Liminal BioSciences Inc.

For the year ended December 31, 2022, research and development expense from continuing operations was CAD 15.3 million versus CAD 18.3 million in 2021, administration expense was CAD 17.9 million versus CAD 31.9 million, and finance costs were CAD 1.1 million versus CAD 6.3 million. Net loss from continuing operations decreased by CAD 16.1 million year over year, and net income was CAD 0.6 million versus CAD 12.2 million in 2021. Cash and cash equivalents were CAD 37.1 million at December 31, 2022, down from CAD 108.5 million at the start of the year. Management said this cash is expected to fund near-term development goals into early 2024, with potential to extend runway through additional noncore asset sales; the company also expects to seek approval for a Phase I trial of LMNL6511 in the second half of 2023 and aims to nominate an OXER1 preclinical candidate in the first half of 2023.

Bruce Pritchard emphasized that the company had met all previously disclosed milestones for its GPR84 and OXER1 programs and framed 2023 as a period of continued execution. He stressed that the new GPR84 and GPR40 compounds are being designed from the ground up as single-receptor candidates, unlike the earlier fezagepras program, and said the team believes its medicinal chemistry capabilities can engineer around prior challenges. His tone was upbeat and milestone-focused, with repeated references to progress, pipeline breadth, and near-term clinical catalysts.

Nicole Rusaw walked through the audited 2022 financials and highlighted lower spending across the business after the plasma-derived therapeutics divestment. She said continuing-op R&D was CAD 15.3 million, admin expense CAD 17.9 million, and finance costs CAD 1.1 million, with the admin decline driven largely by a CAD 9.2 million drop in insurance expense and lower share-based compensation and salaries. She also detailed cash movements: the company began 2022 with CAD 108.5 million, repaid CAD 39.6 million of secured term loans, paid CAD 11.2 million for CDMO termination, and ended with CAD 37.1 million in cash and cash equivalents.

An analyst asked why Liminal believes its newer GPR84 antagonist and GPR40 agonist could succeed after fezagepras produced mixed results. Bruce answered that fezagepras ultimately appeared to have activity more on PPAR-alpha and GPR84 than the originally stated GPR84/GPR40 mix, and that its PK profile was not suitable for further development; he said the new programs are deliberately single-receptor designs. The analyst also asked about cash runway and asset sales, and Bruce said Phase I data for LMNL6511 is likely to arrive early 2024, so it will come close to current cash exhaustion unless runway is extended by additional sales of remaining Telesta-era noncore real estate assets.