Brickell loses $13M on FDA prep, new drug platform

Brickell Biotech Inc. (Nasdaq: BBI) reported $100,000 in revenue for its third quarter and a loss of $13.3 million.

Revenue came from drug-licensing royalties in Japan. Losses, three times higher than in the same quarter last year, were driven by $10.2 million in research and development costs. It had $1.3 million in R&D in the third quarter of 2020.

General and administrative expenses stayed constant at about $3.3 million.

The clinical stage pharmaceutical developer is gearing up for a new drug application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in mid-2022 for a gel said to reduce excessive sweating. Brickell spent $3.8 million on testing the gel in its third quarter.

It is also pursuing clinical testing of a second drug in Canada, for which it expects to report topline results by the end of next year.

Brickell reported cash and cash equivalents of $21.4 million as of Sept. 30, 2021, a decline of about 30% from the end of last year.

It replaced year-to-date cash burn with $8.9 million from an October public offering of common shares.

Brickell closed Tuesday at a $46 million market cap.

Pipeline

In the quarter, Brickell paid $2.5 million in cash and issued 2.8 million common shares at 89 cents a share to South Koreabased Voronoi Inc., a Securities and Exchange Commission filing said.

This is an initial payment for “exclusive, worldwide rights” to a proprietary platform Brickell will use to “research, develop and commercialize” new drugs for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Brickell will pay up to $318 million more to Voronoi as it develops drugs “contingent upon achievement of specified development, regulatory and commercial milestones,” the SEC filing said. Voronoi will also get up to 10% of net sales of products developed from the platform. All but $1 million in common stock of the commitment is for cash payments.