Altamira Therapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ:CYTO) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Altamira Therapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ:CYTO) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript September 12, 2023

Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the Altamira Therapeutics First Half 2023 Financial Results and Business Update Conference Call. On today’s call are Thomas Meyer, Altamira Therapeutics’ Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Covadonga Paneda, Chief Operating Officer. Earlier today, Altamira Therapeutics issued a news release with the first half 2023 financial results as well as a comprehensive business update. The release is available on the company’s website at ir.altamiratherapeutics.com and has been filed with the SEC. During today’s call, the company will be making forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include statements that address future operating, financial or business performance or our strategies or expectations.

Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs and involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the timing and conduct of our clinical trials, the clinical utility of our product candidates, the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals, our intellectual property position and our financial position as well as those described in the Risk Factors section in our annual report on Form 6-K and future filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent the company’s views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date.

While it may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it specifically disclaims any obligation to do so even when its views change. With that, I will hand the call over to Thomas Meyer.

Thomas Meyer: Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining our first half of 2023 financial results and business update call. Together with our Chief Operating Officer, Covadonga Paneda, I’m pleased to be providing an update on the advancements that we have made during the first half of this year, which includes updates on our clinical activities, recent strategic partnerships, positioning our legacy business for future opportunities, corporate developments that make us a stronger company today as well as our financials. We will then address questions that we received from investors. For investors right now, macroeconomic uncertainty continues to prevail on a global scale. And also there is softening in many areas, labor, consumer demand, housing markets.

I still believe in the resilience of our economy. In the biotech sector, what we are seeing is a sense of renewed optimism. Many companies within our industry continue to make positive strides. What’s more, the future looks promising, thanks to exciting new discoveries and development making this an opportune time to strengthen product offerings and pipelines through strategic partnerships and acquisitions. We continue to make headway in our RNA therapeutics business this year. This has been a process of repositioning the company that we initiated last year to generate long-term shareholder value. The evolution of our company includes leveraging our various pipeline assets which we have been very transparent and methodical about. RNA-based therapeutics represent a highly attractive and promising market.

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Q&A Session

In fact, live market research estimates that sales of RNA-based therapeutics based on RNA interference and anti-sense oligonucleotides are expected to reach $25.1 billion by 2030. Given that the corresponding figure for 2021 was just $4.9 billion, the industry is registering a compound annual growth rate of 17.6%. And this is only one part of the market and opportunity as it does not even include any sales of mRNA therapeutics. RNA-based therapeutics hold vast promise for addressing numerous diseases that presently lack optimal or viable treatment options. And thus, our focus in the long term is to hone in on tools for RNA delivery through therapeutic targets beyond the liver and efficient endosomal releases inside target cells. With regards to our legacy assets centered on OTC consumer health and inner ear therapeutics, we have achieved significant milestones in the clinical and the regulatory domains.

Notably, our clinical trial featuring Bentrio for seasonal allergic rhinitis successfully met its primary end point adding to the existing body of compelling efficacy data. In addition, we were pleased to report that the FDA cleared an investigational new drug IND, our AM-125 drug, which targets acute vestibular syndrome. These milestones are important elements in our ongoing partnering discussions. Our intent is to divest or partner our legacy assets Bentrio and AM-125 for further development and commercialization in the context of our strategic pivot to RNA delivery technology. To this end, our discussions are ongoing. I will provide you with updates as they become more concrete mature. Concurrently, we achieved significant strides in elevating awareness and recognition of our OligoPhore/SemaPhore platforms, particularly in the realm of extrahepatic RNA delivery and efficient endosomal release.

We recently announced our collaboration with Heqet Therapeutics to pursue the development of cardiac regeneration treatments, harnessing the power of RNA through our OligoPhore platform. This serves as an encouraging testament to the growing interest in our technology and we hold a strong conviction regarding the potential for forging additional partnerships with other biopharmaceutical companies. And now, I will pass the call over to our Chief Operating Officer, Covadonga Paneda, who will talk more about that and our RNA programs. Cova?

Covadonga Paneda: Thanks, Thomas, and good morning, everyone. Altamira’s progress in advancing RNA delivery technology to our OligoPhore and SemaPhore platforms is meaningful. These platforms are built upon a patented peptide designed to deliver RNA nanoparticles to tissues beyond the liver and efficiently release them into target cells. Recently, we received further external validation of this technology to two in vivo studies conducted by independent research teams at Washington University of Medicine in St. Louis. In one study, the research team shared annual data showing that nanoparticles based in our SemaPhore platform loaded with ZBTB46 mRNA efficiently restrained tumor growth. What’s more important is that the introduction of ZBTB46 mRNA specifically into the tumors of treated animals prompt the creation of an immune stimulating environment around the tumor further limiting its growth.

This effect was notably enhanced when combined with anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibition therapy, indicating that ZBTB46 mRNA delivered by SemaPhore nanoparticles could serve as a valuable supplementary therapy alongside immunotherapy for cancer management. This exciting development highlights the potential of our technology in the field of cancer treatment. In the second study, researchers administered nanoparticles based on SemaPhore loaded with an mRNA encoding for DNMT3B, a protein known to be involved in cartilage on the [indiscernible] directly into the joints that is intraarticular administration of mice with meniscal injuries. The outcome was quite promising. There was a robust increase in DNMT3B protein levels and the mice experienced significant reduction in bone sclerosis, cartilage degeneration and synovitis.