Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CRNX)
SIC breadcrumb: Manufacturing > Chemicals And Allied Products > SIC 2834 Pharmaceutical Preparations
SEC company page: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=1658247. Latest filing source: 0001658247-26-000012.
Informational only - descriptive public-record data, not investment advice.
Business
Read CRNX's verbatim Item 1 Business section from its latest 10-K: Business.
Risk Factors
Read CRNX's verbatim Item 1A Risk Factors from its latest 10-K: Risk Factors.
Selected Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Unit | FY | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 7,696,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-26 |
| Net income | -465,317,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-26 |
| Assets | 1,126,257,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-26 |
Financials
Annual standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-02-26. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001658247.json. Derived margins, ratios, and free cash flow are computed from the extracted annual SEC facts.
| Metric | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 589,000 | 2,045,000 | 2,428,000 | 1,193,000 | 71,000 | 4,013,000 | 1,039,000 | 7,696,000 | ||
| Net income | -6,019,000 | -9,157,000 | -27,115,000 | -50,422,000 | -73,812,000 | -107,641,000 | -163,918,000 | -214,529,000 | -298,408,000 | -465,317,000 |
| Operating income | -6,044,000 | -9,127,000 | -28,710,000 | -53,832,000 | -74,953,000 | -107,702,000 | -167,882,000 | -222,608,000 | -338,854,000 | -516,769,000 |
| Diluted EPS | -2.42 | -2.80 | -3.15 | -3.69 | -3.69 | -4.95 | ||||
| Operating cash flow | -5,468,000 | -9,479,000 | -19,459,000 | -46,381,000 | -62,027,000 | -88,588,000 | -115,205,000 | -168,598,000 | -230,194,000 | -377,922,000 |
| Capital expenditures | 190,000 | 304,000 | 1,059,000 | 492,000 | 186,000 | 436,000 | 1,656,000 | 4,688,000 | 3,844,000 | 5,762,000 |
| Assets | 15,598,000 | 171,415,000 | 130,377,000 | 183,445,000 | 351,015,000 | 352,176,000 | 635,353,000 | 1,434,592,000 | 1,126,257,000 | |
| Liabilities | 920,000 | 11,190,000 | 13,238,000 | 14,526,000 | 19,071,000 | 35,848,000 | 96,247,000 | 109,787,000 | 134,174,000 | |
| Stockholders' equity | -6,204,000 | -15,022,000 | 160,225,000 | 117,139,000 | 168,919,000 | 331,944,000 | 316,328,000 | 539,106,000 | 1,324,805,000 | 992,083,000 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 14,192,000 | 44,973,000 | 40,326,000 | 93,087,000 | 200,695,000 | 32,672,000 | 54,897,000 | 264,545,000 | 101,536,000 | |
| Free cash flow | -5,658,000 | -9,783,000 | -20,518,000 | -46,873,000 | -62,213,000 | -89,024,000 | -116,861,000 | -173,286,000 | -234,038,000 | -383,684,000 |
Ratios
| Metric | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return on equity | -16.92% | -43.04% | -43.70% | -32.43% | -51.82% | -39.79% | -22.52% | -46.90% | ||
| Return on assets | -58.71% | -15.82% | -38.67% | -40.24% | -30.67% | -46.54% | -33.77% | -20.80% | -41.32% | |
| Liabilities / equity | 0.07 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 0.06 | 0.11 | 0.18 | 0.08 | 0.14 | ||
| Current ratio | 16.91 | 21.03 | 14.79 | 16.92 | 21.55 | 12.45 | 13.07 | 23.04 | 12.32 |
Industry Peer Context
ROE peer context
ROA peer context
Financial Bridges
Free cash flow = operating cash flow - capital expenditures
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts FY 2025. Operating cash flow: accession 0001658247-26-000012; concept NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; source concepts us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities | Capital expenditures: accession 0001658247-26-000012; concept PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment; source concepts us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment | Free cash flow: accession 0001658247-26-000012; concept NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities - PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment; source concepts us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment
Financial Charts
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001658247-26-000012; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax. Source concepts: us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001658247-26-000012; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: NetIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001658247-26-000012; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: OperatingIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001658247-26-000012; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: EarningsPerShareDiluted. Source concepts: us-gaap:EarningsPerShareDiluted.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001658247-26-000012; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001658247-26-000012; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment. Source concepts: us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001658247-26-000012; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: Assets. Source concepts: us-gaap:Assets.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001658247-26-000012; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: Liabilities. Source concepts: us-gaap:Liabilities.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001658247-26-000012; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: StockholdersEquity. Source concepts: us-gaap:StockholdersEquity.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001658247-26-000012; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue. Source concepts: us-gaap:CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001658247-26-000012; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities - PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment.
Quarterly
Quarterly standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-05-07. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001658247.json.
| Quarter | End Date | Revenue | Net Income | Diluted EPS | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-Q2 | 2022-06-30 | -0.81 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2022-Q3 | 2022-09-30 | 458,000 | -0.78 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2023-Q1 | 2023-03-31 | 2,679,000 | -0.85 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-06-30 | 988,000 | -50,979,000 | -0.94 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-09-30 | 346,000 | -57,458,000 | -1.01 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q4 | 2023-12-31 | -60,097,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | ||
| 2024-Q1 | 2024-03-31 | 640,000 | -66,930,000 | -0.93 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-06-30 | 399,000 | -74,055,000 | -0.94 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-09-30 | 0.00 | -76,828,000 | -0.96 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q4 | 2024-12-31 | -80,595,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | ||
| 2025-Q1 | 2025-03-31 | 361,000 | -96,774,000 | -1.04 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-06-30 | 1,031,000 | -115,637,000 | -1.23 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-09-30 | 143,000 | -130,091,000 | -1.38 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q4 | 2025-12-31 | 6,161,000 | -122,815,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2026-Q1 | 2026-03-31 | 10,734,000 | -127,845,000 | -1.23 | reported discrete quarter |
Quarterly Charts
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-03-31; accession 0001658247-26-000040; filed 2026-05-07. Concept: RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax. Source concepts: us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-03-31; accession 0001658247-26-000040; filed 2026-05-07. Concept: NetIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-03-31; accession 0001658247-26-000040; filed 2026-05-07. Concept: EarningsPerShareDiluted. Source concepts: us-gaap:EarningsPerShareDiluted.
Macro Cross-References
- CPIAUCSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average
- UNRATE - Unemployment Rate
- FEDFUNDS - Federal Funds Effective Rate
- CES0500000003 - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private
- DFEDTARU - Federal Funds Target Range - Upper Limit
- DFEDTARL - Federal Funds Target Range - Lower Limit
- DGS3MO - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 3-Month Constant Maturity
- DGS2 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 2-Year Constant Maturity
- DGS10 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 10-Year Constant Maturity
- DGS30 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 30-Year Constant Maturity
- T10Y2Y - 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Minus 2-Year Treasury Constant Maturity
- CPILFESL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items Less Food and Energy
- CPIUFDSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Food
- CPIENGSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Energy
- CUSR0000SAH1 - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Shelter
- PCEPI - Personal Consumption Expenditures: Chain-type Price Index
- PCEPILFE - Personal Consumption Expenditures Excluding Food and Energy: Chain-type Price Index
- PPIACO - Producer Price Index by Commodity: All Commodities
- T10YIE - 10-Year Breakeven Inflation Rate
- U6RATE - Total Unemployed, Plus All Marginally Attached Workers Plus Total Employed Part Time for Economic Reasons
- PAYEMS - All Employees, Total Nonfarm
- CIVPART - Labor Force Participation Rate
- EMRATIO - Employment-Population Ratio
- UNEMPLOY - Unemployed
- CE16OV - Employment Level
- ICSA - Initial Claims
- JTSJOL - Job Openings: Total Nonfarm
- JTSQUR - Quits: Total Nonfarm
- GDPC1 - Real Gross Domestic Product
- A191RL1Q225SBEA - Real Gross Domestic Product: Percent Change from Preceding Period
- INDPRO - Industrial Production: Total Index
- TCU - Capacity Utilization: Total Index
- HOUST - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Started: Total Units
- PERMIT - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Authorized in Permit-Issuing Places: Total Units
- RSAFS - Advance Retail Sales: Retail Trade
- PCE - Personal Consumption Expenditures
- DSPIC96 - Real Disposable Personal Income
- PSAVERT - Personal Saving Rate
- M2SL - M2
- BOPGSTB - U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: Balance
- MSPUS - Median Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States
- HSN1F - New One Family Houses Sold: United States
- RHORUSQ156N - Homeownership Rate in the United States
- TTLCONS - Total Construction Spending: Total Construction in the United States
- RRVRUSQ156N - Rental Vacancy Rate in the United States
- TOTALSL - Total Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
- REVOLSL - Revolving Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
- DRCCLACBS - Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans, All Commercial Banks
- GDP - Gross Domestic Product
- GPDI - Gross Private Domestic Investment
- GCE - Government Consumption Expenditures and Gross Investment
- PCEC - Personal Consumption Expenditures
- NETEXP - Net Exports of Goods and Services
- GFDEBTN - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt
- GFDEGDQ188S - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt as Percent of Gross Domestic Product
- FYFSD - Federal Surplus or Deficit
- FGRECPT - Federal Government Current Receipts
- FGEXPND - Federal Government: Current Expenditures
- MANEMP - All Employees, Manufacturing
- USCONS - All Employees, Construction
- USTRADE - All Employees, Retail Trade
- USFIRE - All Employees, Financial Activities
- USGOVT - All Employees, Government
- AWHAETP - Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, Total Private
- DGORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Durable Goods
- NEWORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Nondefense Capital Goods Excluding Aircraft
- BUSINV - Total Business Inventories
- EXPGS - Exports of Goods and Services
- IMPGS - Imports of Goods and Services
- IR - Import Price Index (End Use): All Commodities
- PPIFIS - Producer Price Index by Commodity: Final Demand
Latest quarter (10-Q)
Latest 10-Q source: 0001658247-26-000040.
ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included elsewhere in this Report and with our audited financial statements and notes thereto included in our FY 2025 Form 10-K . Unless otherwise indicated, all dollar amounts are presented in thousands, with the exception of per share amounts.
Forward Looking Statements
The following discussion and other parts of this Report contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Report, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, business strategy, commercialization efforts, prospective products, product approvals, research and development costs, timing and likelihood of success, plans and objectives of management for future operations and future results of anticipated products, are forward-looking statements. These statements are often identified by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” "should," “expect,” "plan," “anticipate,” “intend,” “target,” “goal,” “aspire,” “project,” “lead to,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “forecast,” “potential,”or “continue,” and similar expressions or variations. In particular, forward-looking statements in this Report relate to, among other things: our ability to successfully commercialize PALSONIFY for the treatment of acromegaly; expected insurance coverage for PALSONIFY; our expectations regarding the timing, duration and costs of advancing our pipeline and conducting ongoing and planned clinical and preclinical studies, including future product launches and geographic expansion; anticipated future results and expenses; our expectations regarding our ability to raise additional capital as needed, and our ability to achieve or maintain profitability; and our expectations regarding the impact of general economic, industry and market conditions globally that may affect us. The forward-looking statements in this Report are only predictions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, operating results, business strategy, short-term and long-term business operations and objectives. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Report and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described in the “Risk Factors” section contained in our FY 2025 10-K . The events and circumstances reflected in our forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.
Overview
We are a pharmaceutical company committed to transforming the treatment of endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors through science rooted in patient needs. We are focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel therapies, with a core expertise in targeting GPCRs with small molecules that have specifically tailored pharmacology and properties.
Recent Developments
PALSONIFY
•Key metrics for the first quarter 2026 reflect broad and deep uptake from patients and healthcare providers as well as favorable feedback from payers.
•Received 232 Enrollment Forms during the first quarter of 2026. Breadth and depth of PALSONIFY prescribers continued to grow, with 263 unique HCPs having prescribed PALSONIFY within the first two quarters of launch. Approximately 70% of patients treated with PALSONIFY at the end of the first quarter of 2026 were on reimbursed therapy, as payers have increasingly provided coverage.
Paltusotine
•In February 2026, the CHMP of the EMA adopted a positive opinion and in April 2026, the EC approved PALSONIFY for the medical treatment of adults with acromegaly.
•In March 2026, we submitted a MAA to Brazil’s ANVISA for PALSONIFY for the treatment of acromegaly in adults.
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•Paltusotine is also in development for acromegaly in Japan through our licensing agreement with SKK. In April 2026, SKK submitted an NDA in Japan for paltusotine for the treatment of acromegaly.
Atumelnant
•In January 2026, we provided an update, including data on the fourth cohort of the Phase 2 TouCAHn study and data from the separate OLE study. Participants in all four cohorts were eligible to enroll in the OLE.
•In January 2026, the first participant in the BALANCE-CAH study was dosed.
•In February 2026, we announced the design of our operationally seamless Phase 2/3 EQUILIBRIUM study of atumelnant in ADCS. The first participant in the EQUILIBRIUM study is expected to be randomized in the second quarter of 2026.
Financial operations overview
During the three months ended March 31, 2026, our financial results continued to reflect the commercialization of PALSONIFY following the FDA approval in September 2025 and the launch of PALSONIFY in the fourth quarter of 2025. As a result, our results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2026 include product revenue, alongside collaboration and license revenue that historically represented our primary sources of revenue.
Following the PALSONIFY launch in late 2025, we continued to incur cost of product revenue and invested in commercial infrastructure to support ongoing commercial operations. These changes resulted in increased operating expenses, including commercialization-related selling, general and administrative expenses, while we also maintained investments in manufacturing readiness and supply chain activities.
Research and development expenses increased as we progressed clinical development programs and supported earlier-stage research initiatives to advance our pipeline of product candidates.
Critical Accounting Estimates
There have been no material changes in our critical accounting policies and estimates compared to those disclosed in Item 7 in our FY 2025 Form 10-K.
Results of Operations
Beginning in the first quarter of 2026, we compare our results of operations for the current quarter to the immediately preceding fiscal quarter and the same period from the previous fiscal year, rather than only the same period from the previous fiscal year. We believe this presentation provides investors with a more meaningful analysis of changes in our results of operations over time following our transition from a clinical-stage company to a commercial company in late 2025, which impacted the comparability of quarter-to-quarter results.
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Comparison of the three months ended March 31, 2026, December 31, 2025, and March 31, 2025
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2026, December 31, 2025, and March 31, 2025:
| Three months ended | $ Change | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 31, 2026 | December 31, 2025 | March 31, 2025 | Sequential | Year-over-year | ||||||||||||||
| Revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||
| Product revenue, net | $ | 10,306 | $ | 5,420 | $ | — | $ | 4,886 | N/M | |||||||||
| Collaboration and license revenue | 428 | 741 | 361 | (313) | 67 | |||||||||||||
| Total revenue | 10,734 | 6,161 | 361 | 4,573 | 10,373 | |||||||||||||
| Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of product revenue | 200 | 1,076 | — | (876) | N/M | |||||||||||||
| Research and development | 100,081 | 85,053 | 76,240 | 15,028 | 23,841 | |||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | 50,831 | 53,698 | 35,526 | (2,867) | 15,305 | |||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 151,112 | 139,827 | 111,766 | 11,285 | 39,346 | |||||||||||||
| Loss from operations | (140,378) | (133,666) | (111,405) | (6,712) | (28,973) | |||||||||||||
| Other income, net | 12,533 | 11,031 | 14,631 | 1,502 | (2,098) | |||||||||||||
| Loss before income taxes | (127,845) | (122,635) | (96,774) | (5,210) | (31,071) | |||||||||||||
| Income tax expense | — | 180 | — | N/M | N/M | |||||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (127,845) | $ | (122,815) | $ | (96,774) | $ | (5,030) | $ | (31,071) |
N/M - changes not meaningful
Revenue
We have been recognizing net product sales in the U.S. since the commercial launch of PALSONIFY in October 2025. PALSONIFY is a newly launched product and current results may not be indicative of future results. Collaboration and license revenue is attributable to the timing of the revenue recognition for the data exchange performance obligation under the SKK License.
The increase in revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2026 as compared to the sequential period primarily relates to PALSONIFY net product revenue which increased in volume due to continued gains on patient activations. The increase as compared to the prior year-to-date period relates to PALSONIFY net product revenue.
Cost of product revenue
The following table summarizes our cost of product revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2026, December 31, 2025, and March 31, 2025:
| Three months ended | $ Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 31, 2026 | December 31, 2025 | March 31, 2025 | Sequential | Year-over-year | |||||||||||||
| Commercial manufacturing readiness and supplier qualification costs | $ | — | $ | 826 | $ | — | $ | (826) | N/M | ||||||||
| Packaging, distribution, and other fulfillment costs | 200 | 250 | — | (50) | N/M | ||||||||||||
| Total cost of product revenue | $ | 200 | $ | 1,076 | $ | — | $ | (876) | N/M |
N/M - changes not meaningful
Product revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2026 was derived from zero-cost inventory containing inventory manufactured prior to regulatory approval of PALSONIFY which had a zero cost basis as the related manufacturing costs were previously expensed as research and development in accordance with U.S. GAAP. As a result, cost of product revenue during this early commercialization period is not directly correlated with product revenue and does not reflect our expected cost structure for future periods.
For the three months ended March 31, 2026, the cost of product revenue would have increased by less than $0.1 million if we included zero-cost inventory.
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The decrease for the three months ended March 31, 2026 as compared to the sequential period is due to the initial launch distribution charges and commercial supplier qualification costs in the fourth quarter of 2025. No amounts were incurred in the prior year-to-date period as PALSONIFY was commercialized in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Research and development expenses
Research and development expenses consist of costs incurred to support our research and the discovery, preclinical development and clinical development of PALSONIFY and our product candidates. These expenses include personnel-related costs for employees engaged in research and development activities, external costs incurred under agreements with CROs, investigative sites and consultants, costs to manufacture drug supply for preclinical studies and clinical trials, regulatory compliance costs, laboratory supplies, outside services, and allocated facility and overhead expenses.
Research and development expenses are expensed as incurred. Costs
[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]
Latest 10-K MD&A
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with all of the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto and “Risk Factors”. This section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K generally discusses 2025 and 2024 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2025 and 2024. Discussions of 2023 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2024 and 2023 that are not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K can be found in the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Overview
During 2025, we transitioned from a clinical-stage company to a commercial-stage company following the FDA approval and launch of PALSONIFY for the treatment of acromegaly in September 2025. As a result, our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2025 reflect our initial period of commercial activity, including the generation of product revenue, commercialization-related costs, and continued investment in our research and development programs.
This management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations focuses on the key factors affecting our financial performance during this transition period, including initial product revenue net of gross-to-net adjustments, commercialization and operating expenses, collaboration and license revenue, and changes in liquidity and capital resources. Comparisons of our results for the year ended December 31, 2025 to prior periods should be viewed in the context of this shift to commercial operations.
We ended 2025 with a strong liquidity position, further strengthened by an underwritten public offering completed in January 2026, which provides capital to support our ongoing commercialization and development activities. See “Liquidity and Capital Resources” below.
As a newly commercial-stage company, we expect product revenue to increase as we continue to expand commercialization efforts for PALSONIFY. However, given the early stage of commercialization, we do not expect product revenue to be sufficient to offset operating expenses in the near term. We also expect operating expenses to increase as we continue to invest in commercialization, clinical development, and other research and development activities. Accordingly, we expect to continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future.
Recent Developments
PALSONIFY
•On September 25, 2025, the FDA approved PALSONIFY as the first and only once-daily oral somatostatin receptor ligand for the treatment of adults with acromegaly who had an inadequate response to surgery and/or for whom surgery is not an option. We generated net product revenue of $5.4 million related to the PALSONIFY sales during the three months ended December 31, 2025.
•2025 key metrics reflecting uptake from patients and healthcare providers, as well as payer feedback:
•More than 200 enrollment forms received, including 22 from U.S.-based open-label extension participants.
•Over 125 unique PALSONIFY prescribers, 50% of whom are from the community setting and 50% are from the pituitary treatment center setting.
•Approximately half of newly filled bottles were reimbursed without need for Quickstart bridge supplies.
