Good
afternoon.
And welcome
to
Oncolytics
Biotech's
Fourth
Quarter
2021
Conference
Call.
All
participants
are
now
in
listen-only
mode.
There
will
be
a
question-and-answer
session
at
the
end
of
this
call.
Please
be
advised
that
this
call
is
being
recorded
at
the
company's
request.
And
I
would
like
to
turn
the
call
over
to
Jon
Patton,
Director
of
Investor
Relations
and
Communication.
Please
go
ahead,
sir.
J
Jon Patton
Thank
you,
operator,
and
good
afternoon
everyone.
Earlier
today,
Oncolytics
issued
a
press
release
providing
recent
operational
highlights
and
financial
results
for
the
fourth
quarter
and
full
year
2021.
A
replay
of
today's
call
will
be
available
on
the
Events
&
Presentations
section
of
the
Oncolytics'
website
approximately
two
hours
after
its
completion.
After
remarks
from
company
management,
we
will
open
the
call
for
Q&A.
As
a
reminder,
various
remarks
made
during
this
call
contain
certain
forward-looking
statements
relating
to
our
business
prospects
and
the
development
and commercialization
of
pelareorep,
including
statements
regarding
our focus,
strategy
and
objectives,
our
belief as
to
the
potential
and
mode
of
action
of
pelareorep
as
a
cancer
therapeutic,
the
design,
aims, expectations
and
anticipated
benefits of
our
current
and
pending
clinical
trials,
our
plans and
expectations
regarding
a
potential
registrational
study,
our
plans
regarding
the
expansion
of
pelareorep's
market
and
business
development
potential,
our
plans
for
collaborations
with
industry
leaders,
financial
run
rate
and
other
statements
related
to
anticipated
developments
in the
company's
business.
These
statements
are
based
on
management's
current
expectations
and
beliefs
and
are
subject
to
a
number
of
factors
which
involve
known
and
unknown
risks,
delays,
uncertainties
and
other
factors
not
under
the
company's
control
that
may
cause
actual
results,
performance
or
achievements
of
the
company
to
be
materially
different
from
the
results,
performance
and expectations
implied
by
these
forward-looking
statements.
In
any
forward-looking
statement
in
which
Oncolytics
expresses
an
expectation
or
belief
as
to
future
results,
such
expectations
or
beliefs
are
expressed
in
good
faith
and are
believed
to
have
reasonable
basis,
but
there
can
be
no
assurance
that
these
statements
or
expectations
or
belief
will
be
achieved.
These
factors
include
results
of
current
or
pending
clinical
trials,
risk
associated
with
intellectual
property
protection,
financial
projections,
actions
by
regulatory
agencies
and
other
factors
detailed
in
the
company's
filings
with
SEDAR
and
the
SEC.
Oncolytics
does
not
undertake
any
obligation
to
update
these
forward-looking
statements,
except
as
required
by
applicable
laws.
Now,
I
will
turn
the
call
over
to
Dr.
Matt
Coffey,
President
and
Chief
Executive
Officer
of
Oncolytics
Biotech.
Matt?
M
Matthew C. Coffey
Thanks,
Jon.
And
thanks
to
all
who
are
joining
us
today
to
discuss
our
fourth
quarter
corporate
update.
Now
in
addition
to Jon,
I'm
joined
by
Tom
Heineman,
our
Chief
Medical
Officer;
Andrew
de
Guttadauro,
our
Global
Head
of
Business
Development;
and
Kirk
Look,
our
Chief
Financial
Officer.
I'm
pleased
to
say
that
we had
a
very
strong
2021
and
have
continued
to
build
on
our
momentum
in
the
early
part
of
2022.
If
you've
not
had
a
chance,
I
would
encourage
our
investors
to
read
the
letter
to
shareholders
that
we
distributed
as
a
press
release
on
January
11.
In
it,
we
walk
you
through
why
what
we
saw
in
2021
is
significant
and
why
we
are
excited
about
2022
and
our
upcoming
milestones.
We
are
advancing
towards
a
potential
value
inflection
points
across
our
pipeline
with
a
strong
historical
foundational
dataset
that
demonstrates
pelareorep's
ability
to
deliver
a
statistically
significant
survival
benefit
as
was
shown
in
our
randomized
Phase
2
metastatic
breast
cancer
trial
generate
a
profound
and
concerted
innate
and
adaptive
anti-cancer
immune
response
and
synergize
with
multiple
oncology
treatments.
Now
the most
significant
of
our
expected
2022
milestones
is
the
top
line
data
announcement
from
BRACELET-1,
a
randomized
Phase
2
trial
evaluating
pelareorep
in
combination
with
checkpoint
inhibition
in
HR+/HER2-
metastatic
breast
cancer.
BRACELET-1
is
being
conducted
with
collaboration
with
Pfizer
and
Merck
Serono
and
is
designed
to
expand
upon
a
prior
positive
Phase
2
results
in
this
indication
by
generating
critical
data
requested
by
the
FDA
and
our
global
pharma
collaborators.
Data
that
confirms
the
overall
survival
benefit
we
saw
in
IND-213
would
serve
to
de-risk
our
lead
breast
cancer
program
in
broader
pipeline,
and
we
believe
that
data
represents
the
last
major
step
on
pelareorep's
path
to
a
registrational
breast
cancer
study.
As we
work
towards
this
data
readout,
we
intend
to
begin
discussing
our
plans
for
a
registrational
study
with
the
FDA
and
other
regulators,
so
that
we
can
advance
the
programs
with
efficiency.
While
Tom
will
be
speaking
more
about
BRACELET-1
and
our
lead
breast
cancer
program
in
a
bit,
I
will
say
now
that
the
trial
remains
on
track
for
full
enrollment
in
late
Q1
early
Q2
with
top line
data
in
Q4
assuming
no
or
limited
impact
from
COVID-19.
Beyond
our
lead
program,
pelareorep's
ability
to
generate
an
innate
and
adaptive
immune
response
thereby
weakening
tumor
defense
mechanisms
continues
to
spur
collaborations
with
industry
leaders
and
academia.
These
collaborations
include
those
underlying
our
ongoing
trials
in
triple-negative
breast
and
gastrointestinal
cancers,
both
of
which
recently
reported
interim
updates
that
further
demonstrates
the
favorable
safety
profile
of
pelareorep
checkpoint
inhibitor
combinations.
These
positive updates
are
notable
because
the
lack
of
toxicity
in
this
large
indication
provides
additional
opportunities
to
expand
a
potential
market
of
pelareorep
checkpoint
inhibitor
combination.
The
opportunity
for
expanding
beyond
checkpoint
inhibitors
has
been
evident
in
data
we
reported
during
the
2021
year.
Promising
combination
therapy
data
readouts
involving
CAR T,
bispecific
antibodies,
PARP
and
CDK 4/6
inhibitors
are
evidence
of
pelareorep's
differentiated
and
broadly
applicable
mechanism
of
actions.
We
believe
leveraging
pelareorep
in
this
fashion
could
address
unmet
needs
across
a
spectrum of
target
indications,
and
we
expect
to report
clinical
updates
supporting
this
hypothesis
in
both
multiple
myeloma,
GI
and
glioblastoma
at
upcoming
conferences.
Looking
ahead,
we
plan
to
utilize
a
partnership
strategy
to
pursue
the
multitude
of
market
and
business
development
opportunities
offered
by
pelareorep
and
its
potential
to
act
as
an
immunotherapy
backbone.
This
will
allow
us
to
operate
efficiently
as
we
devote
our
primary
focus
and
resources
towards
the
advancement
of
pelareorep
to
registration
in
HR+/HER2-
metastatic
breast
cancer.
