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Nature of Operations
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2021
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Nature of Operations

1. Nature of Operations

Description of the Business

Humanigen, Inc. (the “Company”) was incorporated on March 15, 2000 in California, reincorporated as a Delaware corporation in September 2001 as KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and in August 2017, the Company changed its name to Humanigen, Inc.

The Company is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, developing its portfolio of anti-inflammatory immunology and immuno-oncology monoclonal antibodies. The Company is focusing its efforts on the development of its lead product candidate, lenzilumab, its proprietary Humaneered® anti-human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (“GM-CSF”) monoclonal antibody. Lenzilumab is a monoclonal antibody that has been demonstrated to neutralize GM-CSF, a cytokine that the Company believes is of critical importance in the hyperinflammatory cascade, sometimes referred to as cytokine release syndrome (“CRS”) or cytokine storm, associated with COVID-19, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (“CAR-T”) therapy and acute Graft versus Host Disease (“aGvHD”) associated with bone marrow transplants. The Company believes the results from its Phase 3 study in COVID-19, its Phase 1b study in CAR-T, and four other clinical trials, support the mechanism of action of lenzilumab.

On May 5, 2021, data from the Company’s Phase 3, multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled potential registrational trial of lenzilumab as a potential therapeutic for hospitalized, hypoxic patients with COVID-19 pneumonia was published on MedRxiv, a non-peer reviewed journal. The Company refers to this study as the “LIVE-AIR” study. Data from LIVE-AIR support the previously reported primary endpoint that demonstrated lenzilumab improved the likelihood of survival without ventilation, (“SWOV”), sometimes referred to as “ventilator-free survival”, by 54% in the modified intent-to-treat (“mITT”) population (Hazard Ratio, (“HR”): 1.54; 95%CI: 1.02-2.32, p=0.0403). SWOV also improved on a relative basis by 92% in subjects who received both corticosteroids and remdesivir (1.92; 1.20-3.07, nominal p=0.0067); by 3.04-fold in subjects with baseline C-reactive protein (“CRP”) levels <150 mg/L and age <85 years (3.04; 1.68–5.51, nominal p=0.0003). Survival was improved by 2.22-fold in subjects with baseline CRP<150 mg/L and age <85 years (nominal p=0.0337). Subjects in the LIVE-AIR study with baseline CRP<150 mg/L and age <85 years, 75% of all patients with an evaluable CRP at baseline, demonstrated an improvement in survival and appeared to derive the greatest benefit from lenzilumab.

The Company submitted an application for Emergency Use Authorization (“EUA”) of lenzilumab to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) at the end of May 2021. On September 8, 2021, FDA declined the Company’s EUA request. FDA committed to working with the Company in the development of lenzilumab and invited the Company to submit additional data as it becomes available. The Company requested and has been granted a Type B meeting with FDA. Included in the briefing materials for the meeting request were day 60 data as well as detailed CRP analysis from the Company’s LIVE-AIR Phase 3 study.

The Company has submitted to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”), the pharmaceuticals and biologics regulatory agency in the United Kingdom (“UK”), all the required modules as well as a risk management plan and pediatric investigation plan for a Conditional Marketing Authorization (“CMA”) for the use of lenzilumab in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The Company has also initiated the process for submission to the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) of a Marketing Authorization Application (“MAA”) for the use of lenzilumab in the European Union and the EMA has appointed a rapporteur and co-rapporteur as part of the process related to this submission.

Lenzilumab was selected to be part of the ongoing Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (“ACTIV”)-5 and Big Effect Trial, in the “B” arm of the trial (“BET-B”), referred to as the ACTIV-5/BET-B trial, which is sponsored and funded by the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”). ACTIV-5/BET-B currently has over 53 active U.S. sites and two Korean sites enrolling and has recently expanded to a potential of 70 sites. The study is evaluating lenzilumab in combination with remdesivir, compared to placebo and remdesivir, in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with a 1:1 randomization. In July 2021, NIH advanced the ACTIV-5/BET-B study to a Phase 2/3 study and amended the protocol in a manner that aligns with the design of the LIVE-AIR study. The amended ACTIV-5/BET-B study protocol now includes target enrollment of up to 400 patients with a baseline CRP<150 mg/L, or up to 550 patients overall. Humanigen is providing lenzilumab and assisting the NIH to achieve the completion of the study.

The Company intends to submit a Biologics License Application (“BLA”) to FDA for lenzilumab in the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Since BLAs typically require more than one study, the Company plans to include the results of the expanded ACTIV-5/BET-B study as a basis for a BLA-confirmatory study for lenzilumab and believes data from ACTIV-5/BET-B, along with LIVE-AIR, should provide the sufficient size and statistical power typically required for a BLA to be submitted to FDA.

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Lenzilumab also has been studied in a multi-center Phase 1b trial as a sequenced therapy with Yescarta® (axicabtagene ciloleucel) to prevent CRS and neurotoxicity in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (“DLBCL”) (NCT04314843), for which the Company announced positive results. The Company intends to initiate a randomized, placebo-controlled, open-label, potentially registrational, Phase 3 study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of lenzilumab combined with commercially available CD19 CAR-T therapies in non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2022 and has scheduled a meeting with FDA in December 2021 to discuss the study protocol. The Company currently plans to enroll approximately 250 patients in the study.