•12-month duration of most prior authorizations with approximately half of newly filled bottles reimbursed.
Paltusotine
•The first patient was enrolled in the Phase 3 study of paltusotine for CS in November 2025.
•In February 2026, the CHMP of the EMA adopted a positive opinion, recommending the marketing authorization of PALSONIFY for the medical treatment of adult patients with acromegaly. The CHMP opinion will be reviewed by the EC, consistent with a timeline for a potential decision in the first half of 2026.
Atumelnant
•In January 2025, we reported positive results from the first three cohorts of the Phase 2 TouCAHn open-label study of atumelnant in CAH. In January 2026, we provided an update, including data on the fourth cohort of the
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Phase 2 TouCAHn study and data from the separate OLE study. Participants in all four cohorts were eligible to enroll in the OLE.
•In May 2025, we announced the design of our Phase 3 CALM-CAH study. The first participant in the CALM-CAH study was randomized in December 2025.
•In August 2025, we announced our pediatric trial design in CAH, BALANCE-CAH. BALANCE-CAH is designed as an operationally seamless Phase 2/3 study. The first participant in the BALANCE-CAH study was dosed in January 2026.
•We expect to initiate an operationally seamless Phase 2/3 study of atumelnant in ADCS (EQUILIBRIUM-ADCS) in the first half of 2026.
CRN09682
•In April 2025, we received IND clearance for CRN09682, the first candidate from the NDC platform. In November 2025, the first patient received CRN09682 in the dose escalation phase of a Phase 1/2 study.
For other product candidate updates, see “Business Overview.”
Equity Offerings
On January 8, 2026, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 8,763,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $45.95 per share, which included 1,143,000 shares of common stock issued pursuant to the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares. Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $380.0 million, after underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs. After the completion of this public offering, the Company had approximately $1.4 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and investment securities.
Financial Operations Overview
During the year ended December 31, 2025, our financial results changed as we commercialized PALSONIFY following the FDA approval in September 2025 and the launch of PALSONIFY in the fourth quarter of 2025. As a result, our results now include product revenue for the first time, alongside collaboration and license revenue that historically represented our primary sources of revenue. Product revenue during 2025 reflects a partial year of commercialization and is subject to gross-to-net adjustments customary in the U.S. pharmaceutical market.
Our cost structure also evolved during 2025 as we incurred cost of product revenue and expanded our commercial infrastructure to support the launch of PALSONIFY. These changes resulted in increased operating expenses, including commercialization-related selling, general and administrative expenses, while we continued to invest in manufacturing readiness and supply chain activities necessary to support ongoing commercial operations.
While commercialization efforts expanded during 2025, research and development expenses increased as we progressed clinical development programs and supported earlier-stage research initiatives to advance our pipeline of product candidates.
Critical Accounting Estimates
This management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which we have prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of our consolidated financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those listed below. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events, information received from third parties and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances at the time the estimates are made, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. There were no material differences between estimates and actual results for the years presented in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
Our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements. We believe the following accounting estimates to be most critical to the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.
Accrued research and development expenses
As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we are required to estimate our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date. This process involves reviewing open contracts and purchase orders, communicating with
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our personnel to identify services that have been performed on our behalf and estimating the level of service performed and the associated cost incurred for the service when we have not yet been invoiced or otherwise notified of the actual cost. We make estimates of our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date based on facts and circumstances known to us at that time. We periodically confirm the accuracy of our estimates with the service providers and make adjustments if necessary. The significant estimates in our accrued research and development expenses include the costs incurred for services performed by our vendors in connection with research and development activities for which we have not yet been invoiced.
We base our expenses related to research and development activities on our estimates of the services received and efforts expended pursuant to quotes and contracts with vendors that conduct research and development on our behalf. The financial terms of these agreements are subject to negotiation, vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven payment flows. There may be instances in which payments made to our vendors will exceed the level of services provided and result in a prepayment of the research and development expense. In accruing service fees, we estimate the time period over which services will be performed and the level of effort to be expended in each period. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from our estimate, we adjust the accrual or prepaid expense accordingly. Advance payments for goods and services that will be used in future research and development activities are expensed when the activity has been performed or when the goods have been received rather than when the payment is made.
Costs incurred under contracts with CROs that conduct and manage our clinical trials are also included in research and development expenses. The financial terms and activities of these agreements vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven expense levels. Clinical trial activities are accrued and expensed based on estimates of the period in which services and efforts are expended by CROs and other third parties. Estimates are determined by reviewing cost information provided by CROs, other third-party vendors and internal clinical personnel, and contractual arrangements with CROs and the scope of work to be performed. If the amounts that we are obligated to pay under our clinical trial agreements are modified (for instance, because of changes in the clinical trial protocol or scope of work to be performed), we adjust our accruals accordingly on a prospective basis. Revisions to contractual payment obligations are charged to expense in the period in which the facts that give rise to the revision become reasonably certain.
Although we do not expect our estimates to be materially different from amounts actually incurred, if our estimates of the status and timing of services performed differ from the actual status and timing of services performed, it could result in us reporting amounts that are too high or too low in any particular period. To date, there have been no material differences between our estimates of such expenses and the amounts actually incurred.
Revenue Recognition - Gross-to-Net Adjustments
Product revenue is recorded with each sale at wholesale acquisition cost, net of variable consideration and consideration payable to third parties associated with distribution of product. We utilize the expected value method when estimating the amount of variable consideration to include in the transaction price. Variable consideration is included in the transaction price only to the extent it is probable that a significant revenue reversal will not occur. These amounts include government rebates, chargebacks, distribution service fees, co-payment assistance and return reserve, which are collectively referred to as “Gross-to-Net Adjustments.” We must make significant judgments to determine the estimates for Gross-to-Net Adjustments. These estimates are reassessed each reporting period.
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Results of Operations
Comparison of the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 (in thousands):
| Year Ended December 31, | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | |||||||||||||
| Revenue: | ||||||||||||||
| Product revenue, net | $ | 5,420 | $ | — | $ | 5,420 | N/M | |||||||
| Collaboration and license revenue | 2,276 | 1,039 | 1,237 | 119 | % | |||||||||
| Total revenue, net | 7,696 | 1,039 | 6,657 | 641 | % | |||||||||
| Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||||
| Cost of product revenue | 1,076 | — | 1,076 | N/M | ||||||||||
| Research and development | 332,058 | 240,156 | 91,902 | 38 | % | |||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | 191,331 | 99,737 | 91,594 | 92 | % | |||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 524,465 | 339,893 | 184,572 | 54 | % | |||||||||
| Loss from operations | (516,769) | (338,854) | (177,915) | 53 | % | |||||||||
| Total other income, net | 51,632 | 40,916 | 10,716 | 26 | % | |||||||||
| Loss before income taxes | (465,137) | (297,938) | (167,199) | 56 | % | |||||||||
| Income tax expense | 180 | — | 180 | N/M | ||||||||||
| Loss before equity method investment | (465,317) | (297,938) | (167,379) | 56 | % | |||||||||
| Loss on equity method investment | — | (470) | 470 | N/M | ||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (465,317) | $ | (298,408) | $ | (166,909) | 56 | % |
N/M - percentage not meaningful
Revenue
Revenue during the year ended December 31, 2025 relates to PALSONIFY net product revenue and our partnership with SKK. We have recognized net product sales in the U.S. since the commercial launch of PALSONIFY in October 2025. We expect product revenue to increase in future periods as we continue with the commercial launch of PALSONIFY.
Revenue during the year ended December 31, 2024 relate to our partnership with SKK. The increase in collaboration and license revenue is attributable to the timing of the revenue recognition for the data exchange performance obligation under the SKK License.
Cost of product revenue
The following table summarizes our cost of product revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025 (in thousands):
| Year Ended | ||
|---|---|---|
| December 31, 2025 | ||
| Cost of product revenue: | ||
| Commercial manufacturing readiness and supplier qualification costs | $ | 826 |
| Packaging, distribution, and other fulfillment costs | 250 | |
| Total cost of product revenue | $ | 1,076 |
Cost of product revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025 reflects commercial manufacturing readiness and supplier qualification costs incurred following regulatory approval of PALSONIFY and packaging, distribution, and other fulfillment-related costs. Product sales during 2025 were largely derived from inventory manufactured prior to regulatory approval of PALSONIFY, which had a zero cost basis as the related manufacturing costs were previously expensed as research and development in accordance with U.S. GAAP. As a result, cost of product revenue during this initial
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commercialization period was not directly correlated with product revenue and does not reflect the Company’s expected cost structure for future periods.
For the quarter and year ended December 31, 2025, the cost of product revenue would have increased by less than $0.1 million if we included previously expensed inventories.
Research and development expenses
Research and development expenses consist of costs incurred to support the discovery, preclinical development and clinical development of PALSONIFY and our product candidates. These expenses include personnel-related costs for employees engaged in research and development activities, external costs incurred under agreements with contract research organizations, investigative sites and consultants, costs to manufacture drug supply for preclinical studies and clinical trials, regulatory compliance costs, laboratory supplies, and allocated facility and overhead expenses.
Research and development expenses are expensed as incurred. Costs incurred to manufacture PALSONIFY prior to FDA approval were recorded as research and development expenses, resulting in zero-cost inventory upon approval.
Research and development expenses are driven by the scope, timing and progress of our clinical trials, including trial design, patient enrollment rates, trial duration, manufacturing requirements and regulatory activities. As a result, research and development spending may vary from period to period based on these factors and our strategic prioritization of programs.
We expect research and development expenses to increase as we continue to advance our pipeline and conduct ongoing and planned clinical and preclinical studies. However, the timing, duration and costs of these activities are subject to the inherent uncertainty associated with pharmaceutical research and development.
The following table summarizes our primary external and internal research and development expenses for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 (in thousands):
| Year Ended December 31, | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | |||||||||||||
| External research and development expenses: | ||||||||||||||
| Clinical trials | $ | 64,741 | $ | 40,532 | $ | 24,209 | 60 | % | ||||||
| Contract manufacturing | 33,547 | 25,835 | 7,712 | 30 | % | |||||||||
| Preclinical studies | 13,718 | 12,533 | 1,185 | 9 | % | |||||||||
| Outside services | 46,399 | 33,817 | 12,582 | 37 | % | |||||||||
| Other external research and development | 55 | 37 | 18 | 49 | % | |||||||||
| Total external research and development expenses | 158,460 | 112,754 | 45,706 | 41 | % | |||||||||
| Internal expenses: | ||||||||||||||
| Personnel expenses | 102,677 | 70,772 | 31,905 | 45 | % | |||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | 50,344 | 40,667 | 9,677 | 24 | % | |||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 1,321 | 821 | 500 | 61 | % | |||||||||
| Facilities and related | 10,602 | 10,480 | 122 | 1 | % | |||||||||
| Other internal research and development | 8,654 | 4,662 | 3,992 | 86 | % | |||||||||
| Total internal research and development expenses | 173,598 | 127,402 | 46,196 | 36 | % | |||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 332,058 | $ | 240,156 | $ | 91,902 | 38 | % |
The increase in the majority of the categories above for the year ended December 31, 2025 since the corresponding prior year is as a result of the advancement of our clinical programs and preclinical portfolio.
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The following table summarizes our research and development expenses by program for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 (in thousands):
| Year Ended December 31, | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | |||||||||||||
| Paltusotine | $ | 68,337 | $ | 51,229 | $ | 17,108 | 33 | % | ||||||
| Atumelnant | 48,131 | 24,524 | 23,607 | 96 | % | |||||||||
| Other research and development programs | 33,322 | 26,010 | 7,312 | 28 | % | |||||||||
| Personnel expenses | 102,677 | 70,772 | 31,905 | 45 | % | |||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | 50,344 | 40,667 | 9,677 | 24 | % | |||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 1,321 | 821 | 500 | 61 | % | |||||||||
| Other | 27,926 | 26,133 | 1,793 | 7 | % | |||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 332,058 | $ | 240,156 | $ | 91,902 | 38 | % |
The increase in research and development expenses of programs for the year ended December 31, 2025 as compared to the prior year was primarily due to clinical, manufacturing, and outside services costs related to paltusotine and atumelnant and increased investment across other research and development programs.
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses consist of salaries and employee-related costs, including stock-based compensation, for personnel in commercial, finance, legal, human resources, information technology, and other corporate and administrative functions. Other significant components include sales and marketing expenses, facility-related costs, legal fees related to intellectual property and corporate matters, professional fees for accounting and consulting services, insurance costs, and commercial planning activities.
Selling, general and administrative expenses also include costs associated with operating as a public company, including audit, legal, regulatory and tax-related services required for compliance with SEC and exchange listing requirements, director and officer insurance premiums, corporate communications, investor relations activities, and corporate strategy and business development efforts.
We expect selling, general and administrative expenses to increase as we continue to support the commercialization of PALSONIFY, expand our commercial and administrative infrastructure, and advance our research and development activities, including the potential commercialization of additional product candidates if approved and expanding into additional markets beyond the U.S.
The following table summarizes our selling, general and administrative expenses for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 (in thousands):
| Year Ended December 31, | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | |||||||||||||
| Other selling, general and administrative | $ | 87,444 | $ | 36,769 | $ | 50,675 | 138 | % | ||||||
| Personnel expenses | 60,638 | 32,285 | 28,353 | 88 | % | |||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | 40,680 | 28,719 | 11,961 | 42 | % | |||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 2,569 | 1,964 | 605 | 31 | % | |||||||||
| Total selling, general and administrative expenses | $ | 191,331 | $ | 99,737 | $ | 91,594 | 92 | % |
The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2025 as compared to the prior year was primarily due to the increase in personnel expenses, including stock-based compensation, and professional services to support our growth, including the commercial launch of PALSONIFY.
Other income
Other income, net was $51.6 million and $40.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The increase was primarily due to income generated by our investment securities as a result of higher average invested balances and prevailing interest rates.
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Loss on equity method investment
Loss on equity method investment was zero and $0.5 million for years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The loss recognized in 2024 reflected our share of Radionetics’ net loss, which resulted in the investment asset being written down to zero.
Income taxes
Income tax expense was $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, compared to no income tax expense or benefit for the year ended December 31, 2024. The amount is not considered material.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our financial condition is summarized as follows (in thousands):
| December 31, 2025 | December 31, 2024 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 101,536 | $ | 264,545 | $ | (163,009) | (62) | % | ||||||
| Investment securities | 926,353 | 1,089,524 | (163,171) | (15) | % | |||||||||
| Cash, cash equivalents and investment securities | $ | 1,027,889 | $ | 1,354,069 | $ | (326,180) | (24) | % | ||||||
| Working capital | $ | 963,270 | $ | 1,315,704 | $ | (352,434) | (27) | % | ||||||
| Accumulated deficit | $ | (1,417,427) | $ | (952,110) | $ | (465,317) | 49 | % |
We have funded our operations through equity financings, supplemented by license, collaboration and initial product revenue. As of December 31, 2025, we had cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $1.0 billion. On January 8, 2026, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 8,763,000 shares of its common stock for net proceeds of approximately $380.0 million, after underwriting discounts, commissions and other offering costs. Immediately after the completion of this offering, our cash, cash equivalents and investment securities was approximately $1.4 billion.
Based on our current and anticipated level of operations, we believe that our existing capital resources, together with income generated by our investment securities and product revenue, will be sufficient to satisfy our current and projected funding requirements for at least the next twelve months. However, our forecast of the period through which our financial resources will be adequate to support our operations is a forward-looking statement that involves risks and uncertainties, and actual results could vary materially. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our capital resources sooner than we expect. Additionally, the process of testing product candidates in clinical trials is costly, and the timing of progress and expenses in these trials is uncertain.
Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
•the type, number, scope, progress, results, costs and timing of our preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates which we are pursuing or may choose to pursue in the future;
•our ability to generate revenue through product sales of PALSONIFY and other potential product candidates once approved, if ever, and future licensing arrangements;
•the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;
•the costs associated with hiring additional personnel and consultants as our preclinical, clinical and commercial activities increase;
•the costs of and our ability to obtain clinical and commercial supplies for our current product candidates and any other product candidates we may identify and develop;
•the costs and timing of manufacturing for our product candidates, including commercial manufacturing;
•the costs of obtaining, maintaining and enforcing our patents and other intellectual property rights;
•our efforts to enhance operational systems and hire additional personnel to satisfy our obligations as a public company with a commercial pharmaceutical product, including enhanced internal controls over financial reporting, government price reporting and establishing and maintaining an effective compliance program;
•the costs and timing of establishing or securing sales and marketing capabilities for any additional product candidates that are approved;
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•our ability to achieve sufficient market acceptance, adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payers and adequate market share and revenue for any approved products;
•the terms and timing of establishing and maintaining collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements;
•costs associated with any products or technologies that we may in-license or acquire;
•the funding of any co-development arrangements we enter into; and
•general economic, industry and market conditions or other events or factors, many of which are beyond our control, such as the impact of any natural disasters, including related to climate change, or public health emergencies, inflation, interest rates, actual or anticipated bank failures, and international military or geopolitical conflicts, including between Russia and Ukraine and in the Middle East.
Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenue to support our cost structure, we expect to finance our cash needs through our substantial existing capital resources, equity offerings, debt financings or other capital sources, including potential collaborations, licenses, and other similar arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of our stockholders will be or could be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our common stockholders. In addition, our ability to access financing on the terms we anticipate, or at all, may be impacted by volatility in global credit and financial markets, including as a result of inflation, rising interest rates, fluctuation in the value of the U.S. dollar and the effects, if any, of evolving international trade policies and government actions relating to tariffs. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures, or declaring dividends.
If we raise funds through collaborations, licenses, and other similar arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us and/or may reduce the value of our common stock. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market our product candidates even if we would otherwise prefer to develop and market such product candidates ourselves.
Equity Offerings
On March 1, 2024, we completed a private placement of 8,333,334 shares of its common stock at a price of $42.00 per share (the "Private Placement"). Net proceeds from the Private Placement were approximately $335.5 million, after offering costs of approximately $14.5 million.
On October 10, 2024, we completed an underwritten public offering of 11,500,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $50.00 per share, which included 1,500,000 shares of common stock issued pursuant to the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares. Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $542.8 million, after underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs of approximately $32.2 million.
On January 8, 2026, we completed an underwritten public offering of 8,763,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $45.95 per share, which included 1,143,000 shares of common stock issued pursuant to the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares. Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $380.0 million, after underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs.
ATM Offerings
In August 2019, we entered into the 2019 Sales Agreement with the Sales Agents, under which we could, from time to time, sell up to $150.0 million of shares of our common stock through the Sales Agents pursuant to the 2019 ATM Offering. The 2019 ATM Offering was terminated upon the filing of our Registration Statement on Form S-3ASR on June 21, 2024.
On June 21, 2024, we entered the 2024 Sales Agreement with the Sales Agents, under which we may, from time to time, sell up to $350.0 million of shares of our common stock through the Sales Agents pursuant to the 2024 ATM Offering. We are not obligated to, and we cannot provide any assurances that we will continue to, make any sales of the shares under the 2024 Sales Agreement. The 2024 Sales Agreement may be terminated by either Sales Agent (with respect to itself) or us at any time upon 10 days’ notice to the other parties, or by either Sales Agent, with respect to itself, at any time in certain circumstances, including the occurrence of a material adverse change. We will pay the Sales Agents a commission for their services in acting as agent in the sale of common stock in an amount equal to 3% of the gross sales price per share sold.
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During the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company issued 1,223,775 shares of common stock for net proceeds of approximately $43.4 million and 928,912 shares of common stock for net proceeds of approximately $48.3 million, pursuant to the 2019 ATM Offering and the 2024 ATM Offering, respectively.
During the three months and year ended December 31, 2025 and the three months ended December 31, 2024, no shares of common stock were sold pursuant to the 2024 Sales Agreement.
Cash Flows
We have incurred cumulative net losses and negative cash flows from operations since our inception and expect to continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future. As of December 31, 2025, we had an accumulated deficit of $1.4 billion and cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $1.0 billion.
