OmniAb, Inc. Q3 FY2024 earnings call

• Ended Q3 with 86 active partners and signed three new platform license agreements during the quarter, including with 92Bio, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Queen Mary University of London.
• Active programs increased to 352 net of attrition, with 33 active clinical programs and approved products. Genmab's GEN1057 and Merck KGaA's M5542 advanced to Phase I clinical trials, while Genmab's GEN1053 shifted back to preclinical.
• Post-discovery assets totaled 53 by the end of Q3, with over $550 million in potential milestones.
• Partner updates: Immunovant's IMVT-1402 had IND clearance, Genmab's Acasunlimab and GEN-1057 progressed, BioCity's BC-3195 had Phase 1 results, Teva's TEV-53408 had Phase 1 data.
• Upcoming scientific conference: Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics Conference in San Diego, where the team will present on OmniHub platform.

Total revenue for the third quarter of 2024 was $4.2 million, down from $5.5 million in the prior year quarter. The decrease was primarily due to lower milestone revenue and lower ion channel service revenue. R&D expense for the third quarter was $13.3 million compared to $13.9 million in the prior year quarter, with the decrease primarily due to lower stock-based compensation expense. G&A expense was $7.1 million for the quarter compared to $8.5 million a year ago, with the decrease primarily due to lower legal costs and lower stock-based compensation. The net loss for the third quarter of 2024 was $16.4 million or $0.16 per share versus a net loss of $15.7 million or $0.16 per share in the prior year period. As of September 30, 2024, the company ended the third quarter with $59.4 million in cash. It is expected to end 2024 with a cash balance in the range of $50 million to $60 million, and cash used in 2025 is expected to be lower than in 2024 excluding the recent ATM program proceeds.

• Expect to end 2024 with a cash balance in the range of $50 million to $60 million.
• Cash used in 2025 is expected to be lower than in 2024 excluding the recent ATM program proceeds.
• Anticipate 1 to 3 additional entries into clinical development for novel OmniAb-derived antibodies by year end, with post-discovery assets as candidates for 2025.

• Pressure on the biopharmaceutical industry leading to restructurings and pipeline reprioritizations, causing volatility in the company's business.

Q: Good afternoon. You have Michael on for Puneet today. Congrats on the quarter. I was wondering just given the large step-up in the number of active programs this quarter, I was wondering if you could give some to how much is from maybe a macro recovery in the biopharma space versus something that you as a company are doing maybe gaining share or expanding in certain geographies?

A: Yeah. Michael, thanks for the question. This is Matt. Yeah. I'll just -- I'll call out one detail here that probably wasn't lost on you, but we've provided a little more detail on our active program count after kind of discussion with internal team and external stakeholders thought it would be useful. Traditionally, we've just reported numbers net of attrition, but now we're providing a little more detail on additions and attrition. And growth in program counts has been strong this year and it continues to be strong. I think it's a testament to the new technologies that we've launched. Our OmnidAb technology which is really the first and only transgenic chicken that produces single-domain antibodies, which is a novel class of antibodies found naturally in Camelids that is an area of growing interest in the industry for a variety of scientific reasons. we're getting a lot of interest in that. That's driving a lot of new starts. And then I'll say the validation of the platform is as well. We balance that with the backdrop of the industry, some of the things we mentioned in the intro around big pharma companies, realigning portfolios and pipelines and things like that. But program growth has been strong and continues to be strong.

Q: Okay. Great. And then I had a quick question about the OmniHub. I was curious if that's another add-on as part of a standard license or if that's going to be an additional revenue stream software-wise?

A: Yeah, thanks. It's another tool that we use in collaborating with our partners, right? So we're going to do a full launch of that at the AATC conference in December down in San Diego. And it's really meant as a way to facilitate and streamline and accelerate discovery interactions with our partners. As we've expanded our platform, we have the benefit of a core technology of our transgenic animals that produce really strong antibody responses that creates opportunities for us to leverage machine learning and AI and big data analysis in ways that others frankly can't. And OmniHub is a way in which we can interact with our partners to kind of facilitate their efforts downstream. So it's part of our standard offering. We don't see it necessarily being a single business line item, but it's one of the ways that we continue to innovate and continue to remain on the cutting edge to meet our partners' needs not only now but in the future.

Q: Unidentified Analyst: Hello, this is Tal [ph] on the call for Matt Hewitt. We've heard some rumblings that while biotech is up this year compared to last, the amount raised has declined from earlier in the year until last quarter. And as a result some companies are being a little more cautious with their investments. Are you hearing or seeing anything like that?

A: Yes. I think we sort of mentioned that some of these macro and industry forces that we're observing. I think it's – we're seeing the same things that you're talking about and seeing. And there certainly is pressure that's been created on the industry and that we talked a little bit about that has created some of the volatility in our business. And so we maybe have a little bit more cautious outlook, as we look ahead. All that being said, I think if you take a look at the key metrics that we have focused on in terms of signing up new deals, partners continuing to see the value of our technology and starting new programs, moving things, progressing through the clinic, we're seeing progress on all of our key metrics. So I don't discount the fact that there are some challenging industry things going on but our business continues to perform well. Matt anything to add on that?

A: Not really. I'd say the only thing I'd add is we talked about how some of the larger pharmas have gone through what they call "portfolio shaping initiatives, those kinds of things\”. But that's balanced with – we have a lot of discussions with those in the industry. And one of the things we also hear is that at times that they are focusing their work, they also look to the best platforms and the most validated technologies to help them meet their discovery needs and that also can attract them to us. So yes, a lot going on in the industry but we feel good about our position.

Q: Awesome. Thank you. And I do realize that it's early but how should we be thinking about the range of new clinical entries by your partners next year?

