Evogene Reports Wider Loss In 2021, $54M In Consolidated Cash

Evogene Ltd. EVGN EVGN announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2021, ended December 31, 2021.

Q4 Financial Highlights

• Consolidated cash usage was approximately $8.4 million, or $7 million, excluding Lavie Bio compared to roughly $6.1 million, or $5.1 million in the corresponding quarter of last year.
• Cash burn rate during the period was higher than during the same period in 2020, for the following reasons, including certain measures the company initiated to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and expanded product development activities by its subsidiaries Biomica, Lavie Bio and Canonic.
• R&D expenses were $6 million, in comparison to $4.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.
• BD expenses were approximately $720 000 versus $670 000 thousand in the fourth quarter of 2020.
• G&A expenses were $2 million compared to $1.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.
• Operating loss was $8.7 million compared to $7.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.
• The loss was $8.1 million compared to a loss of $8.8 million during the fourth quarter of 2020.

FY 2021 Financial Highlights

• The consolidated cash usage was approximately $25.8 million, or $20.6 million, excluding Lavie Bio, compared to consolidated cash usage was $19.3 million, or $14.7 million, excluding Lavie Bio in the prior year.
• R&D expenses were $21.1 million, in comparison to $17.3 million in 2020.
• BD expenses were stable in comparison to the previous year and were approximately $2.7 million.
• G&A expenses were $7.3 million, in comparison to $5.3 million in 2020.
• Operating loss was $31 million in comparison to $24.8 million in 2020.
• The loss was $30.4 million in comparison to a loss of $26.2 million for 2020.
• Generated $53.9 million in consolidated cash, cash related accounts, bank deposits and marketable securities as of December 31, 2021.

Ofer Haviv, the company's president and CEO, said that in order to “support our subsidiaries' growth and to strengthen their position as independent companies, we are currently evaluating different funding options for the group and are in different levels of discussions with potential strategic and financial investors."

2021 Business Achievements

• Biomica recently received clearance from the Israeli Ministry of Health to proceed to a first-in-human phase I study, which is set to be held at the Rambam Healthcare Campus in Israel, following the completion of a series of pre-clinical trials with BMC128 given in combination with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors immunotherapy, indicating significant improvement in anti-tumor activity.
• Biomica also achieved positive results from a series of pre-clinical studies, indicating reduction of intestinal tissue damage resulting from inflammation.
• During October 2021, Canonic began initial commercial sales in Israel of G200 and G150, cannabis inflorescence products marketed under the T20/C4 and T15/C3 categories, respectively.
• During late 2021, Lavie Bio began the commercialization of its inoculant result aiming to improve yield based on microbes.

2022 Outlook

The company said that cash usage for the full year of 2022 will be within the range of $26-$28 million, including the cash usage of Evogene's subsidiary Lavie Bio, estimated at roughly $8 million.

"With 2022 well on its way and our subsidiaries successfully advancing on their developmental activities, we believe that we are progressing to significant value-enhancing milestones,” Haviv added.

Photo: Courtesy of Markus Winkler on Unsplash