The following table provides information regarding our cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 (in thousands):
| Year Ended December 31, | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | |||||||||||||
| Net cash used in operating activities | $ | (377,922) | $ | (230,194) | $ | (147,728) | 64 | % | ||||||
| Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities | 173,908 | (574,817) | 748,725 | (130) | % | |||||||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | 40,611 | 1,014,659 | (974,048) | (96) | % | |||||||||
| Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash | $ | (163,403) | $ | 209,648 | $ | (373,051) | (178) | % |
Cash Flows from Operating Activities
Cash used in operating activities is driven by personnel costs; clinical, manufacturing, and facility expenses; sales and marketing activities; and general and administrative support, partially offset by revenue generated from net product sales of PALSONIFY and our collaboration and license revenue. Our cash flows from operating activities will continue to be affected principally by our working capital requirements and the extent to which we increase spending on personnel, commercial activities, and research and development as our business grows.
The year‑over‑year net increase in cash used in operating activities is driven by expenditures related to supporting the Company's commercial growth, the advancement of our clinical programs, and the progression of our preclinical portfolio.
Cash Flows from Investing Activities
Cash flows from investing activities are driven by fluctuations in the timing of purchases and maturities of investments and, to a lesser extent, purchases of property and equipment. The year‑over‑year change in cash flows from investing activities is mainly attributable to differences in the mix and timing of investment purchases and maturities.
Cash Flows from Financing Activities
Net cash provided by financing activities consists of net proceeds from the sale of common stock, exercises of stock options, and shares issued under the ESPP. The year‑over‑year decrease in cash provided by financing activities is attributable to the net proceeds received from the sale of common stock in 2024, compared to none in 2025, as well as a net decrease in proceeds from stock option exercises and shares issued under the ESPP.
Common Stock and Common Stock Equivalents
As of February 13, 2026, outstanding shares of common stock were 104.7 million, outstanding stock options were 13.3 million, unvested restricted stock units were 2.3 million, and shares expected to be purchased under the ESPP, were 0.7 million.
MD&A history
Prior-year 10-K MD&A spans are extracted from SEC filings with the same bounded parser used for the latest filing. The latest 10-K appears above; prior years are below.
FY 2024 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0000950170-25-029050.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with all of the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto and “Risk Factors”. This section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K generally discusses 2024 and 2023 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2024 and 2023. Discussions of 2022 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2023 and 2022 that are not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K can be found in the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Overview
We are a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors. Endocrine pathways function to maintain homeostasis and commonly use peptide hormones acting through GPCRs to regulate many aspects of physiology, including growth, energy, metabolism, gastrointestinal function and stress responses. We have built a highly productive drug discovery and development organization with extensive expertise in endocrine GPCRs. We have discovered a pipeline of oral nonpeptide (small molecule) new chemical entities that target peptide GPCRs to treat a variety of endocrine diseases where treatment options have significant efficacy, safety and/or tolerability limitations. Our product candidates include paltusotine, which is in clinical development for the treatment of acromegaly and carcinoid syndrome associated with NETs, and atumelnant, which is in clinical development for CAH and Cushing’s disease. We are advancing additional product candidates through preclinical discovery and development studies in parallel. Our vision is to build a premier endocrine-focused, global biopharmaceutical company that consistently pioneers new therapeutics to improve the lives of patients.
We focus on the discovery and development of nonpeptide therapeutics that target peptide GPCRs with well-understood biological functions, validated biomarkers and the potential to substantially improve the treatment of endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors.
To date, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to drug discovery, conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, obtaining and maintaining patents related to our product candidates, licensing activities, and the provision of general and administrative support for these operations. We have recognized revenues from various research and development grants and license and collaboration agreements, but do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any product sales. We have funded our operations primarily through our grant and license revenues and offerings of our preferred and common stock. As of December 31, 2024, we had unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $1.4 billion.
We have incurred cumulative net losses since our inception and, as of December 31, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $952.1 million. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year, depending on the timing of our clinical trials and preclinical studies and our expenditures on other research and development activities. We expect our expenses and operating losses will increase substantially as we conduct our ongoing and planned clinical trials, continue our research and development activities and conduct preclinical studies, hire additional personnel, protect our intellectual property and incur costs associated with being a public company, including audit, legal, regulatory, and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, requirements, director and officer insurance premiums, and investor relations costs.
We do not expect to generate any revenues from product sales unless and until we successfully complete development and obtain regulatory approval for one or more of our product candidates. If we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution. Accordingly, until such time as we can generate significant revenue from sales of our product candidates, if ever, we expect to finance our cash needs through equity offerings, debt financings or other capital sources, including potentially, collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. However, we may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other arrangements when needed on favorable terms or at all. Our failure to raise capital or enter into such other arrangements when needed would have a negative impact on our financial condition and could force us to delay, scale back or discontinue the development of our existing product candidates or our efforts to expand our product pipeline.
Australian operations
In January 2017, we established Crinetics Australia Pty Ltd, or CAPL, a wholly-owned subsidiary which was formed to conduct various preclinical and clinical activities for our product and development candidates. CAPL is eligible for certain financial incentives made available by the Australian government for research and development expenses. Specifically, the Australian Taxation Office provides a refundable tax credit in the form of a cash refund equal to 43.5% of qualified research and development expenditures under the Australian Research and Development Tax Incentive Program, or the Australian Tax Incentive, to Australian companies that operate the majority of their research and development activities associated with such
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projects in Australia. A wholly-owned Australian subsidiary of a non-Australian parent company is eligible to receive the refundable tax credit, provided that the Australian subsidiary retains the rights to the data and intellectual property generated in Australia, and provided that the total revenues of the parent company and its consolidated subsidiaries during the period for which the refundable tax credit is claimed are less than $20.0 million Australian dollars. If we lose our ability to operate CAPL in Australia, or if we are ineligible or unable to receive the research and development tax credit, or the Australian government significantly reduces or eliminates the tax credit, the actual refund amounts we receive may differ from our estimates. See "Note 2" to the consolidated financial statements for further information on the reductions we have recognized in connection with the Australian Tax Incentive.
Swiss operations
In September 2024, we established Crinetics Pharmaceuticals Europe GmbH, or CPEG, a wholly-owned subsidiary which was formed, among other things, to conduct various clinical and pre-commercialization activities for our product candidates in Europe.
Recent Developments
Product Candidates
In March 2024, we reported positive topline results from the PATHFNDR-2 study, where the study met statistical significance on the primary endpoint and the secondary endpoints also met statistical significance. We submitted a New Drug Application, or NDA, to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, for paltusotine for the proposed treatment and long-term maintenance therapy of acromegaly and subsequently received notification of acceptance from the FDA on the status of the NDA submission and were granted a Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or PDUFA, Target Action Date of September 25, 2025.
We have initiated the CAREFNDR Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with carcinoid syndrome. CAREFNDR is designed as a double-blind, placebo-controlled, sixteen-week clinical trial to enroll carcinoid syndrome patients who are not on pharmacological treatment and are actively symptomatic. The primary endpoint of the CAREFNDR trial is the percentage change in the frequency of flushing episodes at week 12 as compared to the baseline measurement. In addition, a key secondary endpoint measures the change in bowel movement frequency at week 12 as compared to the baseline measurement. There are additional efficacy endpoints in the CAREFNDR trial including severity of flushing and urgency of bowel movements.
In February 2025, the EMA granted paltusotine orphan drug designation for the treatment of acromegaly. Designation was given following a positive recommendation from the EMA Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products, highlighting the potential impact of paltusotine for acromegaly patients in the European Union.
See other updates in the business overview section above.
Licenses
On March 24, 2023, we and Cellular Longevity Inc., doing business as Loyal, entered into the Loyal License, pursuant to which we granted Loyal an exclusive license to develop and commercialize CRN01941, a somatostatin receptor type 2 agonist, for veterinary use.
In August 2023, the Radionetics License was amended to include additional sales milestones of up to $15.0 million. Following the amendment to the Radionetics License, we are eligible to receive total potential sales milestones in excess of $1.0 billion and single-digit royalties on net sales.
In June 2024, the Company amended the Radionetics License to reduce the number of development targets. Following the amendment to the Radionetics License, ownership of the non-licensed targets reverted back to the Company and the Company is eligible to receive total potential sales milestones in excess of $300.0 million and single-digit royalties on net sales. In July 2024, Radionetics announced the formation of a strategic partnership with Eli Lilly and Company, or Lilly. Under the terms of the agreement, Radionetics received a $140.0 million upfront cash payment and Lilly obtained the exclusive right to acquire Radionetics for $1.0 billion upon conclusion of an exercise period. During the exercise period, Radionetics will continue to build out a proprietary pipeline of therapeutic assets.
Equity Offerings
On March 1, 2024, the Company completed a private placement offering of 8,333,334 shares of its common stock at a price of $42.00 per share, or the Private Placement. Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $335.5 million, after offering costs of approximately $14.5 million. On March 19, 2024, the Company registered for resale the shares issued and sold in the Private Placement, pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement entered into with the Purchasers, dated February 27, 2024.
On October 10, 2024, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 11,500,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $50.00 per share, which included 1,500,000 shares of common stock issued pursuant to the
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underwriters' option to purchase additional shares. Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $542.8 million, after underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs of approximately $32.2 million.
ATM Offerings
On August 13, 2019, the Company entered into a Sales Agreement, as subsequently amended in August 2022, or the 2019 Sales Agreement, with SVB Leerink LLC and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., or collectively, the Sales Agents, under which the Company could, from time to time, sell up to $150.0 million of shares of its common stock through the Sales Agents, or the 2019 ATM Offering. The 2019 ATM Offering was terminated upon the filing by the Company of its Registration Statement on Form S-3ASR on June 21, 2024.
On June 21, 2024, the Company entered into a Sales Agreement, the 2024 Sales Agreement, with the Sales Agents under which the Company may, from time to time, sell up to $350.0 million of shares of its common stock through the Sales Agents, or the 2024 ATM Offering.
During the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company issued 1,223,775 shares of common stock pursuant to the 2019 ATM Offering for net proceeds of approximately $43.4 million, after deducting commissions.
During the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company issued 928,912 shares of common stock pursuant to the 2024 ATM Offering for net proceeds of approximately $48.3 million, after deducting commissions.
Financial operations overview
Revenues
To date, our revenues have been mainly derived from research grant awards and licenses, including the Radionetics License, the Sanwa License, and the Loyal License. As our data exchange performance obligation under the Sanwa License is fulfilled, we expect to recognize as revenues the deferred revenue amounts included in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2024. We will recognize royalty and milestone revenues under our license agreements if and when appropriate under the relevant accounting rules (see "Note 8" to our consolidated financial statements). We have not generated any revenues from the commercial sale of approved products, and we may never generate revenues from the commercial sale of our product candidates for at least the foreseeable future, if ever.
License revenues
On March 24, 2023, we and Loyal entered into the Loyal License, pursuant to which we granted Loyal an exclusive license to develop and commercialize CRN01941, a somatostatin receptor type 2 agonist, for veterinary use. In February 2022, we and Sanwa entered into a license agreement, or the Sanwa License, pursuant to which whereby we granted Sanwa an exclusive license to develop and commercialize paltusotine in Japan.
License revenues for 2024 were primarily derived from the Sanwa License. License revenues for 2023 were primarily derived from both the Sanwa License and the Loyal License.
Clinical supply revenues
On June 14, 2022, we and Sanwa entered into a clinical supply agreement, or the Sanwa Clinical Supply Agreement, whereby we are responsible for manufacturing and supplying certain materials to Sanwa for specified activities under the Sanwa License. During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we recognized $0.1 million and $0.4 million, respectively, of revenues from the Sanwa Clinical Supply Agreement in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. No significant supply purchases were made by Sanwa through the Sanwa Clinical Supply Agreement.
Research and development
To date, our research and development expenses have related primarily to discovery efforts and preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates. Research and development expenses are recognized as incurred and payments made prior to the receipt of goods or services to be used in research and development are capitalized until the goods or services are received.
Research and development expenses include:
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salaries, payroll taxes, employee benefits, and stock-based compensation charges for those individuals involved in research and development efforts;
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external research and development expenses incurred under agreements with contract research organizations, or CROs, investigative sites and consultants to conduct our clinical trials and preclinical and nonclinical studies;
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•
costs related to manufacturing our product candidates for clinical trials and preclinical studies, including fees paid to third-party manufacturers;
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costs related to compliance with regulatory requirements;
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laboratory supplies; and
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facilities, depreciation and other allocated expenses for rent, facilities maintenance, insurance, equipment and other supplies.
We recognize the Australian Tax Incentive as a reduction of research and development expense. The amounts are determined based on eligible research and development expenditures. The Australian Tax Incentive is recognized when there is reasonable assurance that the Australian Tax Incentive will be received, the relevant expenditure has been incurred, and the amount of the Australian Tax Incentive can be reliably measured.
Our direct research and development expenses consist principally of external costs, such as fees paid to CROs, investigative sites and consultants in connection with our clinical trials, preclinical and non-clinical studies, and costs related to manufacturing clinical trial materials. The majority of our third-party expenses during the three years ended December 31, 2024 related to the research and development of paltusotine, atumelnant, and discovery. We deploy our personnel and facility related resources across all of our research and development activities.
Our clinical development costs may vary significantly based on factors such as:
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per patient trial costs;
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the number of trials required for approval;
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the number of sites included in the trials;
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the countries in which the trials are conducted;
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the length of time required to enroll eligible patients;
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the number of patients that participate in the trials;
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number of doses that patients receive;
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drop-out or discontinuation rates of patients;
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potential additional safety monitoring requested by regulatory agencies;
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the duration of patient participation in the trials and follow-up;
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the cost and timing of manufacturing our product candidates;
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the number of product candidates;
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the phase of development of our product candidates; and
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the efficacy and safety profile of our product candidates.
We plan to increase our research and development expenses for the foreseeable future as we continue the development of our product candidates and the discovery of new product candidates. We cannot determine with certainty the timing of initiation, the duration or the completion costs of current or future preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates due to the inherently unpredictable nature of preclinical and clinical development. Clinical and preclinical development timelines, the probability of success and development costs can differ materially from expectations. We anticipate that we will make determinations as to which product candidates to pursue and how much funding to direct to each product candidate on an ongoing basis in response to the results of ongoing and future preclinical studies and clinical trials, regulatory developments and our ongoing assessments as to each product candidate’s commercial potential. We will need to raise substantial additional capital in the future. In addition, we cannot forecast which product candidates may be subject to future collaborations, when such arrangements will be secured, if at all, and to what degree such arrangements would affect our development plans and capital requirements.
General and administrative
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and employee-related costs, including stock-based compensation, for personnel in executive, finance and other administrative functions. Other significant costs include facility-related costs, legal fees relating to intellectual property and corporate matters, professional fees for accounting and consulting services, insurance costs, and commercial planning expenses. We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future to support our continued research and development activities and, if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval, commercialization activities. We also incur expenses related to audit, legal, regulatory, and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and SEC requirements, director and officer insurance premiums, as well as commercial preparedness, corporate strategy and business development, corporate communications, and investor relations costs associated with operating as a public company.
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Critical Accounting Estimates
Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which we have prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of our consolidated financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those listed below. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events, information received from third parties and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances at the time the estimates are made, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. There were no material differences between estimates and actual results for the years presented in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in "Note 2" to the consolidated financial statements, we believe the following accounting policies and estimates to be most critical to the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.
Accrued research and development expenses
As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we are required to estimate our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date. This process involves reviewing open contracts and purchase orders, communicating with our personnel to identify services that have been performed on our behalf and estimating the level of service performed and the associated cost incurred for the service when we have not yet been invoiced or otherwise notified of the actual cost. We make estimates of our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date based on facts and circumstances known to us at that time. We periodically confirm the accuracy of our estimates with the service providers and make adjustments if necessary. The significant estimates in our accrued research and development expenses include the costs incurred for services performed by our vendors in connection with research and development activities for which we have not yet been invoiced.
We base our expenses related to research and development activities on our estimates of the services received and efforts expended pursuant to quotes and contracts with vendors that conduct research and development on our behalf. The financial terms of these agreements are subject to negotiation, vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven payment flows. There may be instances in which payments made to our vendors will exceed the level of services provided and result in a prepayment of the research and development expense. In accruing service fees, we estimate the time period over which services will be performed and the level of effort to be expended in each period. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from our estimate, we adjust the accrual or prepaid expense accordingly. Advance payments for goods and services that will be used in future research and development activities are expensed when the activity has been performed or when the goods have been received rather than when the payment is made.
Costs incurred under contracts with contract research organizations, or CROs, that conduct and manage our clinical trials are also included in research and development expenses. The financial terms and activities of these agreements vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven expense levels. Clinical trial activities are accrued and expensed based on estimates of the period in which services and efforts are expended by CROs and other third parties. Estimates are determined by reviewing cost information provided by CROs, other third-party vendors and internal clinical personnel, and contractual arrangements with CROs and the scope of work to be performed. If the amounts that we are obligated to pay under our clinical trial agreements are modified (for instance, because of changes in the clinical trial protocol or scope of work to be performed), we adjust our accruals accordingly on a prospective basis. Revisions to contractual payment obligations are charged to expense in the period in which the facts that give rise to the revision become reasonably certain.
Although we do not expect our estimates to be materially different from amounts actually incurred, if our estimates of the status and timing of services performed differ from the actual status and timing of services performed, it could result in us reporting amounts that are too high or too low in any particular period. To date, there have been no material differences between our estimates of such expenses and the amounts actually incurred.
Leases
When our leases do not provide an implicit rate, an incremental borrowing rate is used based on the information available at accounting commencement dates in determining the present value of lease payments. The incremental borrowing rate is the rate of interest that we would expect to pay to borrow over a similar term, and on a collateralized basis, an amount equal to the lease payments in a similar economic environment. On September 9, 2022, we entered into a lease agreement for laboratory and office space in San Diego, California, or the 2022 Lease. The incremental borrowing rate for the 2022 Lease was determined using a synthetic credit rating analysis.
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Results of Operations
Comparison of the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | Dollar | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | Change | ||||||||||
| Revenues | $ | 1,039 | $ | 4,013 | $ | (2,974 | ) | |||||
| Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||
| Research and development | 240,156 | 168,527 | 71,629 | |||||||||
| General and administrative | 99,737 | 58,094 | 41,643 | |||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 339,893 | 226,621 | 113,272 | |||||||||
| Loss from operations | (338,854 | ) | (222,608 | ) | (116,246 | ) | ||||||
| Other income, net | 40,916 | 13,277 | 27,639 | |||||||||
| Loss before equity method investment | (297,938 | ) | (209,331 | ) | (88,607 | ) | ||||||
| Loss on equity method investment | (470 | ) | (5,198 | ) | 4,728 | |||||||
| Net loss | $ | (298,408 | ) | $ | (214,529 | ) | $ | (83,879 | ) |
Revenues. Revenues during the year ended December 31, 2024 primarily relate to the Sanwa License. Revenues during the year ended December 31, 2023 primarily relate to licensing arrangements, including $2.1 million from the Loyal License which was entered into 2023, and $1.5 million and $0.4 million related to the Sanwa License and Sanwa Clinical Supply Agreement, respectively.
Research and development expenses. Research and development expenses were $240.2 million and $168.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The change was primarily due to an increase in personnel costs of $43.4 million, increased outside services of $11.3 million, increase in facilities expenses of $6.3 million, an increase in manufacturing and development activities of $12.1 million, offset by decreased spending on nonclinical activities of $1.9 million. We describe the changes in these research and development expenses for each of our programs below.
