Lineage Cell Therapeutics announced its third quarter 2024 financial and operating results, highlighting progress in its allogeneic cell therapy programs. A key achievement was the FDA’s Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation for OpRegen, a retinal pigment epithelial cell therapy being developed in collaboration with Roche and Genentech for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration. This designation underscores OpRegen’s potential as a transformative treatment.
Alongside this, Lineage advanced its OPC1 program for spinal cord injury, returning it to clinical trials. Furthermore, promising preclinical data from ReSonance, a therapy for sensorineural hearing loss, were presented. The company remains committed to leveraging its cell transplant technology and manufacturing expertise across its clinical and preclinical pipelines.
Financially, Lineage reported $32.7 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities as of September 30, 2024, anticipating this will fund operations into the first quarter of 2026. Total revenue for the third quarter reached $3.8 million, a significant increase from the $1.2 million reported in the same period of 2023. This increase was primarily attributed to higher collaboration revenue recognized from deferred revenue under the Roche agreement.
Operating expenses totaled $7.6 million, a slight decrease from the $7.9 million reported in the third quarter of 2023. Research and development expenses decreased to $3.2 million, while general and administrative expenses increased to $4.4 million. The decrease in R&D expenses was primarily driven by reductions in spending on the OPC1 and preclinical programs, partially offset by an increase in spending for OpRegen. The increase in G&A was mainly due to higher personnel costs and stock-based compensation.
The company reported a loss from operations of $3.8 million, a substantial improvement from the $6.7 million loss in the same period last year. Other income for the quarter was $0.8 million, compared to an expense of $0.4 million in the prior year, attributed to exchange rate fluctuations. The net loss attributable to Lineage was $3.0 million, or $0.02 per share, compared to a net loss of $7.1 million, or $0.04 per share, in the third quarter of 2023.
Lineage’s balance sheet as of September 30, 2024, shows total assets of $96.6 million and total liabilities of $31.8 million. Shareholders’ equity stood at $64.8 million. The company’s cash flow statement for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, reflects net cash used in operating activities of $16.7 million, partially offset by cash provided by financing activities of $14.1 million.
Lineage’s pipeline focuses on developing “off-the-shelf” cell therapies for unmet medical needs using its proprietary cell-based technology platform. Beyond OpRegen, OPC1, and ReSonance, the pipeline also includes PNC1 for vision loss and RND1, a hypoimmune induced pluripotent stem cell line being developed with Factor Bioscience Limited.
Jon Napitupulu is Director of Media Relations at The Clinical Trial Vanguard. Jon, a computer data scientist, focuses on the latest clinical trial industry news and trends.
