 Substantial progress achieved across three anti-Tau clinical development programs; all clinical and preclinical programs remain on track to generate value in the second half of 2020 Top line Phase 2 data expected in the second half of 2020 for anti-Tau antibody semorinemab CHF 262.5 million in cash ensures operations are fully financed through Q1 2024 Michael J. Fox Foundation MJFF award of USD 3.2 million CHF 3.1 million to support our alpha-synuclein positron emission tomography-PET tracer program for Parkinsons disease PD diagnosticsLAUSANNE, Switzerland, Aug. 05, 2020 GLOBE NEWSWIRE -- AC Immune SA NASDAQ: ACIU, a Swiss-based, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a broad pipeline focused on neurodegenerative diseases, today announced financial results for the Q2 2020 and provided a business update. The Company ended the second quarter with CHF 262.5 million in cash, which ensures operations are fully financed through Q1 2024 with the potential to achieve multiple clinical milestones and create substantial value inflection.Prof. Andrea Pfeifer, CEO of AC Immune SA, commented: AC Immune has delivered outstanding pipeline progress in Q2 2020, having achieved meaningful milestones across all three of our anti-Tau therapeutic programs including initiation of the second highest dosing group in our Phase 1b2a clinical trial evaluating ACI-35.030, our vaccine candidate for the treatment of Alzheimers disease AD. In addition, we are proud to report that all of our programs continue to advance on schedule and additional substantial clinical data readouts continue to be anticipated in the second half of 2020, including top line Phase 2 data for our anti-Tau antibody semorinemab, from our partner Genentech, a member of the Roche group. This strong clinical execution is mirrored by the productivity of our SupraAntigenTM and MorphomerTM discovery platforms, which continue to enable us to advance additional novel candidates against high value therapeutic targets, such as TDP-43, alpha-synuclein, and neuroinflammation. To achieve multiple clinical and preclinical therapeutic and diagnostic milestones in the first half of this year as planned during the global pandemic is truly exceptional and it shines a light on the diligence and dedication of our team and collaborators as well as the cutting-edge science fueling our pipeline. We continue to maintain our strong cash position as we advance our development pipeline and we are well positioned to capture additional value from the new projects out of the SupraAntigenTM and MorphomerTM platforms, as we are already doing with our partnered programs. Complementing our achievements this quarter, results published in JAMA Neurology provide important clinical validation of the unique diagnostic potential of our Tau-PET tracer PI-2620, which is being developed in collaboration with Life Molecular Imaging, for patients with progressive supranuclear palsy PSP. We are especially proud that our alpha-synuclein-PET tracer program was awarded USD 3.2 million by the MJFF Ken Griffin Alpha-synuclein Imaging Competition. This tracer program is recognized as the most advanced in the field and could deliver the worlds first imaging agent capable of accurately detecting and monitoring progression of PD. Q2 2020 Research Development Highlights: Initiation of investigational new drug IND-enabling studies for the Companys first-in-class therapeutic antibody targeting TDP-43. The anti-TDP-43 antibody is the first therapeutic candidate shown to mitigate TDP-43 neuropathology in vivo and the Company plans to develop the antibody for the treatment of NeuroOrphan indications AC Immune is one of three winners sharing USD 10 million through The Michael J. Fox Foundation Ken Griffin Alpha-synuclein Imaging Competition. The funding will support the nonclinical and clinical investigation of the Companys alpha-synuclein-PET tracers, which are the most advanced in the field and could deliver the worlds first imaging agent capable of accurately detecting and monitoring progression of PD New data presented at the Alzheimers Association International Conference AAIC on the next generation alpha-synuclein-PET tracer shows enhanced contrast and alpha-synuclein target specificity, putting AC Immunes tracer in a strong position to become a first-in-class precision diagnostic tool for PD. AC Immune anticipates advancing its lead compound toward clinical stage development in Q4 2020 Announced the initiation of the second highest dosing group in the Companys Phase 1b2a clinical trial evaluating ACI-35.030. The vaccine candidate, which is being developed in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is the first clinical candidate designed to generate a specific antibody response against pathological phospho-Tau pTau proteins in the brain. The decision to advance to