The following table summarizes our primary external and internal research and development expenses for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | Dollar | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | Change | ||||||||||
| External research and development expenses: | ||||||||||||
| Clinical trials | $ | 40,532 | $ | 39,851 | $ | 681 | ||||||
| Contract manufacturing | 25,835 | 14,437 | 11,398 | |||||||||
| Preclinical studies | 12,533 | 14,454 | (1,921 | ) | ||||||||
| Outside services | 25,771 | 14,467 | 11,304 | |||||||||
| Other external research and development | 38 | 39 | (1 | ) | ||||||||
| Total external research and development expenses | 104,709 | 83,248 | 21,461 | |||||||||
| Internal expenses: | ||||||||||||
| Payroll and benefits | 78,817 | 53,446 | 25,371 | |||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | 40,667 | 22,633 | 18,034 | |||||||||
| Facilities and related | 11,301 | 4,964 | 6,337 | |||||||||
| Other internal research and development | 4,662 | 4,236 | 426 | |||||||||
| Total internal research and development expenses | 135,447 | 85,279 | 50,168 | |||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 240,156 | $ | 168,527 | $ | 71,629 |
The following table summarizes our research and development expenses by program for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands):
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| Year ended December 31, | Dollar | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | Change | ||||||||||
| Paltusotine | $ | 48,536 | $ | 46,772 | $ | 1,764 | ||||||
| Atumelnant | 23,980 | 13,118 | 10,862 | |||||||||
| CRN04777 | 626 | 7,754 | (7,128 | ) | ||||||||
| Early research and development programs | 25,445 | 12,667 | 12,778 | |||||||||
| Payroll and benefits | 78,817 | 53,446 | 25,371 | |||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | 40,667 | 22,633 | 18,034 | |||||||||
| Other | 22,085 | 12,137 | 9,948 | |||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 240,156 | $ | 168,527 | $ | 71,629 |
Research and development expenses for paltusotine were $48.5 million and $46.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The change was primarily due to increased spending on outside services of $3.9 million, offset by decreased manufacturing and development activities of $2.2 million.
Research and development expenses for our atumelnant clinical studies were $24.0 million and $13.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The change was primarily due to increased spending on development activities of $9.4 million as the program progressed into clinical trials in patients.
Research and development expenses for our CRN04777 clinical studies were $0.6 million and $7.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The change was primarily due to decreased spending on manufacturing and development activities of $2.3 million and decreased nonclinical activities of $4.6 million as a result of the clinical hold received from the FDA in November 2022, which delayed the advancement of CRN04777 prior to our discontinuation of its clinical development in August 2023.
Research and development expenses for our early research and development programs were $25.4 million and $12.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The change was primarily due to an increase in outside services of $3.3 million, increased spending on manufacturing and development activities of $5.9 million and increased spending on nonclinical activities of $3.4 million as a result of the expansion of our discovery efforts across new therapeutic targets.
Research and development expenses for payroll and benefits were $78.8 million and $53.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The change was primarily due to an increase in headcount to support our ongoing programs as well as for the expansion of our discovery efforts into new therapeutic targets.
Stock-based compensation for research and development personnel was $40.7 million and $22.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The change was primarily due to an increase in headcount to support our ongoing programs as well as for the expansion of our discovery efforts across new therapeutic targets.
Other research and development expenses were $22.1 million and $12.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The change was primarily due an increase in outside services of $2.2 million and an increase in facilities expenditures of $6.3 million driven by our move to our new headquarters.
General and administrative expenses. General and administrative expenses were $99.7 million and $58.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The change was primarily due to an increase in personnel costs of $23.8 million, an increase in outside services of $10.9 million to support our growth, and an increase in facilities expenditures of $3.0 million driven by our move to our new headquarters.
Other income. Other income, net was $40.9 million and $13.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The increase was primarily due to income generated by our investment securities.
Loss on equity method investment. Loss on equity method investment was $0.5 million and $5.2 million for years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The 2024 loss on equity methods investment was due to our share of loss in Radionetics’ net loss, which is recorded on a quarterly lag. The 2023 loss on equity method investment was due to our share of loss in Radionetics’ net loss subsequent to the August 2023 Radionetics stock purchase and Radionetics Warrant exercise.
Cash Flows
We have incurred cumulative net losses and negative cash flows from operations since our inception and anticipate we will continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future. As of December 31, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $952.1 million and unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $1.4 billion.
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The following table provides information regarding our cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands):
| Years ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | |||||||
| Net cash used in operating activities | $ | (225,970 | ) | $ | (166,307 | ) | ||
| Net cash used in investing activities | (574,817 | ) | (200,413 | ) | ||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | 1,010,435 | 388,944 | ||||||
| Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash | $ | 209,648 | $ | 22,224 |
Operating Activities. Net cash used in operating activities was $226.0 million and $166.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The increase in cash used in operations was primarily attributable to higher personnel costs. The net cash used in operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2024 was primarily due to our net loss of $298.4 million adjusted for $60.8 million of noncash charges, primarily for stock-based compensation, and a $11.6 million change in operating assets and liabilities. The net cash used in operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2023 was primarily due to our net loss of $214.5 million adjusted for $40.2 million of noncash charges, primarily for stock-based compensation and loss on the investment in Radionetics, and an $8.0 million change in operating assets and liabilities.
Investing activities. Investing activities consist primarily of purchases and maturities of investment securities and, to a lesser extent, the cash outflow associated with purchases of property and equipment. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we also invested $5.0 million to purchase preferred stock in Radionetics. Such activities resulted in net cash outflows of approximately $574.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to the net cash outflows of approximately $200.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 due to the increase in purchases of investment securities in 2024.
Financing activities. Net cash provided by financing activities was $1.0 billion and $388.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The net cash provided by financing activities during 2024 and 2023 resulted from proceeds received from the sale of common stock and cash received from the exercise of stock options, both of which increased in 2024.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2024, we had unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $1.4 billion. Based on our current and anticipated level of operations, we believe that our existing capital resources, together with investment income, will be sufficient to satisfy our current and projected funding requirements for at least the next twelve months. However, our forecast of the period through which our financial resources will be adequate to support our operations is a forward-looking statement that involves risks and uncertainties, and actual results could vary materially. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our capital resources sooner than we expect. Additionally, the process of testing product candidates in clinical trials is costly, and the timing of progress and expenses in these trials is uncertain.
Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
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the type, number, scope, progress, expansions, results, costs and timing of, our preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates which we are pursuing or may choose to pursue in the future;
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the costs of and our ability to obtain clinical and commercial supplies for our current product candidates and any other product candidates we may identify and develop;
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the costs and timing of manufacturing for our product candidates, including commercial manufacturing if any product candidate is approved;
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the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;
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the costs of obtaining, maintaining and enforcing our patents and other intellectual property rights;
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our efforts to enhance operational systems and hire additional personnel to satisfy our obligations as a public company, including enhanced internal controls over financial reporting;
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the costs associated with hiring additional personnel and consultants as our preclinical and clinical activities increase;
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the timing and the extent of any Australian Tax Incentive refund and future grant revenues that we receive;
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the costs and timing of establishing or securing sales and marketing capabilities if any product candidate is approved;
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•
our ability to achieve sufficient market acceptance, adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors and adequate market share and revenue for any approved products;
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the terms and timing of establishing and maintaining collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements;
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costs associated with any products or technologies that we may in-license or acquire;
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the funding of any co-development arrangements we enter into; and
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our ability to participate in future equity offerings by Radionetics.
Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenues to support our cost structure, we expect to finance our cash needs through equity offerings, debt financings or other capital sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses, and other similar arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of our stockholders will be or could be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our common stockholders. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures, or declaring dividends. If we raise funds through collaborations, licenses, and other similar arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us and/or may reduce the value of our common stock. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market our product candidates even if we would otherwise prefer to develop and market such product candidates ourselves.
ATM Offerings
In August 2019, we entered into the 2019 Sales Agreement with the Sales Agents, under which we could, from time to time, sell up to $150.0 million of shares of our common stock through the Sales Agents pursuant to the 2019 ATM Offering. The 2019 ATM Offering was terminated upon the filing of our Registration Statement on Form S-3ASR on June 21, 2024.
On June 21, 2024, we entered the 2024 Sales Agreement with the Sales Agents, under which we may, from time to time, sell up to $350.0 million of shares of our common stock through the Sales Agents pursuant to the 2024 ATM Offering. We are not obligated to, and we cannot provide any assurances that we will continue to, make any sales of the shares under the 2024 Sales Agreement. The 2024 Sales Agreement may be terminated by either Sales Agent (with respect to itself) or us at any time upon 10 days’ notice to the other parties, or by either Sales Agent, with respect to itself, at any time in certain circumstances, including the occurrence of a material adverse change. We will pay the Sales Agents a commission for their services in acting as agent in the sale of common stock in an amount equal to 3% of the gross sales price per share sold. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we issued 1,344,865 shares of common stock in the 2019 ATM Offering for net proceeds of approximately $40.6 million, after deducting commissions. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we issued 1,223,775 shares of common stock pursuant to the 2019 ATM Offering for net proceeds of approximately $43.4 million, after deducting commissions. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we issued 928,912 shares of common stock pursuant to the 2024 ATM Offering for net proceeds of approximately $48.3 million, after deducting commissions.
Equity Offerings
On September 15, 2023, we completed an underwritten public offering of 11,441,648 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $30.59 per share. Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $328.5 million, after underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of approximately $21.5 million.
On February 27, 2024, we entered into a stock purchase agreement with certain investors named therein, or the Purchasers, pursuant to which we agreed to issue and sell to the Purchasers in the Private Placement an aggregate of 8,333,334 shares of its common stock at a price of $42.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $350.0 million, before deducting offering expenses payable by us. The Private Placement closed on March 1, 2024. On March 19, 2024, we registered the resale of the shares issued and sold in the Private Placement, pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement entered into with the Purchasers, dated February 27, 2024.
On October 10, 2024, we completed an underwritten public offering of 11,500,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $50.00 per share, which included 1,500,000 shares of common stock issued pursuant to the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares. Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $542.8 million, after underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs of approximately $32.2 million.
Headquarters Lease
On September 9, 2022, we entered into a lease agreement for laboratory and office space in San Diego, California, or the 2022 Lease (see "Note 6" to the consolidated financial statements). On December 18, 2023, we moved our corporate headquarters to the new facility.
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FY 2023 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0000950170-24-022108.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with all of the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto and “Risk Factors”. This section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K generally discusses 2023 and 2022 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2023 and 2022. Discussions of 2021 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2022 and 2021 that are not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K can be found in the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022.
Overview
We are a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors. Endocrine pathways function to maintain homeostasis and commonly use peptide hormones acting through GPCRs to regulate many aspects of physiology, including growth, energy, metabolism, gastrointestinal function and stress responses. We have built a highly productive drug discovery and development organization with extensive expertise in endocrine GPCRs. We have discovered a pipeline of oral nonpeptide (small molecule) new chemical entities that target peptide GPCRs to treat a variety of rare endocrine diseases where treatment options have significant efficacy, safety and/or tolerability limitations. Our product candidates include paltusotine (formerly CRN00808), which is in clinical development for the treatment of acromegaly and carcinoid syndrome associated with NETs, and CRN04894, which is in clinical development for CAH and Cushing’s disease. We are advancing additional product candidates through preclinical discovery and development studies in parallel. Our vision is to build a premier, fully integrated, endocrine-focused pharmaceutical company that consistently pioneers new therapeutics to help patients better control their disease and improve their daily lives.
We focus on the discovery and development of oral nonpeptide therapeutics that target peptide GPCRs with well-understood biological functions, validated biomarkers and the potential to substantially improve the treatment of endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors.
To date, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to drug discovery, conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, obtaining and maintaining patents related to our product candidates, licensing activities, and the provision of general and administrative support for these operations. We have recognized revenues from various research and development grants and license and collaboration agreements, but do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any product sales. We have funded our operations primarily through our grant and license revenues and offerings of our preferred and common stock. As of December 31, 2023, we had unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $558.6 million.
We have incurred cumulative net losses since our inception and, as of December 31, 2023, we had an accumulated deficit of $653.7 million. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year, depending on the timing of our clinical trials and preclinical studies and our expenditures on other research and development activities. We expect our expenses and operating losses will increase substantially as we conduct our ongoing and planned clinical trials, continue our research and development activities and conduct preclinical studies, hire additional personnel, protect our intellectual property and incur costs associated with being a public company, including audit, legal, regulatory, and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, requirements, director and officer insurance premiums, and investor relations costs.
We do not expect to generate any revenues from product sales unless and until we successfully complete development and obtain regulatory approval for one or more of our product candidates. If we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution. Accordingly, until such time as we can generate significant revenue from sales of our product candidates, if ever, we expect to finance our cash needs through equity offerings, debt financings or other capital sources, including potentially, collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. However, we may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other arrangements when needed on favorable terms or at all. Our failure to raise capital or enter into such other arrangements when needed would have a negative impact on our financial condition and could force us to delay, scale back or discontinue the development of our existing product candidates or our efforts to expand our product pipeline.
Australian operations
In January 2017, we established Crinetics Australia Pty Ltd, or CAPL, a wholly-owned subsidiary which was formed to conduct various preclinical and clinical activities for our product and development candidates. CAPL is eligible for certain financial incentives made available by the Australian government for research and development expenses. Specifically, the Australian Taxation Office provides a refundable tax credit in the form of a cash refund equal to 43.5% of qualified research and development expenditures under the Australian Research and Development Tax Incentive Program, or the Australian Tax
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Incentive, to Australian companies that operate the majority of their research and development activities associated with such projects in Australia. A wholly-owned Australian subsidiary of a non-Australian parent company is eligible to receive the refundable tax credit, provided that the Australian subsidiary retains the rights to the data and intellectual property generated in Australia, and provided that the total revenues of the parent company and its consolidated subsidiaries during the period for which the refundable tax credit is claimed are less than $20.0 million Australian dollars. If we lose our ability to operate CAPL in Australia, or if we are ineligible or unable to receive the research and development tax credit, or the Australian government significantly reduces or eliminates the tax credit, the actual refund amounts we receive may differ from our estimates. See "Note 2" to the consolidated financial statements for further information on the reductions we have recognized in connection with the Australian Tax Incentive.
Recent Developments
Product Candidates
In August 2023, we announced the suspension of further investment into our product candidate CRN047777, an investigational, oral, nonpeptide somatostatin receptor type 5, or SST5, agonist designed for the treatment of congenital hyperinsulinism, or HI. While developing our response to the clinical hold issued by the FDA, results from additional nonclinical studies became available. These studies uncovered findings at exposure levels that eroded anticipated therapeutic margins for CRN04777. These other findings were not related to those originally cited by the FDA for the clinical hold and, importantly, were not present in nonclinical studies that have been conducted with other Crinetics product candidates under development. We believe them to be specific to CRN04777 and not associated with its somatostatin receptor type 5 (SST5) mechanism of action.
In September 2023, we reported positive topline data from the randomized controlled portion of the PATHFNDR-1 study, where the primary endpoint and all secondary endpoints of the study were achieved.
In December 2023, we announced positive initial findings from our ongoing open-label, parallel group, multi-center Phase 2 study to assess the safety, and pharmacokinetics of multiple doses of paltusotine in people living with carcinoid syndrome.
See other updates in the business overview section above.
Licenses
On March 24, 2023, we and Cellular Longevity Inc., doing business as Loyal, entered into the Loyal License, pursuant to which we granted Loyal an exclusive license to develop and commercialize CRN01941, a somatostatin receptor type 2 agonist, for veterinary use.
In August 2023, the Radionetics License was amended to include additional sales milestones of up to $15.0 million. Following the amendment to the Radionetics License, we are eligible to receive total potential sales milestones in excess of $1.0 billion and single-digit royalties on net sales.
Equity Offerings
On September 15, 2023, we completed an underwritten public offering of 11,441,648 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $30.59 per share. Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $328.5 million, after underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of approximately $21.5 million.
Financial operations overview
Revenues
To date, our revenues have been mainly derived from research grant awards and licenses, including the Radionetics License, the Sanwa License, and the Loyal License. As our data exchange performance obligation under the Sanwa License is fulfilled, we expect to recognize deferred revenue amounts received under the Sanwa License as revenues. We will recognize royalty and milestone revenues under our license agreements if and when appropriate under the relevant accounting rules (see "Note 8" to the consolidated financial statements). We have not generated any revenues from the commercial sale of approved products and we may never generate revenues from the commercial sale of our product candidates.
License revenues
License revenues for 2022 were primarily derived from the Sanwa License, under which Sanwa was granted the exclusive right to develop and commercialize paltusotine in Japan.
License revenues for 2023 were primarily derived from both the Sanwa License and the Loyal License, as described in “Note 8” of the consolidated financial statements.
Clinical supply revenues
On June 14, 2022, we and Sanwa entered into a clinical supply agreement, or the Sanwa Clinical Supply Agreement, whereby we are responsible for manufacturing and supplying certain materials to Sanwa for specified activities under the
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Sanwa License. During the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, we recognized $0.4 million and $0.1 million, respectively, of revenues from the Sanwa Clinical Supply Agreement.
Research and development
To date, our research and development expenses have related primarily to discovery efforts and preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates. Research and development expenses are recognized as incurred and payments made prior to the receipt of goods or services to be used in research and development are capitalized until the goods or services are received.
Research and development expenses include:
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salaries, payroll taxes, employee benefits, and stock-based compensation charges for those individuals involved in research and development efforts;
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external research and development expenses incurred under agreements with contract research organizations, or CROs, investigative sites and consultants to conduct our clinical trials and preclinical and nonclinical studies;
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costs related to manufacturing our product candidates for clinical trials and preclinical studies, including fees paid to third-party manufacturers;
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costs related to compliance with regulatory requirements;
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laboratory supplies; and
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facilities, depreciation and other allocated expenses for rent, facilities maintenance, insurance, equipment and other supplies.
We recognize the Australian Tax Incentive as a reduction of research and development expense. The amounts are determined based on eligible research and development expenditures. The Australian Tax Incentive is recognized when there is reasonable assurance that the Australian Tax Incentive will be received, the relevant expenditure has been incurred, and the amount of the Australian Tax Incentive can be reliably measured.
Our direct research and development expenses consist principally of external costs, such as fees paid to CROs, investigative sites and consultants in connection with our clinical trials, preclinical and non-clinical studies, and costs related to manufacturing clinical trial materials. The majority of our third-party expenses during the three years ended December 31, 2023 related to the research and development of paltusotine, CRN04894, and CRN04777. We deploy our personnel and facility related resources across all of our research and development activities.
Our clinical development costs may vary significantly based on factors such as:
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per patient trial costs;
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the number of trials required for approval;
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the number of sites included in the trials;
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the countries in which the trials are conducted;
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the length of time required to enroll eligible patients;
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the number of patients that participate in the trials;
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number of doses that patients receive;
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drop-out or discontinuation rates of patients;
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potential additional safety monitoring requested by regulatory agencies;
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the duration of patient participation in the trials and follow-up;
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the cost and timing of manufacturing our product candidates;
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the phase of development of our product candidates; and
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the efficacy and safety profile of our product candidates.
We plan to increase our research and development expenses for the foreseeable future as we continue the development of our product candidates and the discovery of new product candidates. We cannot determine with certainty the timing of initiation, the duration or the completion costs of current or future preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates due to the inherently unpredictable nature of preclinical and clinical development. Clinical and preclinical development timelines, the probability of success and development costs can differ materially from expectations. We anticipate that we will make determinations as to which product candidates to pursue and how much funding to direct to each product candidate on an ongoing basis in response to the results of ongoing and future preclinical studies and clinical trials, regulatory developments and our ongoing assessments as to each product candidate’s commercial potential. We will need to raise substantial additional capital in the future. In addition, we cannot forecast which product candidates may be subject to future collaborations, when such arrangements will be secured, if at all, and to what degree such arrangements would affect our development plans and capital requirements.
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General and administrative
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and employee-related costs, including stock-based compensation, for personnel in executive, finance and other administrative functions. Other significant costs include facility-related costs, legal fees relating to intellectual property and corporate matters, professional fees for accounting and consulting services, insurance costs, and commercial planning expenses. We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future to support our continued research and development activities and, if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval, commercialization activities. We also incur expenses related to audit, legal, regulatory, and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and SEC requirements, director and officer insurance premiums, as well as commercial preparedness, corporate strategy and business development, corporate communications, and investor relations costs associated with operating as a public company.
Critical Accounting Estimates
Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which we have prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our consolidated financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those listed below. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events, information received from third parties and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances at the time the estimates are made, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. There were no material differences between estimates and actual results for the years presented in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in "Note 2" to the consolidated financial statements, we believe the following accounting policies and estimates to be most critical to the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.