With
that,
I'll
now
hand
it
off
to
our
Chief
Medical
Officer,
Tom
Heineman,
who
I
should
also
congratulate
on
his
well-deserved
recent
promotion
to
provide
a
bit
more
detail
on
BRACELET-1
and
our
recent
highlights.
Tom?
T
Thomas C Heineman
Chief Medical Officer, Oncolytics Biotech, Inc.
Thanks,
Matt,
and
thanks
to
all
those
listening
on
the
call
today.
As
a
reminder,
BRACELET-1
and
early
stage
breast
cancer
study,
AWARE-1,
were
designed
to
achieve
three
crucial
objectives
put
forward
by
regulators
and
our
pharma
partners
after
seeing
the
results
of
IND-213,
the
randomized
Phase
2
study,
that
showed
a
near
doubling
of
overall
survival
in
metastatic
HR+/HER2-
breast
cancer
patients
treated
with
paclitaxel,
combined
with
pelareorep.
These
objectives
were
to
first
confirm
that
pelareorep
works
through
an
immunotherapeutic
mechanism
of
action.
This
would
indicate
that
it
stimulates
long-lasting
anti-cancer
effects
and
explains
the
survival
benefits
seen
in
IND-213.
Second,
determine
whether
pelareorep
synergizes
with
immune
checkpoint
inhibitors.
This
could
lead
to
an
enhancement
of
the
survival
benefits
seen
in
IND-213
in
breast
cancer
patients,
and
could
also
potentially
provide
more
effective
treatment
options
for
patients
with
many
other
types
of
cancer.
And
third,
determine
of
changes
in
peripheral
blood
T
cell
populations
could
potentially
serve
as
a
novel
blood-based
biomarker
to
predict
patient
responses
to
pelareorep
therapy.
This
could
improve
our
chances
of
success
in
future
studies
by
allowing
the
selection
of
patients
most
likely
to
benefit
from
therapies
that
include
pelareorep.
Now,
on
past
earnings
calls,
we
detailed
data
from
AWARE-1's
first
two
cohorts,
which
exclusively
enrolled
patients
with
HR+/HER2-
breast
cancer
subtype.
These
data
showed
that
AWARE-1
made
its
primary
endpoint
with
pelareorep
reversing
immunosuppressive
tumor
microenvironment
and
generating
an expanding
T
cell
clones
and
upregulating
PD-L1
expression.
It
led
to
increases
in
CelTIL
score
and
tumor
infiltration
of
CD8+
T
cells,
two
metrics
that
are
known
to
correlate
with
improved
clinical
outcomes.
Additionally,
we
found
that
several
of
these
positive
effects
were
enhanced
when
a
checkpoint
inhibitor
was
combined
with
pelareorep
and
the
changes
in
peripheral
blood
T
cell
populations
correlated
with
CelTIL
score
and
tumor
infiltrating
CD8
T
cells.
Taken
together,
these
promising
findings
indicate
that
we
are
well
on
our
way
to
achieving
the
three
key
objectives
mentioned
earlier.
They
clearly
show
that
pelareorep
has
an
immunologic
mechanism
of
action
and
demonstrated
synergy
with
checkpoint
blockade.
Moreover,
they
indicate
the
changes
in
peripheral
blood
T cell
populations
may
service
a
predictive
biomarker.
With
these
objectives
in
mind,
we
designed
BRACELET-1,
a
study
that
is
very
similar
to
IND-213,
with
two
notable
exceptions.
First,
BRACELET-1
exclusively
enrolls
HR+/HER2-
metastatic
breast
cancer
patients,
the
population
that
demonstrated
the
most
pronounced
overall
survival
benefit
in
IND-213.
And
second,
in
addition
to
having
study
arms
evaluating
paclitaxel
alone
and
paclitaxel
plus
pelareorep,
BRACELET-1
also
includes
the
third
study
arm
in
which
paclitaxel
and pelareorep
are
combined
with
Pfizer
and
Merck
Serono's
anti-PD-L1
checkpoint
inhibitor
Bavencio.
We
are
pleased
with
the
progress
being
made
in
BRACELET-1
and
we
expect
to
complete
enrollment
later
this
month
or
early
in
the
second
quarter.
Approximately
16
weeks
after
enrollment
is
concluded,
the
final
patient
scans
required
for
assessment
of
the
study's
primary
endpoint
will
be
completed.
Once
the
results
of
the
scans
are
available,
we
will
compile
and
analyze
the
data
and
then
discuss
these
results
with
the
relevant
parties
as
we
continue
to
plan
for
our
next
steps
on
the
path
to
registration.
Considering
all
of
this,
we
anticipate
announcing
the
top
line
results
of
the
trial
in
the
fourth
quarter
of
this
year.
I'd
now
like
to
take
a
minute
to
set
the
stage
for
what
to
expect
from
the
BRACELET-1
study.
Data
from
earlier
studies
give
us
some
insight
into
what
to
expect
from
both
the
paclitaxel
alone
and
paclitaxel
plus
pelareorep
arms
of
the
study.
However
now,
based
on
the
AWARE-1
study
results,
we
have
a
much
clearer
understanding
of
the
immunologic
effects
of
adding
pelareorep
including
increasing
PD-L1
expression
and
the
infiltration
of
CD8+
T
cells
into
tumors.
Moreover,
the
AWARE-1
study
provided
extensive
insights
into
the
potentially
beneficial
immunologic
effects
of
combining
pelareorep
with
a
checkpoint
inhibitor.
These
include
reversing
the
immunosuppressive
nature
of
the
tumor
microenvironment
and
enhancing
the
development
of
potentially
protective
innate
and
adaptive
immune
responses.
The
IND-213
study
gave
us
a
clear
reason
to
expect
that
the
addition
of
pelareorep
to
chemotherapy
may
benefit
metastatic
breast
cancer
patients.
Now,
based
on
the
AWARE-1
results,
we
are
hopeful
that
the
synergistic
effects
of
having
a
checkpoint
inhibitor
pelareorep
will
further
benefit
patients
in
the
BRACELET-1
study.
In
addition
to
collecting
data
on
overall
response
rate
and
survival,
we're
also
collecting
progression-free
survival,
safety
and
biomarker
data
from
the
BRACELET-1
study.
I
should
note,
however,
that
we
do
not
plan
to
present
the
entirety
of
a
BRACELET-1
results
during
the
anticipated
fourth
quarter
announcement
and
then
we
expect
to
present
additional
updates
at
medical
meetings
in
2023
including
updates
on
PFS
and
overall
survival.
Additionally,
I
should
point
out
that
due
to
the
size
of
the
BRACELET-1
trial,
which
is
expected
to
enroll
a
total
of
48
patients,
it
is
not
powered
to
detect
statistically
significant
differences
in
overall
response
rates
between
the
study
groups.
Therefore,
we
will
be
evaluating
numerical
differences
between
BRACELET-1
study
groups
to
support
the
statistically
significant
survival
benefit
previously
observed
in
IND-213
and
to
inform
the
design
of
the
Phase
3
study.
We
thus
view
BRACELET-1
as
the
last
major
step
on
pelareorep's
path
to
a
registration
study
and
believe
the
anticipated
Q4
data
announcement
represents
a
major
potential
inflection
point
for
the
company.
Now
that
I've
provided
you
with
a
refresh
of
our
AWARE-1
program
and
an
overview
of
our
BRACELET-1
study,
I'll
hand
it
off
to
Andrew
to
speak
a
bit
more
about
our
partnership
strategy
as
well
as
our
broader
business
development
efforts.