A: Yes. Thanks. Great question. As we look into next year and as we said, we expect one to three additional clinical entries before the end of this year, right? So just in the next six weeks or so based on our discussions with partners. And as you look at our post-discovery assets, right now we have 20 assets in preclinical. We have a pretty high bar for what we consider to be preclinical assets. So those programs are candidates to move into the clinic in 2025. I expect as we get into next year, we'll talk about that in more detail. What we often find is that the JPMorgan conference at the beginning of January is often a time when many of our partners start talking more publicly about new programs, about new trials, about new indications and their intentions for the year. And so that's often a good time around that time or post that time for us to start talking in a little more specifics about some of the programs and the count that we expect. But we feel good about the growth in the portfolio and the matriculation of the programs through the various phases.

Q: Yes, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. So I guess you're talking about how growth in program counts remain strong. You mentioned that multispecifics are an area of considerable growth for the industry. Do you know what proportion of new program starts you're seeing that are multi-specific in nature? Do you have that level of insight? And then do you also have any insight into the types of targets that partners are pursuing via these new program starts? I guess I'm just wondering if you have the ability to assess kind of where each annual cohort of new program starts kind of falls on the risk spectrum?

A: Yes. Thanks, Steve. Great question. And the answer there is it's a range, right? But as our platform has become more widely used and more validated, the number of new modalities and approaches that partners are looking to employ downstream, leveraging our technology for discovering antibodies continues to grow. And if you look even at our visible clinical programs, a growing number of those are bispecifics, right? Multi-specifics are absolutely the next wave and we've seen an increase in multispecifics this year and interest there. And I think our OmniAb technology is also driving that as well. We're also seeing more diversification in therapy areas and areas of interest. OmniAb opens up a lot more possibilities in neuroscience, as well as in oncology where we already have a pretty broad presence. So, I'll just answer it generally and say it's absolutely increasing the interest in multispecifics. And we're pleased that partners come to us because they realize we've got technologies that are designed to meet the needs there. That's something we've been talking with them about for a long time. So they know that we're there and our technologies are designed to help meet that need.

Q: Okay. That's helpful. And then, I think you may have given this information at some point last year, but do you have any update as to what the blended royalty rate of the post-discovery program portfolio looks like at this point? And then, is there anything that you can say about how the Immunovant 1402 asset I guess compares to that blended royalty rate? I know that that's an asset that is getting a lot of investor attention right now. Thanks.

A: Yes. Steve, I don't have an update for you on that blended royalty rate. We gave that number what back in September November or so of last year. But what I'll say is that rate that we provided was based on the number of active programs that we had at the time which was about 300. We obviously have grown the number of active programs, but it's kind of hard to move the needle on that number a whole lot. So, while I don't have an update to that number, I would imagine it's not that much different than the number that we provided back in November. In terms of Immunovant program, so just as a reminder, the way that that contract works is Henal was the original party that we had a contract with. So the way it works is Immunovant will pay Henal and we get a portion of whatever Henal gets. And so it's a little bit of a different structure than kind of a straight license for us. But in terms of the royalty rate, our standard sort of saying is that the royalty rate that we get is in the low to mid-single digits. And as it turns out, the percentage that we will be getting from Henal that they're getting from Immunovant is pretty consistent with that. So that's probably as far as I can go in terms of disclosure of that rate. But hopefully that's a little helpful anyway.

Q: Hi, great. Thanks for taking my question, guys. I got one for each of you. So Matt, just on a product development standpoint, what are you seeing on the development on single-domain antibodies? And what are you seeing on the adoption of OmniChicken with customers?

A: Yes. Well, primarily on the single domain side, obviously, we launched our OmnidAb technology, about a year ago. And it has been a really significant portion of one of the things that's attracting new partners. And it opens up new possibilities, across a range of therapeutic areas. I mentioned growth in the CNS space. That's a big one, as well as radiotherapy. There's a big interest there and that's attracting, a lot of new partners. There's also interest in infectious diseases, as well. And that's something that we've had some partnerships in the past, but that has definitely accelerated as well. A lot of different things are driving this one, the range of routes of administration that single-domain antibodies open the opportunity for whether that's injectable, inhalable or oral, the ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and have fast or tunable clearance. That's another element that is attracting new partners. And then an area, I'm excited about is, just this opening up of new areas. As I said, the diagnostics, the theranostics, radiotherapy. So, yes, it's created more diversity in our pipeline of programs, which we're excited about.

Q: Okay. Great. And then Kurt just on the ATM, the amount of money you raised, you raised a little over $11 million. And if I just think about that coinciding with kind of a call it a pushout and what you're expecting from license and milestone revenue. Should we be thinking that that kind of $11 million, is kind of stuff that might have come before the end of 2025, that now maybe you're saying maybe it's going to be pushed out a little bit, just because of program timing? Or is there any way to kind of separate, how much of that is just safety debt versus what you see as potential push out in the later than planned revenue from those sources?

A: Yes. No I mean, Conor, I don't think this had to do with sort of filling a specific shortfall that we thought was going to happen in the current quarter or anything like that, or even next quarter. We sort of -- this was more about as we -- the year progressed, we just -- we were seeing big pharma as well as smaller companies given sort of changes in the industry and funding cycles and things like that. We got a little bit more cautious, just with our outlook and said, it probably makes some sense to put a little cushion on the balance sheet. So, this was -- the entire amount, I would say is more in terms of, just as we look forward, let's put a little cushion on the balance sheet, so that we can make sure we have enough capital to go through various cycles that might occur. So it wasn't, hey we're going to be short $3 million this quarter, let's go hit the ATM. It was more of a longer-term view.