AC Immune (ACIU) Q4 2021 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Pipeline advanced across Tau, amyloid beta and alpha-synuclein programs; the Affiris acquisition added the clinically validated ACI-7104 Parkinson’s vaccine candidate.

• Operational plans continued through the pandemic; seven clinical data readouts were targeted across 2021 and 2022, with two reported by the start of 2022.

Financial highlights

• IFRS revenue was nil in 2021, versus CHF 15.4M in 2020 and CHF 110.5M in 2019; prior-year revenue included significant collaboration milestones.

• Operating loss widened to CHF 79.0M from CHF 61.3M; net loss was CHF 73.0M versus CHF 61.9M, and basic and diluted EPS were both CHF (0.97) versus CHF (0.86).

• R&D expense rose to CHF 62.3M from CHF 59.5M; G&A expense declined to CHF 17.9M from CHF 18.6M.

Outlook and guidance

• Five additional clinical data readouts were expected in 2022; further Lauriet biomarker results were also expected later in the year.

• ACI-35 expansion supported plans for late-stage development in 2022; an optimized ACI-24 formulation was expected to enter a new clinical trial imminently.

• ACI-7104 was expected to begin a Phase 2 trial in 2022.