Andrew?
A
Andrew R. de Guttadauro
Thanks,
Tom,
and
thanks
to
all who
have
joined
us
on
today's
call.
I'd
first
like
to
touch
on
some
of
the
recent
progress
in
our
IRENE
and
GOBLET
trials,
which
are
examples
of
how
we're
collaborating
with
industry
leaders
to
develop
pelareorep
in
combination
with checkpoint
inhibitors
and
expand
this
potential
therapeutic
impact.
As
you
may
recall,
IRENE
is
a
Phase
2
trial
evaluating
pelareorep
in
combination
with
Incyte's
PD-1
checkpoint
inhibitor,
retifanlimab,
in
metastatic
triple-negative
breast
cancer.
At
the
most
recent
San
Antonio
Breast
Cancer
Symposium
in
December,
we're
pleased
to
report
that
the
combination
is
well tolerated
in
each
of
the
five
patients
enrolled
at
that
point
in
the
trial.
The
trial
remains
ongoing
and
we
look
forward
to
its
continued
progress.
We
also
recently
provided
positive
safety
update
from
our
Phase
1/2
GOBLET
trial,
which
is
to
evaluate
pelareorep
in
combination
with
Roche's
PD-L1
inhibitor,
atezolizumab,
in
patients
with
advanced
or
metastatic
pancreatic,
colorectal
and
anal
cancers.
We
were
pleased
to report
in
February
that
an
independent
review
of
the
trial
pancreatic
cancer
safety run-in
noted
no
toxicity
concerns
and
that
the
Data
Safety
Monitoring
Board
recommended
the
trial
proceed
as
planned.
The
trial
also
includes
a
safety run-in
for
third-line
metastatic
colorectal
cancer
cohort,
which
remains
ongoing
with
an
update
expected
in the
first
half
of
the
New
Year.
Now,
one
point
I'd
like
to
emphasize
is
how
IRENE
and
GOBLET
take
a
similar
approach to
try
and
address the
pressing
unmet
need.
While
checkpoint
inhibitors
have
been
commercially
successful,
less
than
one
in
five
patients
respond
to
these
therapies
due
to
several
different
resistance
mechanisms
that
can
be
addressed
by
pelareorep's
clinically
demonstrated
immunotherapeutic
effects.
As
Tom
mentioned
earlier,
pelareorep
has
shown
the
ability
to
remodel
the
tumor
microenvironment
causing
PD-L1
upregulation
in
addition
to
increase
in
CD8+
cells
and
memory
T
cells.
Outcomes
like
these
are
appealing
to
industry
leaders
because
pelareorep
has
demonstrated
it
can
increase
the
proportion
of patients
eligible
for
therapies
like
checkpoint
inhibitors
and
increase
the
benefit
derived
from
combination
therapies.
The
ultimate
goal
is
to
secure
a
global
clinical
and
commercialization
partnership,
and
past
deals
have
typically
been
preceded
by
research
collaboration,
similar
to
trials
Tom
and
I
have
discussed
on
this
call.
Next,
I'd
now
like
to
provide
another
update
on
the
additional
progress
made
since
our
Q3
call
with
Adlai
Nortye,
our
partners
working
to
develop
and
commercialize
pelareorep
in
China,
Hong
Kong,
Macau,
Singapore,
South
Korea
and
Taiwan.
In
October,
Adlai
dosed
the
first
patient
or
bridging
safety
trial,
evaluating
the
safety,
tolerability
and
preliminary
efficacy
of
pelareorep,
paclitaxel
combination
therapy
in
Chinese
patients
with
advanced
or
metastatic
breast
cancer. This
trial
follows
a
design
that is
similar
to
the
pelareorep, paclitaxel
cohort
in
IND-213.
Now,
in
January,
Adlai
announced
that
they
had
advanced
the
second
dose
escalation
cohort
of
the
trial.
This
is
significant
because
the
second
dose
cohort
is
equivalent
to
what
was
administered
to
patients
in
IND-213,
which
showed
a
near
doubling
of
survival
in
metastatic
HR+/HER2-
breast
cancer
patients.
Initiation
of this
cohort
is
an
important
step
that
reflects
the
positive
safety
findings
from
the
trial's
first
dose
escalation
cohort,
where
no
toxicity
concerns
were
noted.
The
ultimate
goal
of
the
bridging
trial
is
to
satisfy
Chinese
safety
requirements
and
thereby
accelerate
pelareorep's
development
in
Adlai's
principal
jurisdiction.
Subsequent
studies
will
include
data
from
IND-213
in
BRACELET-1
in
future
regulatory
submissions
and
trial
design
decisions.
Data
from
these
studies
and
regulatory
requirements
from
the
Chinese
authorities
will
dictate
what
a
Phase
3
study
will
entail
as
a
Phase
3
design
has
not
yet
been
determined.
Results
from
BRACELET-1
will
factor
heavily
when
considering
whether
a
checkpoint
inhibitor
will
be
included
in a
Phase
3
study
in
China.
Pelareorep's
advancement
in
these
jurisdictions
is
significant,
as
China
alone
has
the
world's
second
largest
pharmaceutical
market
with
rapid
growth
expected
over
the
coming
years.
By
leveraging
our
partnership
with
Adlai,
we have
positioned
ourselves
to capitalize
on
the
significant
market
opportunity
with
minimal
risk
and
clinical
costs.
Finally,
before
I
hand
the
call
over
to
Kirk,
I'd
like
to
reiterate
a
point
Matt
made
earlier
regarding
our
efforts
to
develop
pelareorep
as
an
enabling
technology
for
therapeutic
agents
beyond
checkpoint
inhibitors.
To
efficiently
pursue
this
goal,
we're
seeking
high-quality
partners
to
lead
this
development
pathway
and
assume
its
associated
costs.
We
are
supported
in
these
efforts
by
emerging
preclinical
data
and
our
clinical
results
demonstrating
pelareorep's
ability
to
reverse
immunosuppressive
tumor
microenvironment
and
recruit
cancer
fighting
T
cells
into
tumors.
These
have
led
to
collaborations
by
technology
companies
and
key
opinion
leaders
at
premier academic
institutions. Since
I've
discussed
positive
safety
readouts
for
TNBC
and
gastrointestinal
cancer
plus
a pelareorep
dose
escalation
in
breast
cancer
today,
I'd
like
to
take
a
moment
to
remind
our
investors
that
pelareorep's
favorable
safety
profile
is
an
important
factor
when
we
have
discussions
with
new
and
existing
biopharma
partners.
Being
able
to
provide
clinical
safety
data
across
multiple
indications
and
tumor
targets,
in
addition
to combinations
of
multiple
oncology
therapies
[indiscernible]
(00:18:13)
addressable
market
opportunity
for
pelareorep.
As
such,
it
shows
the
pharma
world
that
pelareorep
really
does
have
the
potential
to
be
an
immunotherapy
backbone
since
it
is
so
versatile.
While
we
are
eager
to
see
data
from
these
collaborative
efforts
generate,
we
remain
steadfastly
committed
to
preserving
the
company's
primary
focus
on
our
lead
breast
cancer
program
and
the
execution
of
our
stated
clinical
objectives.
Our
relationships
with
distinguished
collaborators,
such
as
Roche,
Pfizer,
Merck
Serono,
BMS,
Incyte
and
Adlai
Nortye
helped
to
maintain
this
focus
and
should
serve
us
well
as
we
work
to
execute
on
our
goals.
We
look
forward
to
the
continued
maturation
of
these
relationships
which
together
with
our
talented
team
and
robust
dataset
leave
us
well positioned
for
sustained
success.
