Corporate Information |
12 Months Ended |
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Dec. 31, 2020 | |
| Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract] | |
| Corporate Information | Corporate Information Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Inc., was founded in May 2013, and acquired 100% interest in Pieris Pharmaceuticals GmbH (formerly Pieris AG, a German company which was founded in 2001) in December 2014. Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, hereinafter collectively Pieris, or the Company, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops Anticalin-based drugs to target validated disease pathways in unique and transformative ways. Pieris' corporate headquarters is located in Boston, Massachusetts and its research facility, as of December 31, 2020, was located in Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany. The Company moved its research facility to Hallbergmoos, Germany in February 2020.
Pieris's clinical pipeline includes an inhaled IL-4Rα antagonist Anticalin protein to treat moderate-to-severe asthma and an immuno-oncology, or IO, bispecific targeting 4-1BB and HER2.
The Company’s core Anticalin technology and platform was developed in Germany, and the Company has partnership arrangements with several major multi-national pharmaceutical companies.
The Company is subject to risks common to companies in the biotechnology industry, including but not limited to, the need for additional capital, risks of failure of preclinical studies and clinical trials, the need to obtain marketing approval and reimbursement for any drug product candidate that it may identify and develop, the need to successfully commercialize and gain market acceptance of its product candidates, dependence on key personnel, protection of proprietary technology, compliance with government regulations, development of technological innovations by competitors, reliance on third party manufacturers and the ability to transition from pilot-scale production to large-scale manufacturing of products.
As of December 31, 2020, cash and cash equivalents were $70.4 million. In March 2021, the Company amended its strategic collaboration agreement with Seagen which resulted in their purchase of $13.0 million of the Company’s common stock (See Note 3). In March 2021, the Company earned a $13.0 million milestone from AstraZeneca related to the initiation of the phase 2a study for PRS-060/AZD1402 and AstraZeneca agreed to purchase $10.0 million of the Company's common stock (See Note 3).
The Company’s net loss was $37.2 million and $25.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The Company has incurred net losses since inception and had an accumulated deficit of $211.4 million as of December 31, 2020. Net losses and negative cash flows have had, and will continue to have, an adverse effect on the Company’s stockholders’ equity and working capital. The Company expects to continue to incur operating losses for at least the next several years.
The future success of the Company is dependent on its ability to identify and develop its product candidates, expand its corporate infrastructure and ultimately upon its ability to attain profitable operations. The Company has devoted substantially all of its financial resources and efforts to research and development and general and administrative expenses to support such research and development. The Company has several research and development programs underway in varying stages of development and it expects that these programs will continue to require increasing amounts of cash for development, conducting clinical trials, and testing and manufacturing of product material. Cash necessary to fund operations will increase significantly over the next several years as the Company continues to conduct these activities necessary to pursue governmental regulatory approval of clinical-stage programs and other product candidates.
The Company plans to raise additional capital to fulfill its operating and capital requirements through public or private equity financings, utilization of its current ATM program, strategic collaborations, licensing arrangements, and/or the achievement of milestones under its collaborative agreements. The funding requirements of the Company’s operating plans, however, are based on estimates that are subject to risks and uncertainties and may change as a result of many factors currently unknown. Although management continues to pursue these funding plans, there is no assurance that the Company will be successful in obtaining sufficient funding on terms acceptable to the Company to fund continuing operations, if at all. Until such time as the Company can generate substantial product revenues, if ever, the Company expects to finance its cash needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, strategic partnerships and licensing arrangements. The terms of any future financing may adversely affect the holdings or the rights of the Company’s existing stockholders.
The Company believes that its currently available funds will be sufficient to fund the Company’s operations through at least the next twelve months from the issuance of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The Company's belief with respect to its ability to fund operations is based on estimates that are subject to risks and uncertainties. If actual results are different from management’s estimates, the Company may need to seek additional funding. If the Company is unable to obtain additional funding on acceptable terms when needed, it may be required to defer or limit some or all of its research, development, and/or clinical projects.
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