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Oncolytics Biotech, Inc. (USA) (OTCMKTS:ONCYF) is a Winner in the Fight Against Cancer

Oncolytics Biotech, Inc. (USA) (OTCMKTS:ONCYF) is a Winner in the Fight Against Cancer
Written by
Jim Bloom
Published on
November 22, 2017
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Oncolytics Biotech, Inc. (USA) (OTCMKTS:ONCYF) recently signed a deal worth $87.0 million that caught the attention of the market, but long before the deal the firm had been making the right moves to ensure that it could advance its product manufacturing and intellectual property initiatives in parallel with its clinical development programs to support development of a commercial product.In this piece, we provide you with the most recent reports on Oncolytics Biotech Inc and a brief introduction to the company and its business.First, take a look at its price movement in the last year. ONCYF Daily ChartBrief OverviewOncolytics Biotech Inc was founded by Matthew C. Coffey and Bradley George Thompson on April 2, 1998 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. The company is focused on the development of oncolytic viruses as a potential therapeutic for use in a broad range of cancers One of such oncolytic viruses is REOLYSIN, an intravenously delivered immuno-oncolytic virus. The compound induces selective tumor lysis and promotes an inflamed tumor phenotype – turning 'cold' tumors 'hot' through innate and adaptive immune responses to treat a variety of cancers.Oncolytics' clinical development program emphasizes three pillars: chemotherapy combinations to trigger selective tumor lysis; immuno-therapy combinations to produce adaptive immune responses; and immune modulator (IMiD) combinations to facilitate innate immune responses.The firm is currently planning its first registration study in metastatic breast cancer, as well as studies in combination with checkpoint inhibitors and targeted and IMiD therapies in solid and hematological malignancies.Recent DevelopmentsIn November 2017, Oncolytics Biotech Inc entered into a Regional Licensing Agreement with Adlai Nortye (Adlai), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing important new treatments for cancer and metabolic diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, Adlai will have exclusive development and commercialization rights to REOLYSIN in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.Oncolytics will receive an upfront licensing fee and milestone payments to support its phase 3 registration study in metastatic breast cancer (mBC) of $21.2 million, and is eligible to receive up to an additional $65.4 million upon achievement of clinical, regulatory and commercialization milestones. Oncolytics is also eligible to receive double digit royalty payments associated with the commercialization of REOLYSIN for all indications, subject to regulatory approval. The $21.2 million payment comprises of upfront payments of $5.3 million followed later by two milestone payments totaling $8 million made up of two common share purchase warrants and a final payment of $7.9 million based on certain regulatory advancements.Oncolytics recently had a favorable End-of-Phase 2 Meeting with the United States Food and Drug Administration that outlined a single, 400-patient phase 3 study focused on HR+/HER2- patients. The Company expects to have formal guidance back from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) before the end of the year and to begin enrolling patients in its phase 3 study in mid-2018.Adlai Nortye will be responsible for all clinical, regulatory and commercialization activities in its territories. Oncolytics maintains exclusive rights outside of these territories and will be responsible for all development outside of these territories.Oncolytics very recently announced the appointment of Deborah M. Brown, B.Sc., M.B.A., to Oncolytics' Board of Directors. In addition to being a Management Consultant since 2014, Ms. Brown is currently a Managing Partner at Accelera Canada, a specialty consultancy firm that assists emerging biopharma ventures in the United States and Europe with the development and implementation of Canadian market strategies. She held progressively senior roles at EMD Serono from 2000 to 2014, including Executive Vice President of Neuroimmunology for the company's U.S. operations, and President and Managing Director of the company's Canadian operations.In 2012, Ms. Brown was Chair of the National Pharmaceutical Organization (now Innovative Medicines Canada) and served on its Board of Directors from 2007 to 2014. She currently sits on the Boards of Life Sciences Ontario, the Strategic Executive Advisory Council for Canadian Cancer Trials Group, and her local SPCA. Ms. Brown holds an MBA from University of Western Ontario's Ivey School of Business, an Hons B.Sc. from the University of Guelph and completed the Merck executive development programme at the University of Hong Kong, INSEAD and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.In September 2017, the firm reported that the first patient has been treated in the Phase 1b trial MUK eleven, studying REOLYSIN in combination with Celgene Corporation's immunomodulatory drugs, Revlimid or Imnovid as a rescue treatment in relapsing myeloma patients.Dr. Matt Coffey, President and CEO of Oncolytics Biotech explained that this was an important trial for Oncolytics as the first to discretely examine the innate immunity component of REOLYSIN's mechanism of action. He further added that the firm’s MUK eleven and REO 024 trials done to evaluate the induction of an inflamed tumor phenotype of REOLYSIN in a combination with Keytruda, collectively demonstrate Oncolytics’ strategy to assess the safety and efficacy of REOLYSIN in combination with immunomodulatory and immuno-oncology drugs, the impact of these combinations on the immune system and to explore new clinical applications.Financial InformationAt September 30, 2017, the Company reported $14.0 million in cash and cash equivalents. With total current liabilities of $2.8 million, the company has a current ratio of 5 portraying its strong liquidity position.The statement of financial position shows that the firm does not have long term liabilities on its book, i.e it is lowly leveraged, but the absence of revenues mean that the firm could exhaust its available cash and raise finance within a year.Measures will also be necessary to control research and development costs until the firm is able to establish a steady flow of income from its own operations.ConclusionONCYF has very bright prospects, expectations are high that the firm will become a cash cow in its industry.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on ONCYF, sign up below!Disclosure: We have no position in ONCYF and have not been compensated for this article.

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