With
that,
I'll
turn
the
call
over
to Kirk
Look,
our
CFO,
to
discuss
our
financial
results
for
the
fourth
quarter.
Kirk?
K
Kirk J. Look
Thanks,
Andrew,
and
good
afternoon
everyone.
It's
my
pleasure
to
report
that
Oncolytics
remains
well capitalized
as
we
advance
our
lead
breast
cancer
program
towards
the
registrational
study
and
execute
on
additional
clinical
and
corporate
objectives.
We
ended
2021
with
cash
and
cash
equivalents
of
$41.3
million
compared
to
$31.2
million
at
the
end
of
2020.
Based
on
current
projections,
we
expect
our
current
cash
resources
to
provide
a
financial
runway
into
2023,
taking
us
through
BRACELET-1's
top
line
data
announcement
and
additional
clinical
readouts.
Our
operating
expenses for
the
fourth
quarter
of
2021
were
$3.8
million,
remaining
relatively
consistent
with
the
fourth
quarter
of
2020
operating
expenses
of
$4 million.
For
the
full
year
2021,
our
operating
expenses
were
$13.3
million
compared
to
$12.5
million
for
the
prior
year.
This
change
largely
related
to
a
rise
in
public
company
costs,
including
an
increase
in
our
directors
and
officers'
insurance
premiums
and
an
increase
in
our
investor
relations
activities.
Research
and
development
expenses for
the
fourth
quarter
of
2021
were
$3.7
million,
compared
to
$4.1
million
for
the
same
period
last
year.
This
change
was
largely
due
to
a
decline
in
our
AWARE-1
related
expenses
as
a
large
majority
of
patient
enrollment
occurred
back
in
2020,
as
well
our
manufacturing-related
expenses
were
lower
given
we
completed
our
product
fills
back
in
the
fourth
quarter
of
2020. Now
this
was
partly
offset
by
higher
R&D
compensation-related
expenses
as
we
continue
to
invest
in
and
support
our
expanding
clinical
development
program.
Research
and
development
expenses were
$12.9
million
for
the
full
year
2021
and
2020.
Now
for
2021,
in
addition
to
our
continued
investment
in
our
clinical
program
and
our
R&D
team,
we
also
increased
our
translational
science
activities
this
year,
focusing
on
CAR T
therapy
and
bispecific
antibody
opportunities.
This was
offset
by
lower
manufacturing
activities,
as
we
have
sufficient
product
supply
from
the
production
run
and
product
builds
completed
in
2020,
lower
intellectual
property
costs
due
to the
relapsing
of
patents
in
certain
jurisdictions
and
foreign
exchange
fluctuations.
The
net
loss
for
the
fourth
quarter
of
2021 was
$7.8
million
compared
to
$9.3
million
for
the
fourth quarter
of
2020,
equating
to
a
net
loss
of
$0.14
per
share
for
the
2021
period,
compared
to
$0.21
per
share
for
the
prior
period.
The
net
loss
for
the
full
year
2021
was
$26.3
million
compared
to
$22.5
million
for
2020,
equating
to
a
net
loss
of
$0.49
per
share
for
2021
and
a
net
loss
of
$0.56
per
share
for
2020.
Now
with
that,
I'll hand
it
back
to
Matt.
Matt?
M
Matthew C. Coffey
Thank
you,
Kirk.
The
Oncolytics' family has
continued
to
work
hard
to
drive
our
programs
forward.
Our
pharma
partners
have
continued
to
provide
world-class
input
and
guidance,
and
our
investigators
and
collaborators
continued
to
share
our
vision
for
the
opportunity
presented
by
pelareorep's
mechanism
of
action,
for
which
we
are
extremely
grateful. We
would
also
like
to
thank
and
acknowledge
our
clinical
trial
patients
and
their
families
for
their
participation
in
our
studies
and
in
their
fight
against
this
terrible
disease.
Lastly,
I'd
like
to
thank
our
investors
who
provide
us
with
the
ability
to
pursue
these
inspiring
names.
Oncolytics
cannot
have
advanced
to
where
it
is
without
all
of
these
stakeholders'
contributions.
Looking
towards
the
future,
we
have
a
truly
unique
immunotherapeutic
agent
that
has
provided
us
with
exciting
clinical
data
and
continues
attracting
interest
from
significant
global
collaborators.
Its
immunotherapeutic
effects
can
be
seen
across
multiple
indications
and
in
combination
with
an
array
of
oncology
treatments.
We
believe
these
effects
could
have
a
profound
positive
impact
on
the
quality
of
life
of
cancer
patients
worldwide
and
in
turn
provide
a
broad
commercial
opportunity
of
which
we
have
only
begun
to
scratch
the
surface.
We
will
continue
to
further
pelareorep's
clinical
development
as
there
are
significant
opportunities
worthy
of
pursuit.
But
we
will
still
preserve
our
primary
focus
on
breast
cancer
while
selectively
engaging
partners
and
collaborators
to
progress
our
efforts
in
other
areas.
Advancing
our
lead
breast
cancer
program
towards
our
registrational
study
is
important
to
our
team
as
it
provides
a
meaningful
foundation
which
we
can
build
upon
to
unlock
additional
value
in
other
indications.
The
clinical
data
from AWARE-1
alone
has
brought
up
substantial
insights
about
how
pelareorep
can
be
leveraged
in
many
clinical
settings
by
effectively
harnessing
the
patient's
own
immune
response
against
their
disease.
These
learnings
are
crucial
in
advancing
pelareorep
as
a
world-class
immunotherapy.
Continuing
to
add
to
that
data
goes
a
long
way
to
expanding
the
potential
value
of
this
company.
We
have
several
critical
milestones
ahead
of
us
in
the
coming
weeks
and
throughout
the
year.
These
upcoming
catalysts
are
highlighted
by
BRACELET-1
anticipated
top
line
data
readout
in
Q4,
which
represents
the
last
major
clinical
step
on
pelareorep's
path
to
a
registrational
breast
cancer
study.
We
also
expect
to
report
a
multiple
myeloma
study
update,
early
results
from
our
GI
program
and
additional
clinical
data
in
glioblastoma
at
upcoming
conferences.
As
we
move
towards
these
catalysts,
we
are
doing
so
with
a
strong
team
that
has
consistently
executed
amid
an
ever
evolving
pandemic.
I
believe
their
experience
and
expertise,
together
with
the
strong
clinical
and
pre-clinical
datasets
supporting
our
pipeline,
leave
us
well positioned
to
generate
shareholder
value
while
working
towards
our
ultimate
goal
of
improving
the
lives
of
cancer
patients.
With
that,
I'd
like
to
open
the
lines
to
take
some
questions.
Operator?
Operator
Thank
you,
sir.
[Operator Instructions]
And
your
first
question
will
be
from
Patrick
Trucchio
at
H.C.
Wainwright.
Please
go
ahead.
U
Hi.
Good
afternoon.
This
is
[ph]
Jason
Shay (00:25:27)
on
for
Patrick.
And
my
first
question
is
for
the
BRACELET-1
study.
Can
you
tell
us
what
Oncolytics
will
like
to
see
within
their
Phase
2
data
readout
for
4Q?
And
like
how
will
this
proceed
to
your
Phase
3
pivotal
study?
Thank
you.
M
Matthew C. Coffey
I'll
start.
It's
Matt
Coffey.
How
are
you
doing?
[indiscernible]
U
(00:25:51).
M
Matthew C. Coffey
We
very
much
think
that
BRACELET-1
should
fall
in
line
with
the
learnings
of
AWARE-1.
