Celyad Announces First Quarter 2020 Financial Results and Recent Business Highlights

Regulatory News:

Celyad (Brussels:CYAD) (Paris:CYAD) (NASDAQ:CYAD) (Euronext Brussels and Paris, and Nasdaq: CYAD), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of CAR-T cell therapies, today announced an update on operational developments for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020.

“I am extremely proud of our team’s dedication and focus over the past few months in progressing the development of our exciting CAR-T therapies during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of their efforts, we’ve continued to advance our programs, bringing us closer to several key milestones associated with our clinical and preclinical programs over the course of 2020. Specifically, we anticipate announcing additional data from our CYAD-101 alloSHRINK Phase 1 trial at ASCO, and filing the IND application for our lead shRNA-based allogeneic candidate CYAD-211 over the next few months, as well as providing a clinical update on our relpased/refractory AML and MDS program in the second half of the year,” commented Filippo Petti, CEO of Celyad.

First Quarter 2020 and Recent Business Updates

• Initiation of the Phase 1 CYCLE-1 trial evaluating the next-generation autologous NKG2D receptor CAR-T candidate, CYAD-02, for the treatment of relapsed/refractory (r/r) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myleodysplastic syndromes (MDS);
• Appointment of Dr. Stephen Rubino as Chief Business Officer as part of the strategic evolution of the management team;
• Appointment of Dr. Maria Koehler and Mr. Dominic Piscitelli to Board of Directors;
• Scheduled to present an update on the allogeneic NKG2D receptor CAR-T candidate, CYAD-101, for the treatment of refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) at 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Virtual Scientific Program on May 29 – 31.

First Quarter 2020 Financial Review

The Company ended first quarter 2020 with a treasury position of €33.8 million ($37.3 million). Net cash burn over the first quarter of 2020 amounted to €5.5 million, which is in line with expectations. The Company confirms its previous guidance that its treasury position should be sufficient to fund operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements, based on the current scope of activities, through first half 2021.

Update on Clinical and Preclinical Programs

CYAD-01 – Autologous NKG2D CAR-T for r/r AML and MDS
The Company’s first-in-class NKG2D CAR-T clinical candidate CYAD-01 continues to advance in Phase 1 trials for the treatment of patients with r/r AML and MDS. During the first quarter of 2020, the Company began recruitment within the expansion cohort of the Phase 1 THINK trial evaluating monotherapy CYAD-01. As reported in March 2020, the Company expects to announce preliminary data from CYAD-01 produced with OptimAb manufacturing process, including the expansion cohort of the Phase 1 THINK trial and the dose-escalation Phase 1 DEPLETHINK trial in the second half of 2020.