Accrued research and development expenses
As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we are required to estimate our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date. This process involves reviewing open contracts and purchase orders, communicating with our personnel to identify services that have been performed on our behalf and estimating the level of service performed and the associated cost incurred for the service when we have not yet been invoiced or otherwise notified of the actual cost. We make estimates of our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date based on facts and circumstances known to us at that time. We periodically confirm the accuracy of our estimates with the service providers and make adjustments if necessary. The significant estimates in our accrued research and development expenses include the costs incurred for services performed by our vendors in connection with research and development activities for which we have not yet been invoiced.
We base our expenses related to research and development activities on our estimates of the services received and efforts expended pursuant to quotes and contracts with vendors that conduct research and development on our behalf. The financial terms of these agreements are subject to negotiation, vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven payment flows. There may be instances in which payments made to our vendors will exceed the level of services provided and result in a prepayment of the research and development expense. In accruing service fees, we estimate the time period over which services will be performed and the level of effort to be expended in each period. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from our estimate, we adjust the accrual or prepaid expense accordingly. Advance payments for goods and services that will be used in future research and development activities are expensed when the activity has been performed or when the goods have been received rather than when the payment is made.
Costs incurred under contracts with contract research organizations, or CROs, that conduct and manage our clinical trials are also included in research and development expenses. The financial terms and activities of these agreements vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven expense levels. Clinical trial activities are accrued and expensed based on estimates of the period in which services and efforts are expended by CROs and other third parties. Estimates are determined by reviewing cost information provided by CROs, other third-party vendors and internal clinical personnel, and contractual arrangements with CROs and the scope of work to be performed. If the amounts that we are obligated to pay under our clinical trial agreements are modified (for instance, because of changes in the clinical trial protocol or scope of work to be performed), we adjust our accruals accordingly on a prospective basis. Revisions to contractual payment obligations are charged to expense in the period in which the facts that give rise to the revision become reasonably certain.
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Although we do not expect our estimates to be materially different from amounts actually incurred, if our estimates of the status and timing of services performed differ from the actual status and timing of services performed, it could result in us reporting amounts that are too high or too low in any particular period. To date, there have been no material differences between our estimates of such expenses and the amounts actually incurred.
Stock-based compensation
Stock-based compensation expense represents the estimated grant date fair value of the Company’s equity awards, consisting of stock options, restricted stock units and shares issued under the Company’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan, or ESPP, recognized over the requisite service period of such awards (usually the vesting period) on a straight-line basis. We estimate the fair value of all stock option and ESPP grants using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and recognize forfeitures as they occur. Restricted stock units are valued using the grant date stock price.
Estimating the fair value of equity awards as of the grant date using valuation models, such as the Black-Scholes option pricing model, is affected by assumptions regarding a number of complex variables, including the expected stock price volatility, the risk-free interest rate, the expected term of stock options, the expected dividend yield and the fair value of the underlying common stock on the date of grant. Changes in the assumptions can materially affect the fair value and ultimately how much stock-based compensation expense is recognized. These inputs are subjective and generally require significant analysis and judgment to develop.
Beginning in the first quarter of 2023, we determined that the volatility of our own market-traded shares best represents the expected volatility based on the available historical data and, therefore, the expected volatility assumption used to value certain stock-based awards granted during the year ended December 31, 2023 primarily utilizes the historical volatility of our common stock. Previously, due to the lack of an adequate history of a public market for the trading of our common stock and a lack of adequate company-specific historical and implied volatility data that we believed was indicative of the expected future volatility, we had based our estimate of expected volatility on the historical volatility of a group of similar companies that are publicly traded. For these analyses, we selected companies with comparable characteristics to ours, including enterprise value, risk profiles, and position within the industry, and with historical share price information sufficient to meet the expected life of the stock-based awards. We compute the historical volatility data using the daily close prices during the equivalent period of the calculated expected term of our stock-based awards. We compute the historical volatility data using the daily close prices during the equivalent period of the calculated expected term of our stock-based awards.
We have estimated the expected life of our employee stock options using the “simplified” method, whereby the expected life equals the average of the vesting term and the original contractual term of the option. The expected term for employee stock purchase plan awards represents the term the awards are expected to be outstanding. The risk-free interest rates for periods within the expected life of the awards are based on the yields of zero-coupon U.S. treasury securities.
Leases
When our leases do not provide an implicit rate, an incremental borrowing rate is used based on the information available at accounting commencement dates in determining the present value of lease payments. The incremental borrowing rate is the rate of interest that we would expect to pay to borrow over a similar term, and on a collateralized basis, an amount equal to the lease payments in a similar economic environment. On September 9, 2022, we entered into a lease agreement for laboratory and office space in San Diego, California, or the 2022 Lease. The incremental borrowing rate for the 2022 Lease was determined using a synthetic credit rating analysis. A 1% increase in our incremental borrowing rate for the 2022 Lease, holding all other assumptions constant, would decrease the initial Right-of-use asset and lease liability of the 2022 Lease by approximately $2.6 million. A 1% decrease in our incremental borrowing rate for the 2022 Lease, holding all other assumptions constant, would increase the initial Right-of-use asset and lease liability of the 2022 Lease by approximately $2.8 million.
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Results of Operations
Comparison of the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022.
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | Dollar | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Change | ||||||||||
| Revenues | $ | 4,013 | $ | 4,737 | $ | (724 | ) | |||||
| Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||
| Research and development | 168,527 | 130,225 | 38,302 | |||||||||
| General and administrative | 58,094 | 42,394 | 15,700 | |||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 226,621 | 172,619 | 54,002 | |||||||||
| Loss from operations | (222,608 | ) | (167,882 | ) | (54,726 | ) | ||||||
| Other income, net | 13,277 | 4,974 | 8,303 | |||||||||
| Loss before equity method investment | (209,331 | ) | (162,908 | ) | (46,423 | ) | ||||||
| Loss on equity method investment | (5,198 | ) | (1,010 | ) | (4,188 | ) | ||||||
| Net loss | $ | (214,529 | ) | $ | (163,918 | ) | $ | (50,611 | ) |
Revenues. Revenues during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 primarily relate to licensing arrangements, including $2.1 million from the Loyal License which was entered into 2023. Revenues during year ended December 31, 2023 also include $1.5 million and $0.4 million related to the Sanwa License and Sanwa Clinical Supply Agreement, respectively. Revenues in 2022 were primarily related to the licensing arrangement entered into with Sanwa in February 2022.
Research and development expenses. Research and development expenses were $168.5 million and $130.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The change was primarily due to an increase in personnel costs of $29.3 million, increased outside services (primarily consulting and professional services) of $5.6 million, increase in facilities expenses of $2.3 million, an increase in other corporate and travel expenditures of $2.2 million, offset by decreased net spending on manufacturing and development activities of $1.0 million associated with our clinical and nonclinical programs. We describe the changes in these research and development expenses for each of our programs below.
The following table summarizes our primary external and internal research and development expenses for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | Dollar | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Change | ||||||||||
| External research and development expenses: | ||||||||||||
| Clinical trials | $ | 39,851 | $ | 38,048 | $ | 1,803 | ||||||
| Contract manufacturing | 14,437 | 18,962 | (4,525 | ) | ||||||||
| Preclinical studies | 14,454 | 12,758 | 1,696 | |||||||||
| Outside services | 14,467 | 8,923 | 5,544 | |||||||||
| Other external research and development | 39 | 36 | 3 | |||||||||
| Total external research and development expenses | 83,248 | 78,727 | 4,521 | |||||||||
| Internal expenses: | ||||||||||||
| Payroll and benefits | 53,446 | 31,662 | 21,784 | |||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | 22,633 | 15,078 | 7,555 | |||||||||
| Facilities and related | 4,964 | 2,711 | 2,253 | |||||||||
| Other internal research and development | 4,236 | 2,047 | 2,189 | |||||||||
| Total internal research and development expenses | 85,279 | 51,498 | 33,781 | |||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 168,527 | $ | 130,225 | $ | 38,302 |
The following table summarizes our research and development expenses by program for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 (in thousands):
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| Year ended December 31, | Dollar | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Change | ||||||||||
| Paltusotine | $ | 46,772 | $ | 47,767 | $ | (995 | ) | |||||
| CRN04894 | 13,118 | 9,154 | 3,964 | |||||||||
| CRN04777 | 7,754 | 11,558 | (3,804 | ) | ||||||||
| Discovery | 12,667 | 7,278 | 5,389 | |||||||||
| Payroll and benefits | 53,446 | 31,662 | 21,784 | |||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | 22,633 | 15,078 | 7,555 | |||||||||
| Other | 12,137 | 7,728 | 4,409 | |||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 168,527 | $ | 130,225 | $ | 38,302 |
Research and development expenses for paltusotine were $46.8 million and $47.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The change was primarily due to decreased spending on manufacturing and development activities of $3.3 million, offset by increased outside services of $2.0 million primarily as a result of ramp-up of the PATHFNDR programs in 2022.
Research and development expenses for our CRN04894 clinical studies were $13.1 million and $9.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The change was primarily due to increased spending on manufacturing and development activities of $3.6 million as the program progressed into clinical trials in patients with CAH and Cushing’s disease.
Research and development expenses for our CRN04777 clinical studies were $7.8 million and $11.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The change was primarily due to decreased spending on manufacturing and development activities of $3.1 million and decreased outside services of $0.7 million as a result of suspension the of CRN047777 in August 2023.
Research and development expenses for our discovery programs were $12.7 million and $7.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The change was primarily due to an increase in outside services of $4.0 million and increased spending on lab supplies and toxicology studies of $1.1 million as a result of the expansion of our discovery efforts across new therapeutic targets.
Research and development expenses for payroll and benefits were $53.4 million and $31.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The change was primarily due to an increase in headcount to support our ongoing programs as well as for the expansion of our discovery efforts into new therapeutic targets.
Stock-based compensation for research and development personnel was $22.6 million and $15.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The change was primarily due to an increase in headcount to support our ongoing programs as well as for the expansion of our discovery efforts across new therapeutic targets.
Other research and development expenses were $12.1 million and $7.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The change was primarily due an increase in travel and other expenditures of $1.6 million and an increase in facilities expenditures of $2.2 million driven by our move to our new headquarters.
General and administrative expenses. General and administrative expenses were $58.1 million and $42.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The change was primarily due to an increase in personnel costs of $12.8 million and an increase in travel and other corporate expenditures of $2.1 million to support our growth.
Other income. Other income, net was $13.3 million and $5.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The increase was primarily due to income generated by our investment securities.
Loss on equity method investment. Loss on equity method investment was $5.2 million and $1.0 million for years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The 2023 loss on equity method investment was due to our share of loss in Radionetics’ net loss subsequent to the August 2023 Radionetics stock purchase and Radionetics Warrant exercise. The 2022 loss was due to our share of loss in Radionetics’ net loss associated with our original Radionetics investment.
Cash Flows
We have incurred cumulative net losses and negative cash flows from operations since our inception and anticipate we will continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future. As of December 31, 2023, we had an accumulated deficit of $653.7 million and unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $558.6 million.
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The following table provides information regarding our cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 (in thousands):
| Years ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| Net cash used in operating activities | $ | (166,307 | ) | $ | (115,205 | ) | ||
| Net cash used in investing activities | (200,413 | ) | (173,980 | ) | ||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | 388,944 | 121,963 | ||||||
| Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash | $ | 22,224 | $ | (167,222 | ) |
Operating Activities. Net cash used in operating activities was $166.3 million and $115.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The increase in cash used in operations was primarily attributable to higher personnel costs. The net cash used in operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2023 was primarily due to our net loss of $214.5 million adjusted for $40.2 million of noncash charges, primarily for stock-based compensation and loss on the investment in Radionetics, and a $8.0 million change in operating assets and liabilities. The net cash used in operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2022 was primarily due to our net loss of $163.9 million adjusted for $30.1 million of noncash charges, primarily for stock-based compensation and loss on the investment in Radionetics, and a $18.6 million change in operating assets and liabilities.
Investing activities. Investing activities consist primarily of purchases and maturities of investment securities and, to a lesser extent, the cash outflow associated with purchases of property and equipment. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we also invested $5.0 million to purchase preferred stock in Radionetics. Such activities resulted in net cash outflows of approximately $200.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to the net cash outflows of approximately $174.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2022.
Financing activities. Net cash provided by financing activities was $388.9 million and $122.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The net cash provided by financing activities during 2023 and 2022 resulted from proceeds received from the sale of common stock and cash received from the exercise of stock options.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2023, we had unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $558.6 million. Based on our current and anticipated level of operations, we believe that our existing capital resources, together with investment income, will be sufficient to satisfy our current and projected funding requirements for at least the next twelve months. However, our forecast of the period through which our financial resources will be adequate to support our operations is a forward-looking statement that involves risks and uncertainties, and actual results could vary materially. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our capital resources sooner than we expect. Additionally, the process of testing product candidates in clinical trials is costly, and the timing of progress and expenses in these trials is uncertain.
Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
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the type, number, scope, progress, expansions, results, costs and timing of, our preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates which we are pursuing or may choose to pursue in the future;
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the costs and timing of manufacturing for our product candidates, including commercial manufacturing if any product candidate is approved;
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the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;
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the costs of obtaining, maintaining and enforcing our patents and other intellectual property rights;
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our efforts to enhance operational systems and hire additional personnel to satisfy our obligations as a public company, including enhanced internal controls over financial reporting;
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the costs associated with hiring additional personnel and consultants as our preclinical and clinical activities increase;
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the timing and the extent of any Australian Tax Incentive refund and future grant revenues that we receive;
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the costs and timing of establishing or securing sales and marketing capabilities if any product candidate is approved;
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our ability to achieve sufficient market acceptance, adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors and adequate market share and revenue for any approved products;
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the terms and timing of establishing and maintaining collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements;
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costs associated with any products or technologies that we may in-license or acquire;
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the funding of any co-development arrangements we enter into; and
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our ability to participate in future equity offerings by Radionetics.
Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenues to support our cost structure, we expect to finance our cash needs through equity offerings, debt financings or other capital sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of our stockholders will be or could be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our common stockholders. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise funds through collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us and/or may reduce the value of our common stock. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market our product candidates even if we would otherwise prefer to develop and market such product candidates ourselves.
In August 2019, we entered into a Sales Agreement, or the Sales Agreement, with Leerink Partners LLC and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., or collectively, the Sales Agents, under which we may, from time to time, sell up to $150.0 million of shares of our common stock through the Sales Agents, or the ATM Offering. We are not obligated to, and we cannot provide any assurances that we will continue to, make any sales of the shares under the Sales Agreement. The Sales Agreement may be terminated by either Sales Agent (with respect to itself) or us at any time upon ten days’ notice to the other parties, or by either Sales Agent, with respect to itself, at any time in certain circumstances, including the occurrence of a material adverse change. We will pay the Sales Agents a commission for their services in acting as agent in the sale of common stock in an amount equal to 3% of the gross sales price per share sold. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we issued 1,344,865 shares of common stock in the ATM Offering for net proceeds of approximately $40.6 million, after deducting commissions. During the quarter ended December 31, 2023, we issued 822,058 shares of common stock in the ATM Offering for net proceeds of approximately $29.2 million, after deducting commissions.
On April 12, 2021, we completed an underwritten public offering of 4,562,044 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $16.44 per share. Proceeds from the offering were approximately $72.6 million, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of $2.4 million.
On July 28, 2021, we entered into a stock purchase agreement for the private placement of 851,306 shares of our common stock at a price of $17.62 per share, or the Private Placement, which shares were issued on July 30, 2021. The Private Placement yielded net proceeds of $15.0 million.
On October 21, 2021, we completed an underwritten public offering of 8,712,400 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $19.80 per share. Proceeds from the offering were approximately $162.0 million, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of $10.5 million.
On April 18, 2022, we completed an underwritten public offering of 5,625,563 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $22.22 per share. Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $117.2 million, after underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of approximately $7.8 million.
On September 15, 2023, we completed an underwritten public offering of 11,441,648 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $30.59 per share. Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $328.5 million, after underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of approximately $21.5 million.
2022 Lease
On September 9, 2022, we entered into a lease agreement for laboratory and office space in San Diego, California, or the 2022 Lease (see "Note 6" to the consolidated financial statements). On December 18, 2023, we moved our corporate headquarters to the new facility.
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FY 2022 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0000950170-23-005132.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K generally discusses 2022 and 2021 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2022 and 2021. Discussions of 2020 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2021 and 2020 that are not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K can be found in the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Overview
We are a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for rare endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors. Endocrine pathways function to maintain homeostasis and commonly use peptide hormones acting through G protein coupled receptors, or GPCRs, to regulate many aspects of physiology including growth, energy, metabolism, gastrointestinal function and stress responses. We have built a highly productive drug discovery and development organization with extensive expertise in endocrine GPCRs. We have discovered a pipeline of oral nonpeptide (small molecule) new chemical entities that target peptide GPCRs to treat a variety of rare endocrine diseases where treatment options have significant efficacy, safety and/or tolerability limitations. Our product candidates include paltusotine (formerly CRN00808), which is in clinical development for the treatment of acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumors complicated by carcinoid syndrome, CRN04777, which is in clinical development for congenital hyperinsulinism, or HI, and CRN04894, which is in clinical development for diseases of excess adrenocorticotrophic hormone, or ACTH, including Cushing’s disease and congenital adrenal hyperplasia. We are advancing additional product candidates through preclinical discovery and development studies in parallel. Our vision is to build the leading endocrine company which consistently pioneers new therapeutics to help patients better control their disease and improve their daily lives.
We focus on the discovery and development of oral nonpeptide therapeutics that target peptide GPCRs with well understood biological functions, validated biomarkers and the potential to substantially improve the treatment of endocrine diseases and/or endocrine-related tumors.
To date, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to drug discovery, conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, obtaining and maintaining patents related to our product candidates, licensing activities, and the provision of general and administrative support for these operations. We have recognized revenues from various research and development grants and license and collaboration agreements, but do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any product sales. We have funded our operations primarily through our grant and license revenues, the private placement of our preferred stock, and sales of our common stock As of December 31, 2022, we had unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $334.4 million.
We have incurred cumulative net losses since our inception and, as of December 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $439.2 million. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year, depending on the timing of our clinical trials and preclinical studies and our expenditures on other research and development activities. We expect our expenses and operating losses will increase substantially as we conduct our ongoing and planned clinical trials, continue our research and development activities and conduct preclinical studies, hire additional personnel, protect our intellectual property and incur costs associated with being a public company, including audit, legal, regulatory, and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, requirements, director and officer insurance premiums, and investor relations costs.
We do not expect to generate any revenues from product sales unless and until we successfully complete development and obtain regulatory approval for one or more of our product candidates, which we expect will take a number of years. If we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution. Accordingly, until such time as we can generate significant revenue from sales of our product candidates, if ever, we expect to finance our cash needs through equity offerings, debt financings or other capital sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. However, we may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other arrangements when needed on favorable terms or at all. Our failure to raise capital or enter into such other arrangements when needed would have a negative impact on our financial condition and could force us to delay, scale back or discontinue the development of our existing product candidates or our efforts to expand our product pipeline.
Australian operations
In January 2017, we established Crinetics Australia Pty Ltd, or CAPL, a wholly-owned subsidiary which was formed to conduct various preclinical and clinical activities for our product and development candidates. We believe CAPL will be
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eligible for certain financial incentives made available by the Australian government for research and development expenses. Specifically, the Australian Taxation Office provides for a refundable tax credit in the form of a cash refund equal to 43.5% of qualified research and development expenditures under the Australian Research and Development Tax Incentive Program, or the Australian Tax Incentive, to Australian companies that operate the majority of their research and development activities associated with such projects in Australia. A wholly-owned Australian subsidiary of a non-Australian parent company is eligible to receive the refundable tax credit, provided that the Australian subsidiary retains the rights to the data and intellectual property generated in Australia, and provided that the total revenues of the parent company and its consolidated subsidiaries during the period for which the refundable tax credit is claimed are less than $20.0 million Australian dollars. If we lose our ability to operate CAPL in Australia, or if we are ineligible or unable to receive the research and development tax credit, or the Australian government significantly reduces or eliminates the tax credit, the actual refund amounts we receive may differ from our estimates.