What
we
know
from
BRACELET-1 –
IND-213
is
we
saw
a
survival
advantage.
And
at
that
point
it
was
presumably
due
to
the
immunotherapy
aspect
of
the
product.
AWARE-1
really
did
speak
to
the
virus
itself
causing
a
[ph]
pro-inflammatory
bowel (00:26:13)
with
remodeling
of
the
tumor
microenvironment
and
the
checkpoint
inhibitor
leading
to
enhanced
inflammation
and enhancing
the
quality,
which
led
to
better
CelTIL
scores
which
should
in
turn
lead
to
better
outcomes
in
terms
of
PFS and
OS.
We
would
very
much
hope
to
see
something
similar
in
BRACELET-1
with
outcomes
being
improved
from
paclitaxel
only
to
paclitaxel
plus
[ph]
virus (00:26:36).
And
again,
we
would
like
to
see
an
improvement
by
the
addition
of
the
checkpoint
blockade.
Now
those
are
wishes.
It's
certainly
AWARE-1
exceeded
our
expectations.
BRACELET-1 has
not
given
a
formal
readout
yet,
but
we'll
do
so
in
Q4.
With
that,
I'll
let
the
more
knowledgeable,
Tom
Heineman,
join
in
to
see
what
his
thoughts
are
on
this.
T
Thomas C Heineman
Chief Medical Officer, Oncolytics Biotech, Inc.
Yeah.
Thank
you,
Matt.
No,
I
mean,
to
be
honest,
I
don't
have
any
real
new
insights.
So
I
think
that
Matt
expressed
that
perfectly,
and
that
is
we
do
have
some
sense
from
the
previous
IND-213
study
what
to
expect
with
the
paclitaxel
alone
arm
and
the
paclitaxel
plus
pelareorep
arm.
And
we
expect
and
hope
based
on
the
AWARE-1
data
to
see
an
additional
immunologic
effect
leading
to
clinical
benefit
from
the
addition
of
a
checkpoint
inhibitor.
And
as
the
data
come
in,
we
look
forward to being able
to share
those data towards the end of
this
year.
U
All
right.
Can I
have
just
a
follow-up
question,
are
there
plans
in
terms
of
progressing
with
Pfizer
or
any
other
collaborators
for
pelareorep
for
the
Phase
3
pivotal
study,
or
will
Oncolytics
kind
of
proceed
alone?
M
Matthew C. Coffey
Again,
that's
a
great
question.
We
think
there
is
multiple
opportunities
beyond
breast
cancer.
I
mean,
obviously,
we're
very
excited
about
the
GOBLET
program.
We're
excited
by
what
we're
doing
in
heme
malignancies
and
other
things
like
GBM.
With
the
collaborations
and
co-development
agreements
we
have
right
now,
we
have
brought
some
of
the
world's
best
and
brightest
pharmaceutical
companies
together
to
collaborate
with
us.
So,
what
we
would
like
to
see
is
some
competitive
tension
between
the
parties,
as
the
GOBLET
data
becomes
available,
as
the
AWARE-1
and
BRACELET-1
data
becomes
available,
we
would
like
to
obviously
bring
in
one
of
these
world-class
leaders
who
contributed
already
– to
contributing
in
the
Phase
3
for
breast
cancer.
But
we
would
look
to
hopefully
expand
that
into
other
indications,
so
that
we're
not
looking
at a
binary
event
in
the
Phase
3
environment.
We
would
like
to
have
multiple
Phase
3
programs
in
play,
and
again,
we
would
like
to
see
that
done
in
potential
with
a
partner,
so
that would
be
less
dilutive
to
existing
shareholders,
but
also
so
that
we
can
move
spritely
through
the
regulatory
approvals.
And
I
think
Mr.
De
Guttadauro
would
like
to
join
in
here
for
a
sec
as
well.
Andrew,
do
you want
to join?
A
Andrew R. de Guttadauro
Yeah.
I
just
want to
remind
everybody,
as
you
probably
know
from
prior
calls,
from
the
time
we
provide
the
report
to
Pfizer and
Merck
Serono,
the
collaborators
on
BRACELET-1,
they
have
90
days
to
evaluate
the
data
on
their
own.
They
may
or
may
not
need
90 days,
or
they
may
need
more
than 90
days,
but
come day
91,
we
do
have
a
number
of
other
top
20
oncology
companies
that
have
expressed
an
interest
in
the
BRACELET-1
data,
so
we
would
want
to
get
that
data
to
those
companies
as
well.
And
then,
of
course,
as
Matt
mentioned,
we've
got
the
GOBLET
data
that
should
be
maturing
in
parallel
to
some
degree.
And
so
we
want to
make
sure
we
leverage
both
what's
available
from
GOBLET
as
well
as
BRACELET-1
and
the
prior
final
datasets
from
IND-213
and
AWARE-1 to have
really
critical
masses
which
to
try
and
bring
more
than
one
company
to
the
table.
U
Okay.
Great.
Thank
you
and
kind
of
if I can
squeeze
in
one
last
question.
And
this
is
more
just
in
terms
of
the
current
events,
has
Oncolytics
sought
any
disruption
in
the
clinical
trial
since
beginning
the
war
in
Ukraine?
And
has
that
really
impact
anything
with
your
clinical
trials
out
in
China
or
in
Asia
area?
M
Matthew C. Coffey
No,
not
at
all.
U
Okay.
M
Matthew C. Coffey
Fortunately,
we're
not
running
anything
in
Eastern
Europe.
We
may
not
be
able
to
be
as
resounding
in
it,
but
our
breast
cancer
programs
are
all
in
the
US.
What
we're
doing
in
GOBLET
is
all
in
Germany,
but
we've
been
unaffected.
Thanks.
U
Great.
Thank you
so
much.
Operator
Thank
you.
M
Matthew C. Coffey
Appreciate the time.
Right.
[Operator Instructions]
Operator
And
at
this time,
we have
no
further
questions.
I
would
like
to
turn
the
call
back
over
to
Dr.
Coffey.
M
Matthew C. Coffey
Well,
thanks
again
everyone
for
joining
us
on
the
call.
We
look
forward
to
our
continued
progress
and
we'll
keep
everyone
updated
along
the
way.
Thanks,
everyone.
Operator
Thank
you,
sir.
Ladies
and
gentlemen,
this
does
indeed
conclude
your
conference
call
for
today.
Once
again,
thank
you
for
attending.
And
at
this
time,
we
do
ask
that
you
please
disconnect
your
lines.
Good afternoon. And welcome to Oncolytics Biotech's Fourth Quarter 2021 Conference Call. All participants are now in listen-only mode. There will be a question-and-answer session at the end of this call. Please be advised that this call is being recorded at the company's request.
And I would like to turn the call over to Jon Patton, Director of Investor Relations and Communication. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, operator, and good afternoon everyone. Earlier today, Oncolytics issued a press release providing recent operational highlights and financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2021. A replay of today's call will be available on the Events & Presentations section of the Oncolytics' website approximately two hours after its completion. After remarks from company management, we will open the call for Q&A.
As a reminder, various remarks made during this call contain certain forward-looking statements relating to our business prospects and the development and commercialization of pelareorep, including statements regarding our focus, strategy and objectives, our belief as to the potential and mode of action of pelareorep as a cancer therapeutic, the design, aims, expectations and anticipated benefits of our current and pending clinical trials, our plans and expectations regarding a potential registrational study, our plans regarding the expansion of pelareorep's market and business development potential, our plans for collaborations with industry leaders, financial run rate and other statements related to anticipated developments in the company's business.