The Company also expects that a Phase 2/3, potentially registrational, trial for lenzilumab to treat patients who have undergone allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell therapy (“HSCT”) who are at high and intermediate risk for acute GvHD (the “Risk Adapted Therapy in Acute GvHD” or the “RATinG” study) is expected to begin enrollment in the first half of 2022. The study will be conducted by the IMPACT Partnership, a collection of 22 stem cell transplant centers located in the UK. The Company will provide lenzilumab for the study including the cost of import, labeling and distribution of the study drug, and support certain laboratory tests related to the study, but the majority of the study costs will be borne by the IMPACT Partnership.

In addition, the Company is in partnership with the South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute (“SAHMRI”) and the University of Adelaide to conduct a Phase 2 trial studying the efficacy of lenzilumab in combination with azacitadine in patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (“CMML”). The study (“PREcision Approach to Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia” or “PREACH-M”) has begun enrollment at five sites in Australia and the first patient has been dosed. The Company will provide lenzilumab for this study and the majority of the study costs will be borne by the partner and funded by a grant from the Medical Research Futures Fund, a research fund set up by the Australian Government.

The Company’s proprietary, patented Humaneered technology platform is a method for converting existing antibodies (typically murine) into engineered, high-affinity human antibodies designed for therapeutic use, particularly with acute and chronic conditions. The Company has developed or in-licensed targets or research antibodies, typically from academic institutions, and then applied its Humaneered technology to optimize them. Lenzilumab and the Company’s other two product candidates, ifabotuzumab and HGEN005, are Humaneered monoclonal antibodies. The Company’s Humaneered antibodies are closer to human antibodies than chimeric or conventionally humanized antibodies and have a high affinity for their target but low immunogenicity. In addition, the Company believes its Humaneered antibodies offer further important advantages, such as high potency, a slow off-rate and a lower likelihood to induce an inappropriate immune response or infusion related reactions.

See Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in Item 2 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for additional information regarding the business.

Liquidity and Going Concern

The Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 were prepared on the basis of a going concern, which contemplates that the Company will be able to realize assets and discharge liabilities in the normal course of business. However, the Company has incurred net losses since its inception and has negative operating cash flows. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might be necessary if the Company is unable to continue as a going concern.

The Company continues to advance its efforts in support of the development of lenzilumab as a therapy for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. As of September 30, 2021, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $76.5 million. On September 8, 2021, FDA declined to approve the Company’s EUA for lenzilumab. As more fully described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 under “Item 1. Business—Manufacturing and Raw Materials.”, the Company has entered into agreements with several contract manufacturing organizations (“CMOs”) to provide manufacturing, fill/finish and packaging services for lenzilumab. While the Company remains committed to its ongoing efforts seeking marketing authorization for lenzilumab to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the U.S., UK and other territories, the Company has amended, and in some cases canceled, certain of these agreements, some of which were contingent on EUA, in an effort to reduce its future spending on lenzilumab production until and if authorization is received in the UK, European Union (“EU”), or U.S. (See Note 6 below). These changes will significantly limit future production of lenzilumab but, because most of the Company’s manufacturing agreements required payment of upfront fees upon execution and payments against performance of the services to be provided, often over a lengthy performance period, the changes will not have an immediate impact on the Company’s spending as the cancellations generally only impact production efforts that were not expected to commence until 2022.

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Considering the Company’s current cash resources and its current and expected levels of operating expenses, management expects to need additional capital to fund the Company’s planned operations for the next twelve months. Management may seek to raise such additional capital through public or private equity offerings, including under the Controlled Equity OfferingSM Sales Agreement (the “Sales Agreement”) with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. (“Cantor”), grant financing and support from governmental agencies, convertible debt, borrowings under its Loan and Security Agreement with Hercules Capital and other debt financings, collaborations, strategic alliances and marketing, supply, distribution, or licensing arrangements. Subsequent to September 30, 2021 and through the date of this filing, as disclosed in Note 11 below, the Company issued and sold 3,818,300 shares of common stock pursuant to the Sales Agreement and received net proceeds of approximately $24.5 million, after deducting fees and expenses. While management believes its plans to raise additional funds will alleviate the conditions that raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern, these plans are not entirely within the Company’s control and cannot be assessed as being probable of occurring. Additional funds may not be available when the Company needs them on terms that are acceptable to the Company, or at all. If adequate funds are not available, the Company may be required to delay or reduce the scope of or eliminate one or more of its research or development programs, its commercialization efforts or its manufacturing commitments and capacity. In addition, if the Company raises additional funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or marketing, supply, distribution, or licensing arrangements with third parties, the Company may have to relinquish valuable rights to its technologies, future revenue streams or product candidates or to grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to the Company.

Reclassifications

Certain prior year amounts in the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been reclassified to conform to the current year's presentation. Such reclassifications had no effect on prior years’ Net loss or Stockholders’ equity (deficit).

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying interim unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and on a basis consistent with the annual consolidated financial statements and include all adjustments necessary for the presentation of the Company’s condensed consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented.

The Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries. These financial statements have been prepared on a basis that assumes that the Company will continue as a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities and commitments in the normal course of business. The December 31, 2020 Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet was derived from the audited financial statements but does not include all disclosures required by U.S. GAAP. These interim financial results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the year ending December 31, 2021, or for any other future annual or interim period. The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto included in the Company’s 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts and disclosures reported in the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates. The Company believes judgment is involved in accounting for the determination of revenue recognition, fair value-based measurement of stock-based compensation, accruals and warrants. The Company evaluates its estimates and assumptions as facts and circumstances dictate. As future events and their effects cannot be determined with precision, actual results could differ from these estimates and assumptions, and those differences could be material to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.