Arcus Biosciences, Inc. (RCUS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you. The time is now 8:40 and the polls are now closed for voting.

May we have the results of the voting?

Based on the preliminary voting results, the proposal to elect Terry Rosen, Jennifer Jarrett, Kathryn Falberg and Mike Quigley as directors of the company is carried. The appointment of Ernst & Young as independent auditors for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021, is ratified. The approval, on an advisory basis, of the compensation of the company's named executive officers is carried. For frequency of stockholder advisory vote on the compensation of the company's named executive officers is going to be 1 year. A full tally of the final votes will be published in the current report on Form 8-K, which will be filed with the SEC on or before June 9, 2021.

This concludes the formal portion of today's meeting. This meeting is now concluded. We will now make a presentation regarding the company's recent business and then entertain questions from stockholders. As with most presentations, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements, which are identified by the use of words such as will, may, expect, could, should, in other words, denoting future events, and our actual results may differ materially from those discussed here. Additional information concerning factors that could cause such a difference can be found in the company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2021, and the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

[Operator Instructions]

So thank you for calling in. And let me start off by saying a little bit high level about Arcus' vision. The company has a world-class discovery engine. And a big part of what we do since we started the company is to focus on combinations of novel agents and that can meet the cures. The other important aspect of Arcus is we have every intent of becoming a fully integrated independent biopharmaceutical company. So we have 5 molecules in the clinic right now, and they target 3 of the most important and very highly pursued immuno-oncology pathways. These are all mechanisms that are very ubiquitously involved in cancer and we think represent great opportunities for the company as well as for patients. So we have 2 molecules that we consider essential backbone therapies, actually, 3 molecules, 2 targets: 1 anti-PD-1 and then 2 anti-TIGIT molecules. And finally, the 2 molecules that perhaps are more differentiating within our current portfolio, our AB928 and AB680, which target the adenosine 2 receptors and CD73, respectively. We also have a very robust discovery organization with a number of early-stage programs, ranging from just beyond concept to molecules, that will be entering the clinic later this year. So 2021, really, is not only a pivotal year, but I would say, it represents a transformational year for Arcus. We're really pushing forward those molecules in the clinic that I spoke with you previously about: AB154 and AB308 on the anti-TIGIT front; AB122, our anti-PD-1 antibody; and then AB680 and AB928. We've always talked about combinations being important. And if you look at the trials that we're running, you'll see we're speaking with our feet. Virtually every permutation of those, based on the biology associated with various cancers, is in development. We have 6 randomized trials ongoing right now, with preliminary data from these expected in 2021. We feel those will be critical in perhaps blowing open this adenosine field for both Arcus and the broader field as well. We're also advancing our small molecule programs. And in fact, AB521 will be a molecule that targets HIF-2 alpha that we'll be taking into Phase I later this year. And then, as a company, we're very well positioned to really control our own destiny. We have very substantial human infrastructure, and we have a very strong cash position as well as great partnerships. This slide illustrates the number of trials that we're currently running. For medium-stage companies, it's really quite a broad program. This is very much enabled by our partnerships, and it's allowing us to very aggressively leverage and pursue the full opportunities in our pipeline and, as you can see, across a wide range of very important cancer targets. The year is going to be loaded with very meaningful readouts that started as early as January with ARC-8. We showed very promising results in front-line pancreatic cancer. We have an upcoming readout in the interim analysis in a clinical trial we call ARC-7 that is focused on both our anti-TIGIT antibody in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy as well as that doublet with the adenosine HIF pathway modulator. That will be the first data set that includes 3 molecules of that class. And ARC-6 and ARC-9 are 2 further studies relating to AB928. So when we think about ARC-7, ARC-4, ARC-6, ARC-9, it really represents what will probably be the most compelling data sets for that adenosine receptor blocker field. As I mentioned, our partnerships are very enabling. They give us a great opportunity to expand and accelerate our programs. We've talked about these over the years. We have phenomenal collaboration with Gilead Biosciences that enables us on all sorts of fronts. We've had a long-term collaboration with Taiho, where their rights are focused on Japan and a few other Asian territories. And AstraZeneca is prototypical of type of collaboration that we see ourselves doing more of in the future, in this particular case, and going to be in all of our relationship with Gilead. This is us. So one will be a study targeting Stage III lung cancer, where AstraZeneca currently has the standard of care, Durva. And in this particular study, we'll be looking at the combination of Durva plus our anti-TIGIT AB154. And that's anticipated to start later this year. With that, I'll thank you all.

There are no further questions at this time. The Arcus Biosciences, Inc. Virtual Shareholder Meeting has now come to an end. Thank you for attending, and you may now disconnect. Goodbye.