Helix BioPharma announces reduced loss and R&D spend in fiscal first quarter

Helix BioPharma Corp (TSE:HBP) (OTCMKTS:HBPCF) (FRA:HBP), the clinical-stage biopharma, issued its first-quarter to October 31 results on Wednesday - a period, which saw it reduce the net loss and spend C$1.084 million on research and development (R&D).  For the three months, the company reported a net loss of C$222,000, reduced from a loss of C$2.21 million in the same period in 2019. This was due to a gain from its loss of control of its Polish subsidiary Helix Immuno-Oncology amounting to C$2.16 million.  READ: Helix BioPharma says to close planned divestment of remaining shares in Polish subsidiary, Helix Immuno-Oncology SA on September 30  Last month, Helix announced it had signed the definitive share purchase agreement with CAIAC Fund Management AG (CAIAC) to purchase its remaining 29.89% stake in the subsidiary for PLN6.7 million (C$2.308 million) gross. The transaction is expected to close in the "very near term", Helix said in today's statement. As reported previously, the group's only clinical program enrolling patients is the US Phase Ib/II LDOS006 study (L-DOS47 in combination with doxorubicin) for treating patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. One patient has experienced a chemo-related dose-limiting toxicity and thus, three further patients will need to be enrolled to close cohort 1, the company revealed. Due to slower enrolment related to the pandemic, a further two sites have been hired for study start-up activities, with plans to be open to recruit patients in the first calendar quarter of fiscal 2021. Helix added that it is currently completing the anti-drug antibody assays for LDOS001 (US Phase I L-DOS47 in combination with pemetrexed and carboplatin for lung cancer) with the goal of finalizing the clinical study report by April 2021. For candidate LDOS003 (European Phase II L-DOS47 in combination with vinorelbine and cisplatin for lung cancer) it said it had experienced delays in completing final monitoring, close out activities and finalizing the clinical study report. R&D expenses in the first quarter were C$1.084 million, down from C$1.446 million in 1Q, 2019, due to lower clinical operation expense of C$140,000, lower intellectual property maintenance cost of C$139,000, lower collaborative scientific research expenditures of C$80,000 and lower manufacturing costs of C$20,000. Post period-end, the company, which continues to work towards a Nasdaq listing, closed a private placing of 2.2 million units at C$0.50 per unit, for total gross proceeds of C$1.1 million. Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com