These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of factors which involve known and unknown risks, delays, uncertainties and other factors not under the company's control that may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from the results, performance and expectations implied by these forward-looking statements. In any forward-looking statement in which Oncolytics expresses an expectation or belief as to future results, such expectations or beliefs are expressed in good faith and are believed to have reasonable basis, but there can be no assurance that these statements or expectations or belief will be achieved.
These factors include results of current or pending clinical trials, risk associated with intellectual property protection, financial projections, actions by regulatory agencies and other factors detailed in the company's filings with SEDAR and the SEC. Oncolytics does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws.
Now, I will turn the call over to Dr. Matt Coffey, President and Chief Executive Officer of Oncolytics Biotech. Matt?
Thanks, Jon. And thanks to all who are joining us today to discuss our fourth quarter corporate update. Now in addition to Jon, I'm joined by Tom Heineman, our Chief Medical Officer; Andrew de Guttadauro, our Global Head of Business Development; and Kirk Look, our Chief Financial Officer. I'm pleased to say that we had a very strong 2021 and have continued to build on our momentum in the early part of 2022. If you've not had a chance, I would encourage our investors to read the letter to shareholders that we distributed as a press release on January 11.
In it, we walk you through why what we saw in 2021 is significant and why we are excited about 2022 and our upcoming milestones. We are advancing towards a potential value inflection points across our pipeline with a strong historical foundational dataset that demonstrates pelareorep's ability to deliver a statistically significant survival benefit as was shown in our randomized Phase 2 metastatic breast cancer trial generate a profound and concerted innate and adaptive anti-cancer immune response and synergize with multiple oncology treatments.
Now the most significant of our expected 2022 milestones is the top line data announcement from BRACELET-1, a randomized Phase 2 trial evaluating pelareorep in combination with checkpoint inhibition in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer. BRACELET-1 is being conducted with collaboration with Pfizer and Merck Serono and is designed to expand upon a prior positive Phase 2 results in this indication by generating critical data requested by the FDA and our global pharma collaborators. Data that confirms the overall survival benefit we saw in IND-213 would serve to de-risk our lead breast cancer program in broader pipeline, and we believe that data represents the last major step on pelareorep's path to a registrational breast cancer study.
As we work towards this data readout, we intend to begin discussing our plans for a registrational study with the FDA and other regulators, so that we can advance the programs with efficiency. While Tom will be speaking more about BRACELET-1 and our lead breast cancer program in a bit, I will say now that the trial remains on track for full enrollment in late Q1 early Q2 with top line data in Q4 assuming no or limited impact from COVID-19. Beyond our lead program, pelareorep's ability to generate an innate and adaptive immune response thereby weakening tumor defense mechanisms continues to spur collaborations with industry leaders and academia.
These collaborations include those underlying our ongoing trials in triple-negative breast and gastrointestinal cancers, both of which recently reported interim updates that further demonstrates the favorable safety profile of pelareorep checkpoint inhibitor combinations. These positive updates are notable because the lack of toxicity in this large indication provides additional opportunities to expand a potential market of pelareorep checkpoint inhibitor combination. The opportunity for expanding beyond checkpoint inhibitors has been evident in data we reported during the 2021 year.
Promising combination therapy data readouts involving CAR T, bispecific antibodies, PARP and CDK 4/6 inhibitors are evidence of pelareorep's differentiated and broadly applicable mechanism of actions. We believe leveraging pelareorep in this fashion could address unmet needs across a spectrum of target indications, and we expect to report clinical updates supporting this hypothesis in both multiple myeloma, GI and glioblastoma at upcoming conferences.
Looking ahead, we plan to utilize a partnership strategy to pursue the multitude of market and business development opportunities offered by pelareorep and its potential to act as an immunotherapy backbone. This will allow us to operate efficiently as we devote our primary focus and resources towards the advancement of pelareorep to registration in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer.
With that, I'll now hand it off to our Chief Medical Officer, Tom Heineman, who I should also congratulate on his well-deserved recent promotion to provide a bit more detail on BRACELET-1 and our recent highlights. Tom?
Thanks, Matt, and thanks to all those listening on the call today. As a reminder, BRACELET-1 and early stage breast cancer study, AWARE-1, were designed to achieve three crucial objectives put forward by regulators and our pharma partners after seeing the results of IND-213, the randomized Phase 2 study, that showed a near doubling of overall survival in metastatic HR+/HER2- breast cancer patients treated with paclitaxel, combined with pelareorep. These objectives were to first confirm that pelareorep works through an immunotherapeutic mechanism of action. This would indicate that it stimulates long-lasting anti-cancer effects and explains the survival benefits seen in IND-213.
Second, determine whether pelareorep synergizes with immune checkpoint inhibitors. This could lead to an enhancement of the survival benefits seen in IND-213 in breast cancer patients, and could also potentially provide more effective treatment options for patients with many other types of cancer. And third, determine of changes in peripheral blood T cell populations could potentially serve as a novel blood-based biomarker to predict patient responses to pelareorep therapy. This could improve our chances of success in future studies by allowing the selection of patients most likely to benefit from therapies that include pelareorep.
Now, on past earnings calls, we detailed data from AWARE-1's first two cohorts, which exclusively enrolled patients with HR+/HER2- breast cancer subtype. These data showed that AWARE-1 made its primary endpoint with pelareorep reversing immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and generating an expanding T cell clones and upregulating PD-L1 expression. It led to increases in CelTIL score and tumor infiltration of CD8+ T cells, two metrics that are known to correlate with improved clinical outcomes. Additionally, we found that several of these positive effects were enhanced when a checkpoint inhibitor was combined with pelareorep and the changes in peripheral blood T cell populations correlated with CelTIL score and tumor infiltrating CD8 T cells.
Taken together, these promising findings indicate that we are well on our way to achieving the three key objectives mentioned earlier. They clearly show that pelareorep has an immunologic mechanism of action and demonstrated synergy with checkpoint blockade. Moreover, they indicate the changes in peripheral blood T cell populations may service a predictive biomarker. With these objectives in mind, we designed BRACELET-1, a study that is very similar to IND-213, with two notable exceptions. First, BRACELET-1 exclusively enrolls HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer patients, the population that demonstrated the most pronounced overall survival benefit in IND-213.
And second, in addition to having study arms evaluating paclitaxel alone and paclitaxel plus pelareorep, BRACELET-1 also includes the third study arm in which paclitaxel and pelareorep are combined with Pfizer and Merck Serono's anti-PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor Bavencio. We are pleased with the progress being made in BRACELET-1 and we expect to complete enrollment later this month or early in the second quarter. Approximately 16 weeks after enrollment is concluded, the final patient scans required for assessment of the study's primary endpoint will be completed. Once the results of the scans are available, we will compile and analyze the data and then discuss these results with the relevant parties as we continue to plan for our next steps on the path to registration.
Considering all of this, we anticipate announcing the top line results of the trial in the fourth quarter of this year. I'd now like to take a minute to set the stage for what to expect from the BRACELET-1 study. Data from earlier studies give us some insight into what to expect from both the paclitaxel alone and paclitaxel plus pelareorep arms of the study. However now, based on the AWARE-1 study results, we have a much clearer understanding of the immunologic effects of adding pelareorep including increasing PD-L1 expression and the infiltration of CD8+ T cells into tumors. Moreover, the AWARE-1 study provided extensive insights into the potentially beneficial immunologic effects of combining pelareorep with a checkpoint inhibitor.
