Nature of Business and Organization

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2017

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Nature of Business and Organization

1. Nature of Business and Organization

Endocyte, Inc. (the “Company”) is a biopharmaceutical company and leader in developing targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer. The Company uses drug conjugation technology to create novel therapeutics and companion imaging agents for personalized targeted therapies. The Company’s agents actively target receptors that are over-expressed on diseased cells relative to healthy cells, such as prostate specific membrane antigen (“PSMA”), in prostate cancer. This targeted approach is designed to safely enable the delivery of highly potent drug payloads. The companion imaging agents are designed to identify patients whose disease over-expresses the target of the therapy and who are therefore more likely to benefit from treatment.

In June 2017, the Company ended clinical development of EC1456 and stopped enrollment in its EC1456 phase 1b trial as the assessment of trial data did not yield the level of clinical activity necessary to support continued advancement of EC1456. The Company is, however, continuing enrollment of a small number of patients in its EC1456 ovarian cancer surgical trial. In addition, in June 2017, the Company narrowed the focus of its EC1169 development program, refocused its efforts on pre-clinical programs, and reduced its workforce by approximately 40% to align resources to focus on the Company’s highest value opportunities while maintaining key capabilities.

In September 2017, the Company entered into a Development and License Agreement (the “License Agreement’) with ABX advanced biochemical compounds – Biomedizinische Forschungsreagenzien GmbH (“ABX”), pursuant to which the Company acquired exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize PSMA‑617 agents, including the product candidate known as 177Lu-PSMA‑617, a radioligand therapeutic (“RLT”). The Company intends to seek regulatory approval to initiate, in the first half of 2018, a phase 3 clinical trial of 177Lu-PSMA‑617 in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (“mCRPC”).