COVID-19
As we continue to actively advance our programs, we are in close contact with our principal investigators and clinical sites and continue to assess any impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic on our drug manufacturing, nonclinical activities, and clinical trials, expected timelines, and costs on an ongoing basis. The direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 on our business could alter our forecasted timelines. For example, the recent lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and subsequent COVID-19 outbreaks in China have delayed our planned recruitment of patients in our PATHFNDR-2 study. We will continue to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business.
Financial operations overview
Revenues
To date, our revenue has been mainly derived from grant awards and licenses. As our data exchange performance obligation under the Sanwa License is fulfilled, we expect to recognize as revenues the deferred revenue amounts included in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2022. We will recognize royalty and milestone revenues under our license agreements if and when appropriate under the relevant accounting rules (see Note 8 to our consolidated financial statements). We have not generated any revenues from the commercial sale of approved products, and we do not expect to generate revenues from the commercial sale of our product candidates for at least the foreseeable future, if ever.
License revenues
License revenues in 2021 were derived from the majority equity stake obtained in Radionetics pursuant to a Collaboration and License Agreement, under which Radionetics was granted an exclusive world-wide license to our radiotherapeutics technology platform and associated intellectual property for the development of radiotherapeutics and related radio-imaging agents.
License revenues for 2022 were derived from the Sanwa License, under which Sanwa was granted the exclusive right to develop and commercialize paltusotine in Japan.
Clinical supply revenues
On June 14, 2022, the Company and Sanwa, entered into a clinical supply agreement, or the Sanwa Clinical Supply Agreement, whereby the Company is responsible for manufacturing and supplying certain materials to Sanwa for specified activities under the Sanwa License. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we recognized $0.1 million of revenues pursuant to the Sanwa Clinical Supply Agreement.
Grant revenues
Grant revenues for 2020 were derived from Small Business Innovation Research Grants, or SBIR Grants, awarded to us by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. There were no grant revenues in 2022 or 2021. We do not currently have any active SBIR Grants nor do we expect grant revenues to be a material source of future funding.
Research and development
To date, our research and development expenses have related primarily to discovery efforts and preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates. Research and development expenses are recognized as incurred and payments made prior to the receipt of goods or services to be used in research and development are capitalized until the goods or services are received.
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Research and development expenses include:
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salaries, payroll taxes, employee benefits, and stock-based compensation charges for those individuals involved in research and development efforts;
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external research and development expenses incurred under agreements with contract research organizations, or CROs, investigative sites and consultants to conduct our clinical trials and preclinical and nonclinical studies;
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costs related to manufacturing our product candidates for clinical trials and preclinical studies, including fees paid to third-party manufacturers;
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costs related to compliance with regulatory requirements;
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laboratory supplies; and
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facilities, depreciation and other allocated expenses for rent, facilities maintenance, insurance, equipment and other supplies.
We recognize the Australian Tax Incentive as a reduction of research and development expense. The amounts are determined based on eligible research and development expenditures. The Australian Tax Incentive is recognized when there is reasonable assurance that the Australian Tax Incentive will be received, the relevant expenditure has been incurred, and the amount of the Australian Tax Incentive can be reliably measured.
Our direct research and development expenses consist principally of external costs, such as fees paid to CROs, investigative sites and consultants in connection with our clinical trials, preclinical and non-clinical studies, and costs related to manufacturing clinical trial materials. The majority of our third-party expenses during the three years ended December 31, 2022 related to the research and development of paltusotine, CRN04777, and CRN04894. We deploy our personnel and facility related resources across all of our research and development activities.
Our clinical development costs may vary significantly based on factors such as:
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per patient trial costs;
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the number of trials required for approval;
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the number of sites included in the trials;
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the countries in which the trials are conducted;
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the length of time required to enroll eligible patients;
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the number of patients that participate in the trials;
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number of doses that patients receive;
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drop-out or discontinuation rates of patients;
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potential additional safety monitoring requested by regulatory agencies;
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the duration of patient participation in the trials and follow-up;
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the cost and timing of manufacturing our product candidates;
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the phase of development of our product candidates; and
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the efficacy and safety profile of our product candidates.
We plan to substantially increase our research and development expenses for the foreseeable future as we continue the development of our product candidates and the discovery of new product candidates. We cannot determine with certainty the timing of initiation, the duration or the completion costs of current or future preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates due to the inherently unpredictable nature of preclinical and clinical development. Clinical and preclinical development timelines, the probability of success and development costs can differ materially from expectations. We anticipate that we will make determinations as to which product candidates to pursue and how much funding to direct to each product candidate on an ongoing basis in response to the results of ongoing and future preclinical studies and clinical trials, regulatory developments and our ongoing assessments as to each product candidate’s commercial potential. We will need to raise substantial additional capital in the future. In addition, we cannot forecast which product candidates may be subject to future collaborations, when such arrangements will be secured, if at all, and to what degree such arrangements would affect our development plans and capital requirements.
General and administrative
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and employee-related costs, including stock-based compensation, for personnel in executive, finance and other administrative functions. Other significant costs include facility-related costs, legal fees relating to intellectual property and corporate matters, professional fees for accounting and consulting services, insurance costs, and commercial planning expenses. We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future to support our continued research and development activities and, if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval, commercialization activities. We also anticipate increased expenses related to audit, legal,
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regulatory, and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and SEC requirements, director and officer insurance premiums, and investor relations costs associated with operating as a public company.
Critical Accounting Estimates
Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which we have prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our consolidated financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those listed below. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events, information received from third parties and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances at the time the estimates are made, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. There were no material differences between estimates and actual results for the years presented in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we believe the following accounting policies and estimates to be most critical to the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.
Accrued expenses
As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we are required to estimate our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date. This process involves reviewing open contracts and purchase orders, communicating with our personnel to identify services that have been performed on our behalf and estimating the level of service performed and the associated cost incurred for the service when we have not yet been invoiced or otherwise notified of the actual cost. We make estimates of our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date based on facts and circumstances known to us at that time. We periodically confirm the accuracy of our estimates with the service providers and make adjustments if necessary. The significant estimates in our accrued research and development expenses include the costs incurred for services performed by our vendors in connection with research and development activities for which we have not yet been invoiced.
We base our expenses related to research and development activities on our estimates of the services received and efforts expended pursuant to quotes and contracts with vendors that conduct research and development on our behalf. The financial terms of these agreements are subject to negotiation, vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven payment flows. There may be instances in which payments made to our vendors will exceed the level of services provided and result in a prepayment of the research and development expense. In accruing service fees, we estimate the time period over which services will be performed and the level of effort to be expended in each period. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from our estimate, we adjust the accrual or prepaid expense accordingly. Advance payments for goods and services that will be used in future research and development activities are expensed when the activity has been performed or when the goods have been received rather than when the payment is made.
Although we do not expect our estimates to be materially different from amounts actually incurred, if our estimates of the status and timing of services performed differ from the actual status and timing of services performed, it could result in us reporting amounts that are too high or too low in any particular period. To date, there have been no material differences between our estimates of such expenses and the amounts actually incurred.
Stock-based compensation expense
Stock-based compensation expense represents the estimated grant date fair value of the Company’s equity awards, consisting of stock options, restricted stock units and shares issued under the Company’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan, or ESPP, recognized over the requisite service period of such awards (usually the vesting period) on a straight-line basis. We estimate the fair value of all stock option and ESPP grants using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and recognize forfeitures as they occur. Restricted stock units are valued using the grant date stock price.
Estimating the fair value of equity awards as of the grant date using valuation models, such as the Black-Scholes option pricing model, is affected by assumptions regarding a number of complex variables, including the expected stock price volatility, the risk-free interest rate, the expected term of stock options, the expected dividend yield and the fair value of the underlying common stock on the date of grant. Changes in the assumptions can materially affect the fair value and ultimately how much stock-based compensation expense is recognized. These inputs are subjective and generally require significant analysis and judgment to develop.
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Due to the lack of an adequate history of a public market for the trading of our common stock and a lack of adequate company-specific historical and implied volatility data that we believe is indicative of the expected future volatility, we have based our estimate of expected volatility on the historical volatility of a group of similar companies that are publicly traded. For these analyses, we have selected companies with comparable characteristics to ours, including enterprise value, risk profiles, and position within the industry, and with historical share price information sufficient to meet the expected life of the stock-based awards. We compute the historical volatility data using the daily close prices for the selected companies’ shares during the equivalent period of the calculated expected term of our stock-based awards. We will continue to apply this process until sufficient historical information regarding the volatility of our common stock price becomes available or until we believe the volatility of our own market-traded shares best represents expected volatility. We have estimated the expected life of our employee stock options using the “simplified” method, whereby the expected life equals the average of the vesting term and the original contractual term of the option. The expected term for employee stock purchase plan awards represents the term the awards are expected to be outstanding. The risk-free interest rates for periods within the expected life of the awards are based on the yields of zero-coupon U.S. treasury securities.
Investment in Radionetics
We first analyze our investment in another entity to determine if the entity is a variable interest entity, or VIE, and if so, whether we are the primary beneficiary requiring consolidation. An entity is considered a VIE if (1) the entity does not have enough equity to finance its own activities without additional support, (2) the entity’s at-risk equity holders lack the characteristics of a controlling financial interest, or (3) the entity is structured with non-substantive voting rights. VIEs are consolidated by the primary beneficiary, which is the entity that has both the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance and the obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits from the VIE that potentially could be significant to the VIE. Variable interests in a VIE can be contractual, ownership, or other financial interests. We re-assess our investment upon reconsideration events to determine whether we are the primary beneficiary of the VIE, in which case we would consolidate the VIE. If it has been determined that we are not the primary beneficiary or do not have control but do have the ability to exercise significant influence over the VIE, we account for the unconsolidated investment under the equity method of accounting.
Radionetics is considered to be a VIE because it cannot finance its activities without subordinated financial support. We maintain an equity interest in Radionetics and account for our investment under the equity method of accounting as we are not the primary beneficiary of Radionetics but have the ability to exercise significant influence. The valuation method and primary inputs used in valuing the Radionetics investment are discussed below under Revenue Recognition. We record our share of Radionetics income (loss) outside of operations in the statements of operations and comprehensive loss on a quarterly lag. Since our investment in Radionetics was obtained on October 15, 2021, we recorded our share of income (loss) beginning in the first quarter of 2022. Our equity method investment in Radionetics was written down to zero during the first quarter of 2022 as a result of the allocation of our share of losses of the investee.
Valuation of Financial Instruments
Investment Securities
We hold investment securities that consist of highly liquid, investment grade debt securities. We determine the fair value of our investment securities based upon one or more valuations reported by its investment accounting and reporting service provider. The investment service provider values the securities using a hierarchical security pricing model that relies primarily on valuations provided by an industry-recognized valuation service. Such valuations may be based on trade prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 inputs) or valuation models using inputs that are observable either directly or indirectly (Level 2 inputs), such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities, yield curves, volatility factors, credit spreads, default rates, loss severity, current market and contractual prices for the underlying instruments or debt, and broker and dealer quotes, as well as other relevant economic measures.
Derivative Asset
Derivatives are recorded at fair value and changes in fair value are recorded through the statements of operations and comprehensive loss each period. We have a single derivative instrument, a warrant from Radionetics, or the Radionetics Warrant, to purchase the greater of 3,407,285 additional shares of common stock or the number of additional shares of common stock that would allow us to maintain an aggregate equity interest of 22% of the fully diluted capitalization of Radionetics. We record the Radionetics Warrant as long-term on the balance sheets due to the lack of marketability, such that it is not expected to be available for current operations. Changes in fair value of the Radionetics Warrant are recognized in other income (expense) in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.
The valuation method and inputs used in valuing the Radionetics Warrant are discussed below under Revenue Recognition. Such valuation is based on valuations provided by a third-party valuation specialist using unobservable inputs due to little to no market data (Level 3 inputs).
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Revenue Recognition
We have generated revenue from licensing arrangements, a clinical supply agreement, as well as from grants from government agencies. We have recognized revenues when, or as, the promised goods or services are transferred to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which we expect to be entitled in exchange for those services. To determine revenue recognition for arrangements, we perform the following five steps: (1) identify the contract(s) with a customer; (2) identify the performance obligation(s) in the contract; (3) determine the transaction price; (4) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligation(s) in the contract; and (5) recognize revenue when (or as) the performance obligation(s) are satisfied. At contract inception, we assess the goods or services promised within each contract, assess whether each promised good or service is distinct and identify those that are performance obligations. We recognize as revenue the amount of the transaction price that is allocated to the respective performance obligation when, or as, the performance obligation is satisfied.
We consider a variety of factors in determining the appropriate estimates and assumptions under the arrangements, such as whether the elements are distinct performance obligations, whether there are observable standalone prices, whether the license is functional or symbolic, and whether the Company is acting as the agent or principal. We evaluate each performance obligation to determine if it can be satisfied and recognized as revenue at a point in time or over time.
License Revenues
We have entered into licensing and collaboration agreements that mainly include the following: (i) upfront considerations (cash and noncash); (ii) payments associated with achieving certain milestones; and (iii) royalties based on specified percentages of net product sales, if any. At the initiation of an agreement, we analyze each unit of account within the contract to determine if the counterparty is a customer in the context of the unit of account.
We evaluate each performance obligation to determine if it can be satisfied and recognized as revenue at a point in time or over time.
At the inception of arrangements that include variable consideration, we use judgment to estimate the amount of variable consideration to include in the transaction price using the most likely method. If it is probable that a significant revenue reversal will not occur, then the estimated amount is included in the transaction price. Milestone payments that are not within our or the licensee’s control, such as regulatory approvals, are not included in the transaction price until those approvals are received. At the end of each reporting period, we re-evaluate the estimated variable consideration included in the transaction price and any related constraint and, as necessary, adjust the estimate of the overall transaction price. Any adjustments will be recorded on a cumulative catch-up basis, which would affect revenues and earnings in the period of adjustment.
We develop estimates of the standalone selling price for each distinct performance obligation. Variable consideration that relates specifically to efforts to satisfy specific performance obligations is allocated entirely to those performance obligations. Other components of the transaction price are allocated based on the relative standalone selling price, over which we have applied significant judgment. We develop assumptions that require judgment to determine the standalone selling price for license-related performance obligations under the adjusted market assessment approach, which may include forecasted revenues, development timelines, discount rates and probabilities of success. We estimate the standalone selling price for the data exchange performance obligation by forecasting the expected costs of satisfying the performance obligation plus a predetermined margin (see Note 8 to our consolidated financial statements).
In the case of a license that is a distinct performance obligation, we recognize revenue allocated to the license from non-refundable, up-front fees at the point in time when the license is transferred to the licensee and the licensee can use and benefit from the license. For licenses that are bundled with other distinct or combined obligations, we use judgment to assess the nature of the performance obligation to determine whether the performance obligation is satisfied over time or at a point in time and, if over time, the appropriate method of measuring progress for purposes of recognizing revenue. If the performance obligation is satisfied over time, then we evaluate the measure of progress each reporting period and, if necessary, adjust the measure of performance and related revenue recognition.
The selection of the method to measure progress towards completion requires judgment and is based on the nature of the products or services to be provided. Revenue is recorded proportionally as costs are incurred. We have used the cost-to-cost measure of progress because it best depicts the transfer of control to the customer which occurs as we incur costs. Under the cost-to-cost measure of progress, the extent of progress towards completion is measured based on the ratio of costs incurred to date to the total estimated costs at completion of the performance obligation, which is considered an input method. We use judgment to estimate the total cost of these performance obligations, which include subcontractors’ costs, labor, materials, other direct costs and an allocation of indirect costs. We evaluate these cost estimates and the progress each reporting period and, as necessary, we adjust the measure of progress and related revenue recognition.
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Sales-based milestones and royalties are recognized at the later of when the subsequent sale or usage occurs or the performance obligation for which some or all of the sales-based milestones and royalties have been allocated to has been satisfied or partially satisfied.
We engaged a third-party valuation specialist to determine the estimated fair value of these upfront noncash considerations received which consisted of the Radionetics common stock and Radionetics Warrant. The valuation specialist utilized a cost approach to determine the implied value of Radionetics' equity since it was newly formed with early development stage technology from the collaboration and license agreement, or Radionetics License, for which there are not reliable long-term forecasts. Next, the total equity value was allocated to various share classes using the current value method and option pricing method. The current value method allocates the value of the business to the shareholders' given consideration of senior obligations such as debt, equity certificates and other preferred equity. The option pricing method entails allocating the total shareholders’ equity value to the various share classes based upon their respective claims on a series of call options with strike prices at various value levels depending upon the rights and preferences of each class.
Estimating the fair value of the Radionetics common stock and Radionetics Warrant is affected by assumptions regarding a number of complex variables, including the expected term for a liquidity event, the risk-free interest rate and stock price volatility. Changes in the assumptions can materially affect the value of license revenues, initial investment in Radionetics, and the Radionetics Warrant. These inputs are subjective and generally require significant analysis and judgment to develop.
We estimated the expected term based on the expected time to a liquidity event. The risk-free interest rate was based on the yields of zero-coupon U.S. treasury securities. Volatility was estimated based upon an analysis of historical equity and asset volatilities of companies deemed comparable to Radionetics. The valuation amounts were adjusted by a discount for lack of marketability to account for the lack of liquidity an owner of the interest would experience for common stock in an early-stage company.
Although we do not expect our estimates to be materially different from actuals, if our estimates of the expected total costs and timing of certain activities differ from the actual cost and timing of those activities, it could result in us reporting license revenues related to the data exchange that are too high or too low in any particular period.
Estimating the standalone selling price of the license performance obligation is affected by assumptions regarding a number of variables discussed above. While not expected, material changes in these initial assumptions can affect the value of license revenues. These inputs are subjective and generally require significant analysis and judgment to develop.
Grant Revenues
Our grant revenues are derived from SBIR Grants. Our performance obligation under SBIR Grants consists of research activities and we recognize SBIR Grants revenue over time as reimbursable grant costs are incurred up to pre-approved award limits within the budget period. The costs associated with these reimbursements are reflected as a component of research and development expense.
Results of Operations
Comparison of the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021.
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | Dollar | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | Change | ||||||||||
| Revenues | $ | 4,737 | $ | 1,078 | $ | 3,659 | ||||||
| Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||
| Research and development | 130,225 | 84,255 | 45,970 | |||||||||
| General and administrative | 42,394 | 24,525 | 17,869 | |||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 172,619 | 108,780 | 63,839 | |||||||||
| Loss from operations | (167,882 | ) | (107,702 | ) | (60,180 | ) | ||||||
| Other income (expense), net | 4,974 | 61 | 4,913 | |||||||||
| Loss before equity method investment | (162,908 | ) | (107,641 | ) | (55,267 | ) | ||||||
| Loss on equity method investment | (1,010 | ) | — | (1,010 | ) | |||||||
| Net loss | $ | (163,918 | ) | $ | (107,641 | ) | $ | (56,277 | ) |
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Revenues. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we recognized $4.7 million of license revenues related to the Sanwa License. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we recognized $1.1 million of license revenues related to upfront noncash considerations under the Radionetics License.
Research and development expenses. Research and development expenses were $130.2 million and $84.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The change was primarily due to increased supplies and spending on manufacturing and development activities of $25.3 million associated with our clinical and nonclinical activities for paltusotine, CRN04894, CRN04777 and our other clinical and preclinical programs, an increase in personnel costs of $16.2 million due to increase in headcount, an increase in consulting and outside services of $3.8 million and an increase in other corporate and travel expenditures of $1.0 million.
