April 4, 2022

Sioux Falls-based SAB Biotherapeutics provided updates on its therapeutics for COVID-19, influenza and type 1 diabetes in reporting its year-end earnings last week.

Co-founder, president and CEO Eddie Sullivan called 2021 “a pivotal year” for the company — one in which it began trading on the Nasdaq while advancing SAB-185 and SAB-176, novel polyclonal antibodies for COVID-19 and influenza.

“Our work on SAB-185 propelled our science forward with a real-world proof-of-concept,” Sullivan said in a statement.

“It contributed greatly to our scientific knowledge and gave us tremendous confidence in what SAB can achieve with our innovative technology to address a variety of acute and chronic unmet medical needs. It also demonstrated the potential of our rapid response platform to address future global public health threats. The historic impact of influenza and the evolving COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact at-risk patients, such as those with underlying conditions or those who are immunocompromised. The need for potent therapeutics remains clear.”

Full data for SAB-185 is expected midyear, and the company is exploring opportunities to use it in high-risk populations or for prophylactic use — meaning before someone is infected. It’s also looking at making the therapeutic injectable, instead of requiring an infusion.

While testing it against the omicron variant had to be discontinued because of a lack of hospitalized patients, there is data from laboratory testing that showed SAB-185 neutralized that variant, the company said.

“Throughout 2021, we announced data supporting the potent neutralization of the omicron, gamma, delta, lambda and other circulating variants of concern in nonclinical studies, in addition to preclinical data indications that SAB-185 is believed to be significantly more potent than human-derived convalescent immunoglobulin G,” it said.

Full data also is expected by midyear for seasonal influenza therapeutic SAB-176. In December, initial data showed “statistically significant reductions in viral load and clinical symptoms while also appearing safe and well-tolerated,” SAB said.

And SAB is advancing a potential treatment for type 1 diabetes and organ transplantation induction/rejection. A pilot study was done in the first quarter, with further studies planned pending availability of appropriate study models.

Financial performance

The company ended the year with a net loss of $17.1 million, or 63 cents per share, compared with net income of $20.1 million, or 74 cents per share, in 2020.

Research and development expenses totaled $57.2 million in 2021, compared with $27.9 million the previous year. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $33.2 million at the end of 2021, compared with $12.6 million at the end of 2020.

Based on current operating plans, SAB said it expects its cash and government funding will fund operating and capital expenses into the third quarter of 2023.

What’s next

In the coming year, SAB plans to “remain focused on leveraging the breadth of the platform to monetize both our pipeline programs and those outside our core therapeutic focus, including respiratory disease, oncology and monoclonal discovery,” Sullivan said.

“We continue to execute on the rapid response antibody program through our contract with the U.S. Department of Defense, initiated in 2019, which has expanded and advanced significantly due to the accelerated progress made during the COVID-19 pandemic response. We also remain on track to release initial proof-of-principle data in demonstrating the potential of multitargeted human polyclonals in oncology.”

After initially trading around $10 per share last fall, the stock price has fallen this year but rebounded a bit with the release of the year-end earnings. It closed Friday at $3.46 per share.