These include reversing the immunosuppressive nature of the tumor microenvironment and enhancing the development of potentially protective innate and adaptive immune responses. The IND-213 study gave us a clear reason to expect that the addition of pelareorep to chemotherapy may benefit metastatic breast cancer patients. Now, based on the AWARE-1 results, we are hopeful that the synergistic effects of having a checkpoint inhibitor pelareorep will further benefit patients in the BRACELET-1 study. In addition to collecting data on overall response rate and survival, we're also collecting progression-free survival, safety and biomarker data from the BRACELET-1 study.
I should note, however, that we do not plan to present the entirety of a BRACELET-1 results during the anticipated fourth quarter announcement and then we expect to present additional updates at medical meetings in 2023 including updates on PFS and overall survival. Additionally, I should point out that due to the size of the BRACELET-1 trial, which is expected to enroll a total of 48 patients, it is not powered to detect statistically significant differences in overall response rates between the study groups. Therefore, we will be evaluating numerical differences between BRACELET-1 study groups to support the statistically significant survival benefit previously observed in IND-213 and to inform the design of the Phase 3 study. We thus view BRACELET-1 as the last major step on pelareorep's path to a registration study and believe the anticipated Q4 data announcement represents a major potential inflection point for the company.
Now that I've provided you with a refresh of our AWARE-1 program and an overview of our BRACELET-1 study, I'll hand it off to Andrew to speak a bit more about our partnership strategy as well as our broader business development efforts. Andrew?
Thanks, Tom, and thanks to all who have joined us on today's call. I'd first like to touch on some of the recent progress in our IRENE and GOBLET trials, which are examples of how we're collaborating with industry leaders to develop pelareorep in combination with checkpoint inhibitors and expand this potential therapeutic impact. As you may recall, IRENE is a Phase 2 trial evaluating pelareorep in combination with Incyte's PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor, retifanlimab, in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. At the most recent San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December, we're pleased to report that the combination is well tolerated in each of the five patients enrolled at that point in the trial. The trial remains ongoing and we look forward to its continued progress.
We also recently provided positive safety update from our Phase 1/2 GOBLET trial, which is to evaluate pelareorep in combination with Roche's PD-L1 inhibitor, atezolizumab, in patients with advanced or metastatic pancreatic, colorectal and anal cancers. We were pleased to report in February that an independent review of the trial pancreatic cancer safety run-in noted no toxicity concerns and that the Data Safety Monitoring Board recommended the trial proceed as planned. The trial also includes a safety run-in for third-line metastatic colorectal cancer cohort, which remains ongoing with an update expected in the first half of the New Year.
Now, one point I'd like to emphasize is how IRENE and GOBLET take a similar approach to try and address the pressing unmet need. While checkpoint inhibitors have been commercially successful, less than one in five patients respond to these therapies due to several different resistance mechanisms that can be addressed by pelareorep's clinically demonstrated immunotherapeutic effects. As Tom mentioned earlier, pelareorep has shown the ability to remodel the tumor microenvironment causing PD-L1 upregulation in addition to increase in CD8+ cells and memory T cells.
Outcomes like these are appealing to industry leaders because pelareorep has demonstrated it can increase the proportion of patients eligible for therapies like checkpoint inhibitors and increase the benefit derived from combination therapies. The ultimate goal is to secure a global clinical and commercialization partnership, and past deals have typically been preceded by research collaboration, similar to trials Tom and I have discussed on this call.
Next, I'd now like to provide another update on the additional progress made since our Q3 call with Adlai Nortye, our partners working to develop and commercialize pelareorep in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. In October, Adlai dosed the first patient or bridging safety trial, evaluating the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of pelareorep, paclitaxel combination therapy in Chinese patients with advanced or metastatic breast cancer. This trial follows a design that is similar to the pelareorep, paclitaxel cohort in IND-213. Now, in January, Adlai announced that they had advanced the second dose escalation cohort of the trial. This is significant because the second dose cohort is equivalent to what was administered to patients in IND-213, which showed a near doubling of survival in metastatic HR+/HER2- breast cancer patients.
Initiation of this cohort is an important step that reflects the positive safety findings from the trial's first dose escalation cohort, where no toxicity concerns were noted. The ultimate goal of the bridging trial is to satisfy Chinese safety requirements and thereby accelerate pelareorep's development in Adlai's principal jurisdiction. Subsequent studies will include data from IND-213 in BRACELET-1 in future regulatory submissions and trial design decisions. Data from these studies and regulatory requirements from the Chinese authorities will dictate what a Phase 3 study will entail as a Phase 3 design has not yet been determined. Results from BRACELET-1 will factor heavily when considering whether a checkpoint inhibitor will be included in a Phase 3 study in China.
Pelareorep's advancement in these jurisdictions is significant, as China alone has the world's second largest pharmaceutical market with rapid growth expected over the coming years. By leveraging our partnership with Adlai, we have positioned ourselves to capitalize on the significant market opportunity with minimal risk and clinical costs. Finally, before I hand the call over to Kirk, I'd like to reiterate a point Matt made earlier regarding our efforts to develop pelareorep as an enabling technology for therapeutic agents beyond checkpoint inhibitors.
To efficiently pursue this goal, we're seeking high-quality partners to lead this development pathway and assume its associated costs. We are supported in these efforts by emerging preclinical data and our clinical results demonstrating pelareorep's ability to reverse immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and recruit cancer fighting T cells into tumors. These have led to collaborations by technology companies and key opinion leaders at premier academic institutions. Since I've discussed positive safety readouts for TNBC and gastrointestinal cancer plus a pelareorep dose escalation in breast cancer today, I'd like to take a moment to remind our investors that pelareorep's favorable safety profile is an important factor when we have discussions with new and existing biopharma partners.
Being able to provide clinical safety data across multiple indications and tumor targets, in addition to combinations of multiple oncology therapies [indiscernible] (00:18:13) addressable market opportunity for pelareorep. As such, it shows the pharma world that pelareorep really does have the potential to be an immunotherapy backbone since it is so versatile. While we are eager to see data from these collaborative efforts generate, we remain steadfastly committed to preserving the company's primary focus on our lead breast cancer program and the execution of our stated clinical objectives.
Our relationships with distinguished collaborators, such as Roche, Pfizer, Merck Serono, BMS, Incyte and Adlai Nortye helped to maintain this focus and should serve us well as we work to execute on our goals. We look forward to the continued maturation of these relationships which together with our talented team and robust dataset leave us well positioned for sustained success.
With that, I'll turn the call over to Kirk Look, our CFO, to discuss our financial results for the fourth quarter. Kirk?
Thanks, Andrew, and good afternoon everyone. It's my pleasure to report that Oncolytics remains well capitalized as we advance our lead breast cancer program towards the registrational study and execute on additional clinical and corporate objectives. We ended 2021 with cash and cash equivalents of $41.3 million compared to $31.2 million at the end of 2020. Based on current projections, we expect our current cash resources to provide a financial runway into 2023, taking us through BRACELET-1's top line data announcement and additional clinical readouts.
Our operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2021 were $3.8 million, remaining relatively consistent with the fourth quarter of 2020 operating expenses of $4 million. For the full year 2021, our operating expenses were $13.3 million compared to $12.5 million for the prior year. This change largely related to a rise in public company costs, including an increase in our directors and officers' insurance premiums and an increase in our investor relations activities.
Research and development expenses for the fourth quarter of 2021 were $3.7 million, compared to $4.1 million for the same period last year. This change was largely due to a decline in our AWARE-1 related expenses as a large majority of patient enrollment occurred back in 2020, as well our manufacturing-related expenses were lower given we completed our product fills back in the fourth quarter of 2020. Now this was partly offset by higher R&D compensation-related expenses as we continue to invest in and support our expanding clinical development program.
