one- and two-dose regimen of SPL026.
- Favourable safety and tolerability profile demonstrated with no drug-related serious adverse events reported. All adverse events related to treatment were considered mild or moderate.
- Preparations for phase 2b international multisite clinical trial of SPL026 in MDD continues, with anticipated initiation in H1 2023.
- Dosing commenced in December, 2022, in phase 1b drug interaction study, which aims to assess the interaction between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and SPL026 in patients with MDD. The open-label study will investigate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD) and exploratory efficacy of SPL026, alone or in combination with SSRIs.
- Short-duration psychedelic programs:
- First patient dosed in January, 2023, in the phase 1 study exploring intramuscular (IM) administration of SPL026. The study aims to compare the safety, tolerability, PK and PD of SPL026 delivered through IM versus IV administration in healthy volunteers.
- Participant screening has commenced in the phase 1 study evaluating the safety, tolerability, PK and PD of SPL028, deuterated DMT, with supportive therapy.
- Additional activities:
- SPL026 drug candidate to be provided in support of a University College London (UCL)-led neuroplasticity brain-imaging study, seeking to explore the impact of DMT-induced brain changes on cognition, behaviour and well-being. The understanding neuroplasticity induced by tryptamines project (UNITy project) will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to image the brain before, during and after a DMT or placebo infusion.
- Corporate activity:
- Continued expansion of intellectual property portfolio with patents granted across each of the company's core areas of patent protection. Three new patents granted in fiscal Q3 increasing the total to 14 granted patents and over 90 applications pending, including:
- Second United States patent granted, protecting the therapeutic composition of a small group of deuterated DMT compounds, with expected lifetime of exclusivity until April, 2041.
- European patent granted protecting a manufacturing process for the preparation of synthetic DMT, DMT-related compounds and deuterated DMT analogs, including pipeline candidates SPL026 and SPL028.
- The company has entered into a new services agreement dated Jan. 24, 2023, with Native Ads Inc., pursuant to which Native Ads will primarily be tasked with providing content development, media buying and distribution, and campaign reporting services. The agreement will commence on Jan. 25, 2023, for an expected period of six months. Native Ads will receive a cash fee of $25,000 (U.S.) for the services. The company and Native Ads act at arm's-length and, to the knowledge of the company, Native Ads nor any of its directors or officers currently own any securities of the company. Native Ads has agreed to comply with all securities laws and policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and the OTC Markets Group Inc. in providing the services. No stock options or other securities-based compensation are being granted in connection with the agreement. The agreement remains subject to the prior acceptance and approval of the TSX-V.
George Tziras, chief executive officer of Small Pharma, said: "The positive SPL026 phase 2a results provide us with confidence in advancing the SPL026 clinical development program and our portfolio of short-duration mental health treatments. In the third fiscal quarter, we made strong progress across our clinical trials, with two new SPL026 studies now under way and patient screening initiated in our first in-human trial with SPL028. In the first half of 2023, we will be focused on advancing these programs with momentum and preparing to launch our international phase 2b trial for SPL026 in a larger MDD population."
About the SPL026 in MDD phase 2a study
The two-staged phase 2a study investigated the efficacy and safety of IV SPL026, with supportive therapy, in 34 moderate/severe MDD patients. This included a blinded, randomized placebo-controlled phase where the primary end point was to assess the efficacy of a single 21.5 mg dose of SPL026 with supportive therapy, versus placebo with therapy, at two weeks postdose. All study participants were then enrolled into an open-label phase, where they received a single 21.5 mg dose of SPL026 with supportive therapy, and were followed up for a further 12 weeks. Efficacy was assessed using MADRS, a widely used and accepted scale for assessing depression severity, and assessments were made by blinded independent raters.
About Small Pharma Inc.
Small Pharma is a biotechnology company progressing a pipeline of short-duration psychedelic-assisted therapies for the treatment of mental health conditions. The company's current focus is on exploring new therapeutic approaches for depression. Small Pharma's lead candidate, SPL026, is a proprietary synthetic formulation of DMT. The company is advancing clinical programs of SPL026 and SPL028 with supportive therapy for the treatment of mental health conditions, and was granted an innovation passport designation from the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for intravenous SPL026 with supportive therapy for MDD. In addition, Small Pharma has a pipeline of proprietary preclinical assets in development.
Note: remission equals MADRS score less than or equal to 10.
We seek Safe Harbor.
© 2023 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Kind Regards To All
Gilly