The following table summarizes our primary external and internal research and development expenses for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | Dollar | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | Change | |||||||||
| External research and development expenses: | |||||||||||
| Clinical trials | $ | 38,801 | $ | 25,273 | $ | 13,528 | |||||
| Contract manufacturing | 18,962 | 13,448 | 5,514 | ||||||||
| Preclinical studies | 12,758 | 6,583 | 6,175 | ||||||||
| Other external research and development | 8,206 | 4,788 | 3,418 | ||||||||
| Total external research and development expenses | 78,727 | 50,092 | 28,635 | ||||||||
| Internal expenses: | |||||||||||
| Personnel | 46,741 | 30,581 | 16,160 | ||||||||
| Other internal research and development | 4,757 | 3,582 | 1,175 | ||||||||
| Total internal research and development expenses | 51,498 | 34,163 | 17,335 | ||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 130,225 | $ | 84,255 | $ | 45,970 |
The following table summarizes our primary external and internal research and development expenses for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | Dollar | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | Change | |||||||||
| External research and development expenses: | |||||||||||
| Clinical trials | $ | 25,273 | $ | 14,688 | $ | 10,585 | |||||
| Contract manufacturing | 13,448 | 12,850 | 598 | ||||||||
| Preclinical studies | 6,583 | 4,499 | 2,084 | ||||||||
| Other external research and development | 4,788 | 3,665 | 1,123 | ||||||||
| Total external research and development expenses | 50,092 | 35,702 | 14,390 | ||||||||
| Internal expenses: | |||||||||||
| Personnel | 30,581 | 18,326 | 12,255 | ||||||||
| Other internal research and development | 3,582 | 2,970 | 612 | ||||||||
| Total internal research and development expenses | 34,163 | 21,296 | 12,867 | ||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 84,255 | $ | 56,998 | $ | 27,257 |
The following table summarizes our research and development expenses by program for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | Dollar | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | Change | |||||||||
| Paltusotine | $ | 55,680 | $ | 34,337 | $ | 21,343 | |||||
| CRN04894 | 11,735 | 8,152 | 3,583 | ||||||||
| CRN04777 | 13,664 | 11,664 | 2,000 | ||||||||
| Other | 49,146 | 30,102 | 19,044 | ||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 130,225 | $ | 84,255 | $ | 45,970 |
Research and development expenses for our paltusotine clinical studies were $55.7 million and $34.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The change was primarily due to increased supplies and spending on
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manufacturing and development activities of $19.5 million and an increase in personnel costs of $2.6 million due to increase in headcount.
Research and development expenses for our CRN04894 clinical studies were $11.7 million and $8.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The change was primarily due to increased supplies and spending on manufacturing and development activities of $2.7 million and an increase in personnel costs of $1.1 million due to increase in headcount.
Research and development expenses for our CRN04777 clinical studies were $13.7 million and $11.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The change was primarily due to increased supplies and spending on manufacturing and development activities of $0.7 million and an increase in personnel costs of $0.8 million due to increase in headcount.
Research and development expenses for our other programs and were $49.1 million and $30.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The change was primarily due to increased supplies and spending on manufacturing and development activities of $2.5 million, an increase in personnel costs of $11.7 million due to increase in headcount, an increase in consulting and outside services of $3.9 million and increase in other corporate and travel expenditures of $0.9 million.
The following table summarizes our research and development expenses by program for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | Dollar | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | Change | |||||||||
| Paltusotine | $ | 34,337 | $ | 27,780 | $ | 6,557 | |||||
| CRN04894 | 8,152 | 5,576 | 2,576 | ||||||||
| CRN04777 | 11,664 | 6,253 | 5,411 | ||||||||
| Other | 30,102 | 17,389 | 12,713 | ||||||||
| Total research and development expenses | $ | 84,255 | $ | 56,998 | $ | 27,257 |
Research and development expenses for our paltusotine clinical studies were $34.3 million and $27.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The change was primarily due to increased supplies and spending on manufacturing and development activities of $3.9 million and an increase in personnel costs of $2.0 million due to increase in headcount.
Research and development expenses for our CRN04894 clinical studies were $8.2 million and $5.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The change was primarily due to increased supplies and spending on manufacturing and development activities of $2.8 million.
Research and development expenses for our CRN04777 clinical studies were $11.7 million and $6.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The change was primarily due to increased supplies and spending on manufacturing and development activities of $5.8 million.
Research and development expenses for our other programs and were $30.1 million and $17.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The change was primarily due to increased supplies and spending on manufacturing and development activities of $0.8 million, an increase in personnel costs of $10.6 million due to increase in headcount and an increase in consulting and outside services of $1.0 million.
General and administrative expenses. General and administrative expenses were $42.4 million and $24.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The change was primarily due to an increase in personnel costs of $10.8 million due to increase in headcount, an increase in professional services and outside services of $5.5 million, and an increase in other corporate expenditures of $1.1 million.
Other income (expense). Other income (expense), net was $5.0 million and $0.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The increase was primarily due to income generated by our investment securities and increase in the value of our warrant.
Cash Flows
We have incurred cumulative net losses and negative cash flows from operations since our inception and anticipate we will continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future. As of December 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $439.2 million and unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $334.4 million.
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The following table provides information regarding our cash flows for each of the years in the two-year period ended December 31, 2022 (in thousands):
| Years ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | |||||||
| Net cash used in operating activities | $ | (115,205 | ) | $ | (88,588 | ) | ||
| Net cash used in investing activities | (173,980 | ) | (56,483 | ) | ||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | 121,963 | 252,679 | ||||||
| Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash | $ | (167,222 | ) | $ | 107,608 |
Comparison of the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021
Operating Activities. Net cash used in operating activities was $115.2 million and $88.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The increase in cash used in operations was primarily attributable to the development and manufacturing supplies and activities associated with paltusotine, CRN04777, CRN04894, and our other clinical and preclinical programs, and higher personnel costs partially offset by the $13.0 million upfront payment received upon the execution of the Sanwa License in February 2022, of which $4.7 million was recognized as license revenues during the year ended December 31, 2022. The net cash used in operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2022 was primarily due to our net loss of $163.9 million adjusted for $30.1 million of noncash charges, primarily for stock-based compensation and loss on the investment in Radionetics, and a $18.6 million change in operating assets and liabilities. The net cash used in operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2021 was primarily due to our net loss of $107.6 million, adjusted for $18.0 million of noncash charges, including stock-based compensation, depreciation expense, noncash license revenues, and a $1.1 million change in our operating assets and liabilities.
Investing activities. Investing activities consist primarily of purchases and maturities of investment securities and, to a lesser extent, the cash outflow associated with purchases of property and equipment. Such activities resulted in net cash outflows of approximately $174.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the net cash outflows of approximately $56.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2021.
Financing activities. Net cash provided by financing activities was $122.0 million and $252.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The net cash provided by financing activities during 2022 and 2021 resulted from proceeds received from the sale of common stock in our underwritten follow-on offerings and cash received from the exercise of stock options.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
At December 31, 2022, we had unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $334.4 million. Based on our current and anticipated level of operations, we believe that our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments will be sufficient to meet our anticipated obligations for at least one year from the date this Annual Report on Form 10-K is filed with the SEC. However, our forecast of the period of time through which our financial resources will be adequate to support our operations is a forward-looking statement that involves risks and uncertainties, and actual results could vary materially. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our capital resources sooner than we expect. Additionally, the process of testing product candidates in clinical trials is costly, and the timing of progress and expenses in these trials is uncertain.
Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
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the type, number, scope, progress, expansions, results, costs and timing of, our preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates which we are pursuing or may choose to pursue in the future;
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the costs and timing of manufacturing for our product candidates, including commercial manufacturing if any product candidate is approved;
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the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;
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the costs of obtaining, maintaining and enforcing our patents and other intellectual property rights;
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our efforts to enhance operational systems and hire additional personnel to satisfy our obligations as a public company, including enhanced internal controls over financial reporting;
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the costs associated with hiring additional personnel and consultants as our preclinical and clinical activities increase;
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the timing and the extent of any Australian Tax Incentive refund and future grant revenues that we receive;
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the costs and timing of establishing or securing sales and marketing capabilities if any product candidate is approved;
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•
our ability to achieve sufficient market acceptance, adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors and adequate market share and revenue for any approved products;
•
the terms and timing of establishing and maintaining collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements;
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costs associated with any products or technologies that we may in-license or acquire;
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the funding of any co-development arrangements we enter into; and
•
our ability to participate in future equity offerings by Radionetics.
Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenues to support our cost structure, we expect to finance our cash needs through equity offerings, debt financings or other capital sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of our stockholders will be or could be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our common stockholders. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise funds through collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us and/or may reduce the value of our common stock. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market our product candidates even if we would otherwise prefer to develop and market such product candidates ourselves.
In August 2019, we entered into a Sales Agreement, or the Sales Agreement, with SVB Leerink LLC and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., or collectively, the Sales Agents, under which we may, from time to time, sell shares of our common stock through the Sales Agents, or the ATM Offering. Sales of our common stock made pursuant to the Sales Agreement will be made directly on or through the Nasdaq Global Select Market under our effective shelf Registration Statement on Form S-3 filed on August 10, 2021, or the 2021 Shelf Registration Statement, and a prospectus supplement filed on August 12, 2022 relating to the offer and sale of up to $150.0 million of shares of our common stock in the ATM Offering by means of ordinary brokers’ transactions at market prices. Additionally, under the terms of the Sales Agreement, we may also sell shares of our common stock through the Sales Agents, on the Nasdaq Global Select Market or otherwise, at negotiated prices or at prices related to the prevailing market price. We are not obligated to, and we cannot provide any assurances that we will continue to, make any sales of the shares under the Sales Agreement. The Sales Agreement may be terminated by either Sales Agent (with respect to itself) or us at any time upon 10 days’ notice to the other parties, or by either Sales Agent, with respect to itself, at any time in certain circumstances, including the occurrence of a material adverse change. We will pay the Sales Agents a commission for their services in acting as agent in the sale of common stock in an amount equal to 3% of the gross sales price per share sold. During 2020, we issued 275,764 shares of common stock in the ATM Offering for net proceeds of $6.4 million, after deducting commissions, pursuant to our Shelf Registration Statement on Form S-3, which became effective on August 29, 2019, or the 2019 Shelf Registration Statement. The 2019 Shelf Registration Statement included a prospectus covering the offering, issuance and sale of up to $75.0 million of our common stock from time to time through the ATM Offering. The 2019 Shelf Registration Statement expired on August 29, 2022. No shares were issued under the ATM Offering during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021.
On April 17, 2020, we completed a public offering of 8,222,500 shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $14.00 per share. We received proceeds of approximately $107.9 million from that offering, net of offering discounts and commissions and offering costs of $7.3 million.
On April 12, 2021, we completed an underwritten follow-on offering of 4,562,044 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $16.44 per share. Proceeds from the offering were approximately $72.6 million, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of $2.4 million.
On July 28, 2021, we entered into a stock purchase agreement for the private placement of 851,306 shares of our common stock at a price of $17.62 per share, or the Private Placement, which shares were issued on July 30, 2021. The Private Placement yielded net proceeds of $15.0 million.
On August 10, 2021, we filed the 2021 Shelf Registration Statement with the SEC for the future sale of an unlimited amount of common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, depositary shares, warrants and rights, and the resale of up to 851,306 shares by the investor who purchased shares in the Private Placement. The securities may be offered from time to time, separately or together, directly by us, by selling security holders, or through underwriters, dealers or agents at amounts, prices, interest rates and other terms to be determined at the time of the offering.
On October 21, 2021, we completed an underwritten follow-on offering of 8,712,400 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $19.80 per share. Proceeds from the offering were approximately $162.0 million, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of $10.5 million.
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On April 18, 2022, we completed an underwritten follow-on offering of 5,625,563 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $22.22 per share. Net proceeds from the offering were approximately $117.2 million, after underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of approximately $7.8 million.
As discussed above, on August 12, 2022, we filed with the SEC a prospectus supplement to the 2021 Shelf Registration Statement pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, relating to the offer and sale of up to $150 million of shares of our common stock from time to time to or through the Sales Agents pursuant to the Sales Agreement.
2022 Lease
On September 9, 2022, we entered into a lease agreement for laboratory and office space in San Diego, California, or the 2022 Lease. We expect to move our corporate headquarters to this new facility upon our substantial completion of improvements and written landlord consent, which is expected to occur in the second half of 2023.
Under the terms of the 2022 Lease, our expected future monthly minimum lease payments of $0.5 million, with six months of rent abatement in the first year, start on the earlier of (i) the date which is ten (10) months after substantial completion of demolition work, or (ii) the date of the substantial completion of improvements and first occupancy for business purposes, and the term expires on the date immediately preceding the one hundred thirty-seventh (137th) monthly anniversary of this lease payment start date. Lease payments are subject to annual 3% increases. We are also responsible for certain operating expenses and taxes during the term of the 2022 Lease. The 2022 Lease provides us with specified tenant improvement and landlord work allowances. We have (i) two options to extend the term of the 2022 Lease for an additional period of five (5) years each, and (ii) a right of first offer on adjacent space to the new facility, subject to the terms and conditions of the 2022 Lease.
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FY 2021 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0000950170-22-005050.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K generally discusses 2021 and 2020 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2021 and 2020. Discussions of 2019 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2020 and 2019 that are not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K can be found in the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Overview
We are a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for rare endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors. Endocrine pathways function to maintain homeostasis and commonly use peptide hormones acting through G protein coupled receptors, or GPCRs, to regulate many aspects of physiology including growth, energy, metabolism, gastrointestinal function and stress responses. We have assembled a seasoned team with extensive expertise in drug discovery and development in endocrine GPCRs and built a highly productive drug discovery organization. We have discovered a pipeline of oral nonpeptide (small molecule) new chemical entities that target peptide GPCRs to treat a variety of rare endocrine diseases where treatment options have significant efficacy, safety and/or tolerability limitations. Our product candidates include paltusotine (formerly CRN00808), which is in clinical development for the treatment of acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumors, or NETs, CRN04777, which is in clinical development for congenital hyperinsulinism, or HI, and CRN04894, which is in clinical development for diseases of excess adrenocorticotrophic hormone, or ACTH, including Cushing’s Disease, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, and Ectopic ACTH Syndrome. We are advancing additional product candidates through preclinical discovery and development studies in parallel. Our vision is to build the leading endocrine company which consistently pioneers new therapeutics to help patients better control their disease and improve their daily lives.
We focus on the discovery and development of oral nonpeptide therapeutics that target peptide GPCRs with well-understood biological functions, validated biomarkers and the potential to substantially improve the treatment of endocrine diseases and/or endocrine-related tumors.
To date, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to drug discovery, conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, obtaining and maintaining patents related to our product candidates, licensing activities, and the provision of general and administrative support for these operations. We have recognized revenues from various research and development grants and our Collaboration and License agreement with Radionetics, or the CLA, but do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any product sales. We have funded our operations to date primarily through our grant revenues, the private placement of our preferred stock, and sales of our common stock. As of December 31, 2021, we had unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $333.7 million.
We have incurred cumulative net losses since our inception and, as of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $275.3 million. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year, depending on the timing of our clinical trials and preclinical studies and our expenditures on other research and development activities. We expect our expenses and operating losses will increase substantially as we conduct our ongoing and planned clinical trials, continue our research and development activities and conduct preclinical studies, hire additional personnel, protect our intellectual property and incur costs associated with being a public company, including audit, legal, regulatory, and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, requirements, director and officer insurance premiums, and investor relations costs.
We do not expect to generate any revenues from product sales unless and until we successfully complete development and obtain regulatory approval for one or more of our product candidates, which we expect will take a number of years. If we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution. Accordingly, until such time as we can generate significant revenue from sales of our product candidates, if ever, we expect to finance our cash needs through equity offerings, debt financings or other capital sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. However, we may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other arrangements when needed on favorable terms or at all. Our failure to raise capital or enter into such other arrangements when needed would have a negative impact on our financial condition and could force us to delay, scale back or discontinue the development of our existing product candidates or our efforts to expand our product pipeline.
Australian operations
In January 2017, we established Crinetics Australia Pty Ltd, or CAPL, a wholly-owned subsidiary which was formed to conduct various preclinical and clinical activities for our product and development candidates. We believe CAPL will be
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eligible for certain financial incentives made available by the Australian government for research and development expenses. Specifically, the Australian Taxation Office provides for a refundable tax credit in the form of a cash refund equal to 43.5% of qualified research and development expenditures under the Australian Research and Development Tax Incentive Program, or the Australian Tax Incentive, to Australian companies that operate the majority of their research and development activities associated with such projects in Australia. A wholly-owned Australian subsidiary of a non-Australian parent company is eligible to receive the refundable tax credit, provided that the Australian subsidiary retains the rights to the data and intellectual property generated in Australia, and provided that the total revenues of the parent company and its consolidated subsidiaries during the period for which the refundable tax credit is claimed are less than $20.0 million Australian dollars. If we lose our ability to operate CAPL in Australia, or if we are ineligible or unable to receive the research and development tax credit, or the Australian government significantly reduces or eliminates the tax credit, the actual refund amounts we receive may differ from our estimates.
COVID-19
As we continue to actively advance our programs, we are in close contact with our principal investigators and clinical sites and continue to assess any impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic on our drug manufacturing, nonclinical activities, and clinical trials, expected timelines, and costs on an ongoing basis. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and consistent with the FDA’s updated industry guidance for conducting clinical trials issued on March 18, 2020, and updated most recently on January 27, 2021, clinical trials may be deprioritized in favor of treating patients who have contracted the virus or to prevent the spread of the virus. The direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 on our business could alter our forecasted timelines. In addition, in response to the spread of COVID-19, we have limited the number of staff in our offices. We will continue to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business.
Financial operations overview
Revenues
To date, all of our revenue has been derived from grant awards and licenses. We have not generated any revenues from the commercial sale of approved products, and we do not expect to generate revenues from the commercial sale of our product candidates for at least the foreseeable future, if ever.
License revenues
License revenues for 2021 were derived from the majority equity stake obtained in Radionetics pursuant to the CLA, under which Radionetics was granted an exclusive world-wide license to our radiotherapeutics technology platform and associated intellectual property for the development of radiotherapeutics and related radio-imaging agents.
Grant revenues
Grant revenues for 2020 and 2019 were derived from Small Business Innovation Research Grants, or SBIR Grants, awarded to us by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. There were no grant revenues in 2021. We do not currently have any active SBIR Grants nor do we expect grant revenues to be a material source of future funding.
Research and development
To date, our research and development expenses have related primarily to discovery efforts and preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates. Research and development expenses are recognized as incurred and payments made prior to the receipt of goods or services to be used in research and development are capitalized until the goods or services are received.
Research and development expenses include:
•
salaries, payroll taxes, employee benefits, and stock-based compensation charges for those individuals involved in research and development efforts;
•
external research and development expenses incurred under agreements with contract research organizations, or CROs, investigative sites and consultants to conduct our clinical trials and preclinical and nonclinical studies;
•
costs related to manufacturing our product candidates for clinical trials and preclinical studies, including fees paid to third-party manufacturers;
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costs related to compliance with regulatory requirements;
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laboratory supplies; and
•
facilities, depreciation and other allocated expenses for rent, facilities maintenance, insurance, equipment and other supplies.
We recognize the Australian Tax Incentive as a reduction of research and development expense. The amounts are determined based on eligible research and development expenditures. The Australian Tax Incentive is recognized when there is
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reasonable assurance that the Australian Tax Incentive will be received, the relevant expenditure has been incurred, and the amount of the Australian Tax Incentive can be reliably measured.
Our direct research and development expenses consist principally of external costs, such as fees paid to CROs, investigative sites and consultants in connection with our clinical trials, preclinical and non-clinical studies, and costs related to manufacturing clinical trial materials. The majority of our third-party expenses during the three years ended December 31, 2021 related to the research and development of paltusotine. We deploy our personnel and facility related resources across all of our research and development activities.
Our clinical development costs may vary significantly based on factors such as:
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per patient trial costs;
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the number of trials required for approval;
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the number of sites included in the trials;
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the countries in which the trials are conducted;
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the length of time required to enroll eligible patients;
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the number of patients that participate in the trials;
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number of doses that patients receive;
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drop-out or discontinuation rates of patients;
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potential additional safety monitoring requested by regulatory agencies;
•
the duration of patient participation in the trials and follow-up;
•
the cost and timing of manufacturing our product candidates;
•
the phase of development of our product candidates; and
•
the efficacy and safety profile of our product candidates.