Research and development expenses were $12.9 million for the full year 2021 and 2020. Now for 2021, in addition to our continued investment in our clinical program and our R&D team, we also increased our translational science activities this year, focusing on CAR T therapy and bispecific antibody opportunities. This was offset by lower manufacturing activities, as we have sufficient product supply from the production run and product builds completed in 2020, lower intellectual property costs due to the relapsing of patents in certain jurisdictions and foreign exchange fluctuations.
The net loss for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $7.8 million compared to $9.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, equating to a net loss of $0.14 per share for the 2021 period, compared to $0.21 per share for the prior period. The net loss for the full year 2021 was $26.3 million compared to $22.5 million for 2020, equating to a net loss of $0.49 per share for 2021 and a net loss of $0.56 per share for 2020.
Now with that, I'll hand it back to Matt. Matt?
Thank you, Kirk. The Oncolytics' family has continued to work hard to drive our programs forward. Our pharma partners have continued to provide world-class input and guidance, and our investigators and collaborators continued to share our vision for the opportunity presented by pelareorep's mechanism of action, for which we are extremely grateful. We would also like to thank and acknowledge our clinical trial patients and their families for their participation in our studies and in their fight against this terrible disease.
Lastly, I'd like to thank our investors who provide us with the ability to pursue these inspiring names. Oncolytics cannot have advanced to where it is without all of these stakeholders' contributions. Looking towards the future, we have a truly unique immunotherapeutic agent that has provided us with exciting clinical data and continues attracting interest from significant global collaborators. Its immunotherapeutic effects can be seen across multiple indications and in combination with an array of oncology treatments. We believe these effects could have a profound positive impact on the quality of life of cancer patients worldwide and in turn provide a broad commercial opportunity of which we have only begun to scratch the surface.
We will continue to further pelareorep's clinical development as there are significant opportunities worthy of pursuit. But we will still preserve our primary focus on breast cancer while selectively engaging partners and collaborators to progress our efforts in other areas. Advancing our lead breast cancer program towards our registrational study is important to our team as it provides a meaningful foundation which we can build upon to unlock additional value in other indications.
The clinical data from AWARE-1 alone has brought up substantial insights about how pelareorep can be leveraged in many clinical settings by effectively harnessing the patient's own immune response against their disease. These learnings are crucial in advancing pelareorep as a world-class immunotherapy. Continuing to add to that data goes a long way to expanding the potential value of this company. We have several critical milestones ahead of us in the coming weeks and throughout the year. These upcoming catalysts are highlighted by BRACELET-1 anticipated top line data readout in Q4, which represents the last major clinical step on pelareorep's path to a registrational breast cancer study.
We also expect to report a multiple myeloma study update, early results from our GI program and additional clinical data in glioblastoma at upcoming conferences. As we move towards these catalysts, we are doing so with a strong team that has consistently executed amid an ever evolving pandemic. I believe their experience and expertise, together with the strong clinical and pre-clinical datasets supporting our pipeline, leave us well positioned to generate shareholder value while working towards our ultimate goal of improving the lives of cancer patients.
With that, I'd like to open the lines to take some questions. Operator?
Thank you, sir. [Operator Instructions] And your first question will be from Patrick Trucchio at H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good afternoon. This is [ph] Jason Shay (00:25:27) on for Patrick. And my first question is for the BRACELET-1 study. Can you tell us what Oncolytics will like to see within their Phase 2 data readout for 4Q? And like how will this proceed to your Phase 3 pivotal study? Thank you.
I'll start. It's Matt Coffey. How are you doing? [indiscernible]
(00:25:51).
We very much think that BRACELET-1 should fall in line with the learnings of AWARE-1. What we know from BRACELET-1 – IND-213 is we saw a survival advantage. And at that point it was presumably due to the immunotherapy aspect of the product. AWARE-1 really did speak to the virus itself causing a [ph] pro-inflammatory bowel (00:26:13) with remodeling of the tumor microenvironment and the checkpoint inhibitor leading to enhanced inflammation and enhancing the quality, which led to better CelTIL scores which should in turn lead to better outcomes in terms of PFS and OS. We would very much hope to see something similar in BRACELET-1 with outcomes being improved from paclitaxel only to paclitaxel plus [ph] virus (00:26:36). And again, we would like to see an improvement by the addition of the checkpoint blockade. Now those are wishes. It's certainly AWARE-1 exceeded our expectations. BRACELET-1 has not given a formal readout yet, but we'll do so in Q4.
With that, I'll let the more knowledgeable, Tom Heineman, join in to see what his thoughts are on this.
Yeah. Thank you, Matt. No, I mean, to be honest, I don't have any real new insights. So I think that Matt expressed that perfectly, and that is we do have some sense from the previous IND-213 study what to expect with the paclitaxel alone arm and the paclitaxel plus pelareorep arm. And we expect and hope based on the AWARE-1 data to see an additional immunologic effect leading to clinical benefit from the addition of a checkpoint inhibitor. And as the data come in, we look forward to being able to share those data towards the end of this year.
All right. Can I have just a follow-up question, are there plans in terms of progressing with Pfizer or any other collaborators for pelareorep for the Phase 3 pivotal study, or will Oncolytics kind of proceed alone?
Again, that's a great question. We think there is multiple opportunities beyond breast cancer. I mean, obviously, we're very excited about the GOBLET program. We're excited by what we're doing in heme malignancies and other things like GBM. With the collaborations and co-development agreements we have right now, we have brought some of the world's best and brightest pharmaceutical companies together to collaborate with us. So, what we would like to see is some competitive tension between the parties, as the GOBLET data becomes available, as the AWARE-1 and BRACELET-1 data becomes available, we would like to obviously bring in one of these world-class leaders who contributed already – to contributing in the Phase 3 for breast cancer.
But we would look to hopefully expand that into other indications, so that we're not looking at a binary event in the Phase 3 environment. We would like to have multiple Phase 3 programs in play, and again, we would like to see that done in potential with a partner, so that would be less dilutive to existing shareholders, but also so that we can move spritely through the regulatory approvals. And I think Mr. De Guttadauro would like to join in here for a sec as well. Andrew, do you want to join?
Yeah. I just want to remind everybody, as you probably know from prior calls, from the time we provide the report to Pfizer and Merck Serono, the collaborators on BRACELET-1, they have 90 days to evaluate the data on their own. They may or may not need 90 days, or they may need more than 90 days, but come day 91, we do have a number of other top 20 oncology companies that have expressed an interest in the BRACELET-1 data, so we would want to get that data to those companies as well. And then, of course, as Matt mentioned, we've got the GOBLET data that should be maturing in parallel to some degree. And so we want to make sure we leverage both what's available from GOBLET as well as BRACELET-1 and the prior final datasets from IND-213 and AWARE-1 to have really critical masses which to try and bring more than one company to the table.
Okay. Great. Thank you and kind of if I can squeeze in one last question. And this is more just in terms of the current events, has Oncolytics sought any disruption in the clinical trial since beginning the war in Ukraine? And has that really impact anything with your clinical trials out in China or in Asia area?
No, not at all.
Okay.
Fortunately, we're not running anything in Eastern Europe. We may not be able to be as resounding in it, but our breast cancer programs are all in the US. What we're doing in GOBLET is all in Germany, but we've been unaffected. Thanks.
Great. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Appreciate the time. Right. [Operator Instructions]
And at this time, we have no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to Dr. Coffey.
Well, thanks again everyone for joining us on the call. We look forward to our continued progress and we'll keep everyone updated along the way. Thanks, everyone.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude your conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending. And at this time, we do ask that you please disconnect your lines.