Crescent Advances Cancer Trials, Extends Cash Runway
Second-quarter research spending rose about 60% to $19.4 million as clinical activity increased.
Crescent Biopharma (CBIO), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, advanced its lead cancer program into a Phase 2 combination trial while extending its expected cash runway into the second half of 2028.
The progress marked an acceleration for CR-001, an antibody targeting PD-1 and VEGF. A China study combining CR-001 with Kelun-Biotech’s sacituzumab tirumotecan, or sac-TMT, was underway in approximately 206 patients with non-small cell lung cancer, replacing an earlier plan for a Phase 1/2 study with an unspecified Kelun antibody-drug conjugate in the second half of 2026.
The trial’s initial-data target moved forward to the second or third quarter of 2027 from year-end 2027. Kelun also received Chinese regulatory clearance in May and began a separate CR-001 monotherapy trial, which had previously been scheduled to start in the first half of 2026.
Crescent’s second-quarter net loss widened to $24.8 million from $21.8 million a year earlier. The loss narrowed to $0.74 an ordinary share from $4.93 as weighted-average ordinary shares increased to 30.5 million from 3.9 million.
Operating expenses climbed to $28.1 million from $21.0 million, and the operating loss widened to $26.4 million. Higher chemistry, manufacturing and controls, clinical activity and personnel costs drove the increase in research spending. Crescent recorded no second-quarter license revenue, though first-half license revenue totaled $1.0 million compared with none a year earlier.
Cash declined to $171.6 million at June 30 from $213.2 million at the end of 2024. A July public offering raised $143.7 million, including $133.5 million in net proceeds, lifting pro forma cash to $305.1 million and extending the expected runway beyond the company’s previous forecast of sometime in 2028.
CR-001 proof-of-concept data are scheduled for the first quarter of 2027, a timetable maintained since February after shifting from the second half of 2026. Crescent also plans to begin a Phase 1/2 trial combining CR-003 with CR-001 in the first half of 2027, with initial data expected by year-end.