We plan to substantially increase our research and development expenses for the foreseeable future as we continue the development of our product candidates and the discovery of new product candidates. We cannot determine with certainty the timing of initiation, the duration or the completion costs of current or future preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates due to the inherently unpredictable nature of preclinical and clinical development. Clinical and preclinical development timelines, the probability of success and development costs can differ materially from expectations. We anticipate that we will make determinations as to which product candidates to pursue and how much funding to direct to each product candidate on an ongoing basis in response to the results of ongoing and future preclinical studies and clinical trials, regulatory developments and our ongoing assessments as to each product candidate’s commercial potential. We will need to raise substantial additional capital in the future. In addition, we cannot forecast which product candidates may be subject to future collaborations, when such arrangements will be secured, if at all, and to what degree such arrangements would affect our development plans and capital requirements.
General and administrative
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and employee-related costs, including stock-based compensation, for personnel in executive, finance and other administrative functions. Other significant costs include facility-related costs, legal fees relating to intellectual property and corporate matters, professional fees for accounting and consulting services, insurance costs, and commercial planning expenses. We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future to support our continued research and development activities and, if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval, commercialization activities. We also anticipate increased expenses related to audit, legal, regulatory, and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and SEC requirements, director and officer insurance premiums, and investor relations costs associated with operating as a public company.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based on our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or U.S. GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our consolidated financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those listed below. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events, information received from third parties and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. There were no material differences between estimates and actual results for the years presented in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
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While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we believe the following accounting policies and estimates to be most critical to the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.
Accrued expenses
As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we are required to estimate our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date. This process involves reviewing open contracts and purchase orders, communicating with our personnel to identify services that have been performed on our behalf and estimating the level of service performed and the associated cost incurred for the service when we have not yet been invoiced or otherwise notified of the actual cost. We make estimates of our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date based on facts and circumstances known to us at that time. We periodically confirm the accuracy of our estimates with the service providers and make adjustments if necessary. The significant estimates in our accrued research and development expenses include the costs incurred for services performed by our vendors in connection with research and development activities for which we have not yet been invoiced.
We base our expenses related to research and development activities on our estimates of the services received and efforts expended pursuant to quotes and contracts with vendors that conduct research and development on our behalf. The financial terms of these agreements are subject to negotiation, vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven payment flows. There may be instances in which payments made to our vendors will exceed the level of services provided and result in a prepayment of the research and development expense. In accruing service fees, we estimate the time period over which services will be performed and the level of effort to be expended in each period. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from our estimate, we adjust the accrual or prepaid expense accordingly. Advance payments for goods and services that will be used in future research and development activities are expensed when the activity has been performed or when the goods have been received rather than when the payment is made.
Although we do not expect our estimates to be materially different from amounts actually incurred, if our estimates of the status and timing of services performed differ from the actual status and timing of services performed, it could result in us reporting amounts that are too high or too low in any particular period. To date, there have been no material differences between our estimates of such expenses and the amounts actually incurred.
Stock-based compensation expense
Stock-based compensation expense represents the cost of the estimated grant date fair value of stock option awards and employee stock purchase plan rights amortized over the requisite service period of the awards (usually the vesting period) on a straight-line basis. We estimate the fair value of all stock award grants using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and recognize forfeitures as they occur.
Estimating the fair value of equity awards as of the grant date using valuation models, such as the Black-Scholes option pricing model, is affected by assumptions regarding a number of complex variables, including the expected stock price volatility, the risk-free interest rate, the expected term of stock options, the expected dividend yield and the fair value of the underlying common stock on the date of grant. Changes in the assumptions can materially affect the fair value and ultimately how much stock-based compensation expense is recognized. These inputs are subjective and generally require significant analysis and judgment to develop.
Due to the lack of an adequate history of a public market for the trading of our common stock and a lack of adequate company-specific historical and implied volatility data, we have based our estimate of expected volatility on the historical volatility of a group of similar companies that are publicly traded. For these analyses, we have selected companies with comparable characteristics to ours, including enterprise value, risk profiles, and position within the industry, and with historical share price information sufficient to meet the expected life of the stock-based awards. We compute the historical volatility data using the daily close prices for the selected companies’ shares during the equivalent period of the calculated expected term of our stock-based awards. We will continue to apply this process until sufficient historical information regarding the volatility of our common stock price becomes available. We have estimated the expected life of our employee stock options using the “simplified” method, whereby the expected life equals the average of the vesting term and the original contractual term of the option. The expected term for employee stock purchase plan awards represents the term the awards are expected to be outstanding. The risk-free interest rates for periods within the expected life of the awards are based on the yields of zero-coupon U.S. treasury securities.
Equity Method Investment
We first analyze our investment in another entity to determine if the entity is a variable interest entity, or VIE, and if so, whether we are the primary beneficiary requiring consolidation. An entity is considered a VIE if (1) the entity does not have enough equity to finance its own activities without additional support, (2) the entity’s at-risk equity holders lack the characteristics of a controlling financial interest, or (3) the entity is structured with non-substantive voting rights. VIEs are consolidated by the primary beneficiary, which is the entity that has both the power to direct the activities that most
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significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance and the obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits from the VIE that potentially could be significant to the VIE. Variable interests in a VIE can be contractual, ownership, or other financial interests. We re-assess our investment upon reconsideration events to determine whether we are the primary beneficiary of the VIE, in which case we would consolidate the VIE. If it has been determined that we are not the primary beneficiary or do not have control but do have the ability to exercise significant influence over the VIE, we account for the unconsolidated investment under the equity method of accounting.
Radionetics is considered to be a VIE due to its insufficient equity to finance its activities without additional subordinated financial support. We maintain an equity interest in Radionetics and account for our investment under the equity method of accounting as we are not the primary beneficiary of Radionetics but have the ability to exercise significant influence. The valuation method and primary inputs used in valuing the Radionetics investment are discussed below under Revenue Recognition. We record our share of Radionetics income (loss) outside of operations in the statements of operations and comprehensive loss on a quarterly lag. Since our investment in Radionetics was obtained on October 15, 2021, we will record its share of income (loss) beginning in the first quarter of 2022.
Valuation of Financial Instruments
Investment Securities
We hold investment securities that consist of highly liquid, investment grade debt securities. We determine the fair value of our investment securities based upon one or more valuations reported by its investment accounting and reporting service provider. The investment service provider values the securities using a hierarchical security pricing model that relies primarily on valuations provided by an industry-recognized valuation service. Such valuations may be based on trade prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 inputs) or valuation models using inputs that are observable either directly or indirectly (Level 2 inputs), such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities, yield curves, volatility factors, credit spreads, default rates, loss severity, current market and contractual prices for the underlying instruments or debt, and broker and dealer quotes, as well as other relevant economic measures.
Derivative Asset
Derivatives are recorded at fair value and changes in fair value are recorded through the statements of operations and comprehensive loss each period. We have a single derivative instrument, a warrant from Radionetics, or the Radionetics Warrant, to purchase the greater of 3,407,285 additional shares of common stock or the number of additional shares of common stock that would allow us to maintain an aggregate equity interest of 22% of the fully diluted capitalization of Radionetics. We record the Radionetics Warrant as long-term on the balance sheets due to the lack of marketability, such that it is not expected to be available for current operations. Changes in fair value of the Radionetics Warrant are recognized in other income (expense) in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.
The valuation method and primary inputs used in valuing the Radionetics Warrant are discussed below under revenue recognition. Such valuation is based on valuations provided by a third-party valuation specialist using unobservable inputs due to little to no market data (Level 3 inputs). There were no material changes in the inputs or total the valuation of the Radionetics Warrant between October 15, 2021 (date of the warrant) and December 31, 2021.
Revenue Recognition
We have generated revenue from the CLA, as well as from grants from government agencies. We have recognized revenues when, or as, the promised goods or services are transferred to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which we expect to be entitled in exchange for those services. To determine revenue recognition for arrangements, we perform the following five steps: (1) identify the contract(s) with a customer; (2) identify the performance obligation(s) in the contract; (3) determine the transaction price; (4) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligation(s) in the contract; and (5) recognize revenue when (or as) the performance obligation(s) are satisfied. At contract inception, we assess the goods or services promised within each contract, assess whether each promised good or service is distinct and identify those that are performance obligations. We recognize as revenue the amount of the transaction price that is allocated to the respective performance obligation when, or as, the performance obligation is satisfied.
We consider a variety of factors in determining the appropriate estimates and assumptions under the arrangements, such as whether the elements are distinct performance obligations, whether there are observable stand-alone prices, and whether the license is functional or symbolic. We evaluate each performance obligation to determine if it can be satisfied and recognized as revenue at a point in time or over time.
Collaboration and License Agreement
We have entered into the CLA, which includes the following: (i) upfront noncash considerations; (ii) payments associated with achieving certain milestones; and (iii) royalties based on specified percentages of net product sales, if any. At the
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initiation of an agreement, we analyze each unit of account within the contract to determine if the counterparty is a customer in the context of the unit of account.
Under the CLA, we will not be supporting or maintaining the intellectual property and do not plan on continuing to undertake those activities from which the utility of the intellectual property is derived. The collaborative provisions per the CLA are deemed to be protective measures for the advancement of the technology and not deemed to be a separate performance obligation. Our performance obligation under the CLA consisted of the license and know-how of the technology.
The upfront noncash considerations consist of the initial common stock investment in Radionetics and the Radionetics Warrant and are fixed considerations for functional intellectual property as it exists at a point in time, being the time that the CLA was executed. Revenues for sales-based royalties and milestones are recognized at the later of the subsequent sale or satisfaction of the performance obligation.
We engaged a third-party valuation specialist to determine the estimated fair value of these upfront noncash considerations received. The valuation specialist utilized a cost approach to determine the implied value of Radionetics' equity since it was newly formed with early development stage technology from the CLA for which there are not reliable long-term forecasts. Next, the total equity value was allocated to various share classes using the current value method and option pricing method. The current value method allocates the value of the business to the shareholders' given consideration of senior obligations such as debt, equity certificates and other preferred equity. The option pricing method entails allocating the total shareholders’ equity value to the various share classes based upon their respective claims on a series of call options with strike prices at various value levels depending upon the rights and preferences of each class.
Estimating the fair value of the Radionetics common stock and Radionetics Warrant is affected by assumptions regarding a number of complex variables, including the expected term for a liquidity event, the risk-free interest rate and stock price volatility. Changes in the assumptions can materially affect the value of license revenues, initial investment in Radionetics, and the Radionetics Warrant. These inputs are subjective and generally require significant analysis and judgment to develop.
We estimated the expected term based on the expected time to a liquidity event. The risk-free interest rate was based on the yields of zero-coupon U.S. treasury securities. Volatility was estimated based upon an analysis of historical equity and asset volatilities of companies deemed comparable to Radionetics. The valuation amounts were adjusted by a discount for lack of marketability to account for the lack of liquidity an owner of the interest would experience for common stock in an early-stage company.
Grant Revenue Recognition
Our grant revenues are derived from SBIR Grants. Our performance obligation under SBIR Grants consists of research activities and we recognize SBIR Grants revenue over time as reimbursable grant costs are incurred up to pre-approved award limits within the budget period. The costs associated with these reimbursements are reflected as a component of research and development expense.
Results of Operations
Comparison of the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | Dollar | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | Change | ||||||||||
| Revenues: | ||||||||||||
| License revenues | $ | 1,078 | $ | — | $ | 1,078 | ||||||
| Grant revenues | — | 71 | (71 | ) | ||||||||
| Total revenues | 1,078 | 71 | 1,007 | |||||||||
| Operating expenses: | ||||||||||||
| Research and development | 84,255 | 56,998 | 27,257 | |||||||||
| General and administrative | 24,525 | 18,026 | 6,499 | |||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 108,780 | 75,024 | 33,756 | |||||||||
| Loss from operations | (107,702 | ) | (74,953 | ) | (32,749 | ) | ||||||
| Other income (expense), net | 61 | 1,141 | (1,080 | ) | ||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (107,641 | ) | $ | (73,812 | ) | $ | (33,829 | ) |
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License Revenues. License revenues relate to upfront noncash considerations and totaled $1.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. Our license revenue is associated with the CLA, which was entered into during the fourth quarter of 2021. There were no license revenues during the year ended December 31, 2020.
Grant revenues. Grant revenues relate to reimbursable expenses incurred in connection with our SBIR Grants and totaled $71,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020. Our 2020 revenues were primarily associated with research activities for one SBIR Grant, which was completed during the first quarter of 2020. There were no grant revenues during the year ended December 31, 2021. We do not expect grant revenues to be significant in future periods.
Research and development expenses. Research and development expenses were $84.3 million and $57.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The increase was primarily due to increased spending on manufacturing and development activities of $13.5 million associated with our clinical and nonclinical activities for paltusotine and our other clinical and preclinical research programs. Additionally, our 2021 results reflect an increase in costs of $12.3 million primarily due to the hiring of additional personnel (which includes $4.4 million of additional stock-based compensation), expenditures for consulting and outside services of $0.8 million and other corporate expenditures of $0.4 million.
General and administrative expenses. General and administrative expenses were $24.5 million and $18.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The increase was primarily due to increases in personnel-related costs of $4.5 million (which includes $2.5 million of additional stock-based compensation) and spending on recruiting, consulting and professional services and pre-commercialization activities of $2.1 million.
Other income (expense). Other income (expense), net was $0.1 million and $1.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The decrease resulted from the impact of foreign currency fluctuations and a reduction of the income generated by our investment securities portfolio due to declining market yields available for such securities.
Cash Flows
We have incurred cumulative net losses and negative cash flows from operations since our inception and anticipate we will continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future. As of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $275.3 million and unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $333.7 million.
The following table provides information regarding our cash flows for each of the years in the two-year period ended December 31, 2021 (in thousands):
| Years ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||||
| Net cash used in operating activities | $ | (88,588 | ) | $ | (62,027 | ) | ||
| Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities | (56,483 | ) | 217 | |||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | 252,679 | 114,571 | ||||||
| Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash | $ | 107,608 | $ | 52,761 |
Comparison of the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
Operating Activities. Net cash used in operating activities was $88.6 million and $62.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The increase in cash used in operations was primarily attributable to development and manufacturing activities associated with paltusotine as well as our other clinical and preclinical programs, and higher personnel-related costs. The net cash used in operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2021 was primarily due to our net loss of $107.6 million, adjusted for $18.0 million of noncash charges, including stock-based compensation, depreciation expense, noncash license revenues, and a $1.1 million change in our operating assets and liabilities. The net cash used in operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily due to our net loss of $73.8 million adjusted for $11.4 million of noncash charges, including stock-based compensation and depreciation expense and a $0.4 million change in our operating assets and liabilities.
Investing activities. Investing activities consist primarily of purchases and maturities of investment securities and, to a lesser extent, the cash outflow associated with purchases of property and equipment. Such activities resulted in net cash outflows of approximately $56.5 million and net cash inflows of approximately $0.2 million during 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Financing activities. Net cash provided by financing activities was $252.7 million and $114.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The net cash provided by financing activities during 2021 was primarily the result of the net proceeds of $234.6 million from the sale of shares of common stock in our follow-on public offerings in April 2021 and October 2021, as well as $15.0 million from the sale of shares through our Private Placement, as defined
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below, in July 2021 and $3.1 million from the exercise of common stock options. The net cash provided by financing activities during 2020 was primarily the result of the net proceeds of $107.9 million from the sale of shares of common stock in our public offering in April 2020, as well as $6.4 million from the sale of shares in our ATM Offering, as defined below, and $0.3 million from the exercise of common stock options.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
At December 31, 2021, we had unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and investment securities of $333.7 million. Based on our current and anticipated level of operations, we believe that our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments will be sufficient to meet our anticipated obligations for at least one year from the date this Annual Report on Form 10-K is filed with the SEC. However, our forecast of the period of time through which our financial resources will be adequate to support our operations is a forward-looking statement that involves risks and uncertainties, and actual results could vary materially. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our capital resources sooner than we expect. Additionally, the process of testing product candidates in clinical trials is costly, and the timing of progress and expenses in these trials is uncertain.
Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
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the type, number, scope, progress, expansions, results, costs and timing of, our preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates which we are pursuing or may choose to pursue in the future;
•
the costs and timing of manufacturing for our product candidates, including commercial manufacturing if any product candidate is approved;
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the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;
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the costs of obtaining, maintaining and enforcing our patents and other intellectual property rights;
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our efforts to enhance operational systems and hire additional personnel to satisfy our obligations as a public company, including enhanced internal controls over financial reporting;
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the costs associated with hiring additional personnel and consultants as our preclinical and clinical activities increase;
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the timing and the extent of any Australian Tax Incentive refund and future grant revenues that we receive;
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the costs and timing of establishing or securing sales and marketing capabilities if any product candidate is approved;
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our ability to achieve sufficient market acceptance, adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors and adequate market share and revenue for any approved products;
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the terms and timing of establishing and maintaining collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements;
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costs associated with any products or technologies that we may in-license or acquire;
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the funding of any co-development arrangements we enter into; and
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our ability to participate in future equity offering by Radionetics, including our option to exercise our warrant for the purchase of Radionetics stock.
Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenues to support our cost structure, we expect to finance our cash needs through equity offerings, debt financings or other capital sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of our stockholders will be or could be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our common stockholders. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise funds through collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us and/or may reduce the value of our common stock. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market our product candidates even if we would otherwise prefer to develop and market such product candidates ourselves.
In August 2019, we entered into a Sales Agreement, or the Sales Agreement, with SVB Leerink LLC and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., or collectively, the Sales Agents, under which we may, from time to time, sell shares of our common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $75.0 million through the Sales Agents, or the ATM Offering. Sales of our common stock made pursuant to the Sales Agreement will be made directly on or through the Nasdaq Global Select Market under our effective shelf Registration Statement on Form S-3 filed on August 19, 2019 by means of ordinary brokers’ transactions at market prices. Additionally, under the terms of the Sales Agreement, we may also sell shares of our common stock through the Sales Agents, on the Nasdaq Global Select Market or otherwise, at negotiated prices or at prices related to the prevailing
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market price. We are not obligated to, and we cannot provide any assurances that we will continue to, make any sales of the shares under the Sales Agreement. The Sales Agreement may be terminated by either Sales Agent (with respect to itself) or us at any time upon 10 days’ notice to the other parties, or by either Sales Agent, with respect to itself, at any time in certain circumstances, including the occurrence of a material adverse change. We will pay the Sales Agents a commission for their services in acting as agent in the sale of common stock in an amount equal to 3% of the gross sales price per share sold. During 2020, we issued 275,764 shares of common stock in the ATM Offering for net proceeds of $6.4 million, after deducting commissions. No shares were issued under the ATM Offering during the year ended December 31, 2021.
On April 17, 2020, we completed a public offering of 8,222,500 shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $14.00 per share. We received proceeds of approximately $107.9 million from that offering, net of offering discounts and commissions and offering costs of $7.3 million.
On April 12, 2021, we completed an underwritten follow-on offering of 4,562,044 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $16.44 per share. Proceeds from the offering were approximately $72.6 million, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of $2.4 million.
On July 28, 2021, we entered into a stock purchase agreement for the private placement of 851,306 shares of our common stock at a price of $17.62 per share, or the Private Placement, which shares were issued on July 30, 2021. The Private Placement yielded net proceeds of $15.0 million.
on August 10, 2021, we filed a universal shelf registration statement with the SEC for the future sale of an unlimited amount of common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, depositary shares, warrants and rights, and the resale of up to 851,306 shares by the investor who purchased shares in the Private Placement. The securities may be offered from time to time, separately or together, directly by us, by selling security holders, or through underwriters, dealers or agents at amounts, prices, interest rates and other terms to be determined at the time of the offering.
On October 21, 2021, we completed an underwritten follow-on offering of 8,712,400 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $19.80 per share. Proceeds from the offering were approximately $162.0 million, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of $10.5 million.
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