the higher dosing group follows encouraging interim safety, tolerability and immunogenicity results from the initial dosing group Results of an observational clinical study published in JAMA Neurology showed that PI-2620, an investigational Tau-PET tracer, can facilitate an earlier and more reliable diagnosis of PSP Presented the cutting-edge science behind AC Immunes therapeutic and diagnostic programs in TDP-43 and alpha-synuclein, which are amongst the most comprehensive in the field, to investors at the UBS Virtual Healthcare Conference. Both targets are considered to be major pathologies in neurodegenerative diseases and are increasingly thought to be important co-pathologies in AD and PDUpdate on Covid-19 The Swiss Governments management of Covid-19 has allowed businesses to be able to return to near normal working practices, with all AC Immune staff now back on site in Lausanne. AC Immune remains in continuous contact with its partners and other important stakeholders, including the Swiss government, trial investigators and contractors, and at this stage the Company is not modifying guidance with respect to the multiple clinical and preclinical data readouts anticipated this year. AC Immune will continue to keep the market apprised of any new developments or information that may impact clinical timelines.Analysis of Financial Statements for the Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2020 Revenues: Revenues for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020 totaled CHF 1.3 million and CHF 13.7 million, respectively. This represents a decrease of CHF 0.2 million and CHF 62.9 million over the comparable periods in 2019. The decrease for the three months ended June 30, 2020 relates to a decrease of CHF 0.6 million in our collaboration with Janssen and other partners offset by a CHF 0.4 million increase with Eli Lilly and Company. The decrease for the six months ended June 30, 2020 predominantly relates to CHF 74.3 million recognized in the prior period associated with our license agreement with Lilly offset by a recognition of a CHF 10 million milestone payment and CHF 2.9 million for research and development activities performed in the current period RD Expenditures: For the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, RD expenses increased by CHF 0.1 million 1 and CHF 3.7 million 15 to CHF 12.9 million and CHF 28 million, respectively. For RD expenses directly allocated to RD programs, the Company increased investments in its non-AD programs predominantly led by increases in ACI-24 in Down syndrome related to scaling up activities for a Phase 2 clinical study. For AD, the Companys expenditures for ACI-24 in AD decreased due to the advanced status of the second generation vaccine technology Additionally, personnel costs in RD increased by CHF 0.7 million and CHF 1.3 million through an increase in total 15 FTEs for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively. The remaining increases of CHF 0.3 million and CHF 0.9 million relate to an increase in regulatory and quality assurance and other unallocated research and development costs GA Expenses: For the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, GA increased CHF 0.6 million 16 and CHF 1.8 million 26 to CHF 4.2 million and CHF 8.7 million, respectively. Increases were driven by an addition of seven FTEs as well as an increase in administrative and depreciation expenses IFRS LossIncome for the period: The Company incurred net loss after taxes of CHF 15.7 million and CHF 23.4 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively, compared with a net loss of CHF 16.9 million and net income of CHF 46.7 million for the comparable periods in 2019, predominantly as a result of the CHF 74.3 million of revenues recognized from our Lilly collaboration in 2019 Cash Position: The Company had a total cash balance of CHF 262.5 million, comprised of CHF 177.5 million in cash and cash equivalents and CHF 85 million in short-term financial assets. This compares to a total cash balance of CHF 288.6 million as of December 31, 2019. This decrease of CHF 26.1 million is principally due to the factors noted above in the income statement which resulted in a CHF 23.4 million net loss for the period and changes in our working capital. Further details are available in our Statements of Cash Flows on the accompanying Form 6-KAbout AC Immune SA AC Immune SA is a Nasdaq-listed clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, which aims to become a global leader in precision medicine for neurodegenerative diseases. The Company utilizes two proprietary platforms, SupraAntigenTM and MorphomerTM, to design, discover and develop small molecule and biological therapeutics as well as diagnostic products intended to diagnose, prevent and modify neurodegenerative diseases caused by misfolding proteins. 