Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
Note 1. Nature of Business
References to Agios
Throughout these financial statements as filed on Form 8-K, “we,” “us,” and “our,” and similar expressions, except where the context requires otherwise, refer to Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, and “our board of directors” refers to the board of directors of Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Overview
We are a biopharmaceutical company committed to the fundamental transformation of patients’ lives through scientific leadership in the field of cellular metabolism and adjacent areas of biology, with the goal of creating differentiated, small molecule medicines for patients in the areas of hematologic malignancies, solid tumors and rare genetic diseases, or RGDs. To address these focus areas, we take a systems biology approach to deeply understand disease states, drive the discovery and validation of novel therapeutic targets, and define patient selection strategies, thereby increasing the probability that our experimental medicines will have the desired therapeutic effect. We are located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Our wholly-owned product, TIBSOVO® (ivosidenib) is an oral targeted inhibitor of the mutated isocitrate dehydrogenase 1, or IDH1 enzyme. TIBSOVO® is the first and only U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA-approved therapy for the treatment of adult patients with (i) relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia, or R/R AML, with a susceptible IDH1 mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test (approved by the FDA in July 2018) and (ii) newly diagnosed AML with a susceptible IDH1 mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test who are at least 75 years old or who have comorbidities that preclude use of intensive induction chemotherapy (approved by the FDA in May 2019). In December 2018, we submitted a Marketing Authorization Application, or MAA, to the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, for TIBSOVO® for the treatment of adult patients with R/R AML with an IDH1 mutation.
Our other marketed product is IDHIFA® (enasidenib), an oral targeted inhibitor of the mutated isocitrate dehydrogenase 2, or IDH2 enzyme and the first and only FDA-approved therapy for patients with R/R AML and an IDH2 mutation. In August 2017, the FDA granted our collaboration partner Celgene approval of IDHIFA® for the treatment of adult patients with R/R AML and an IDH2, mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test. We are eligible to receive royalties at tiered low-double digit to mid-teen percentage rates on any net sales of IDHIFA® and have exercised our rights to provide up to one-third of the field-based commercialization efforts in the United States. In June 2018, Celgene submitted an MAA to the EMA for IDHIFA® for IDH2 mutant-positive AML which it subsequently withdrew in December 2019.
Our pre-commercial clinical cancer product candidates are vorasidenib, AG-270, and AG-636.
Vorasidenib is an orally available, selective brain-penetrant pan-IDH mutant inhibitor. We are developing vorasidenib for the treatment of IDH mutant-positive low grade glioma and are currently evaluating vorasidenib in clinical trials.
AG-270 is an orally available selective potent inhibitor of methionine adenosyltransferase 2a, or MAT2A. We are currently evaluating AG-270 in a phase 1 dose-escalation and expansion trial in multiple tumor types carrying a methylthioadenosine phosphorylase, or MTAP, deletion.
AG-636 is an inhibitor of the metabolic enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase, or DHODH. We are currently evaluating AG-636 in the phase 1 dose-escalation trial in lymphoma.
The lead product candidate in our RGD portfolio, mitapivat, is an activator of both wild-type and mutant pyruvate kinase-R for the potential treatment of hemolytic anemias. We are currently evaluating mitapivat for the treatment of pyruvate kinase, or PK, deficiency, thalassemia and sickle cell disease, or SCD, in clinical trials.
In addition to the aforementioned development programs, we are seeking to advance a number of early-stage discovery programs in our focus areas of malignant hematology, solid tumors and RGDs based on our scientific leadership in the field of cellular metabolism and adjacent areas of biology.
We are subject to risks common to companies in our industry including, but not limited to, uncertainties relating to conducting clinical research and development, the manufacture and supply of products for clinical and commercial use, obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals and pricing and reimbursement for our products, market acceptance, managing global growth and operating expenses, availability of additional capital, competition, obtaining and enforcing patents, stock price volatility, dependence on collaborative relationships and third-party service providers, dependence on key personnel, potential litigation, product liability claims and government investigations.
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