SEC Filings

Relay Therapeutics Pays $1.5 Million To Walk Away From A Cambridge Lab Lease, Taking A $4.5 Million Hit

The drug developer booked a $4.5 million lease-exit cost and added a $4.8 million license obligation as headcount rose to 218.

Matteo Parrino Jonathan Ponciano

Matteo Parrino, Jonathan Ponciano

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Relay Therapeutics Pays $1.5 Million To Walk Away From A Cambridge Lab Lease, Taking A $4.5 Million Hit

Relay Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, drug developer, took a $4.5 million expense in the third quarter to exit its One Kendall Square lease, according to its 10-Q filed Wednesday. The termination took effect July 31, and the space had been leased through February 28, 2030.

Anatomy of the lease exit

The $4.5 million splits into $3.9 million of research and development expense and $0.6 million of general and administrative expense. It combines a $1.5 million payment to the landlord with a net $3.0 million loss from removing a $5.8 million lease asset against $2.8 million of lease liabilities.

The space was 12,190 square feet in Building 300. General and administrative expense rose $1.0 million to $13.1 million from a year earlier, which the company attributes primarily to non-recurring lease-termination costs. The prior quarter's 10-Q had tied that line's increase to legal expenses.

Research and development expense reached $77.1 million, up from $68.3 million, driven mainly by costs across ongoing clinical trials plus the lease charge. The net loss was $81.7 million, or $0.37 a share, against $74.1 million a year earlier.

A $4.8 million bill after an approval

Relay, which develops small molecule medicines for cancer and genetic disease using its Dynamo platform, also owes D. E. Shaw Research $4.8 million after the FDA fully approved lirafugratinib. Relay licensed that drug to Elevar Therapeutics, which handles its development and sale. Although unpaid at quarter-end, the obligation already sits on the balance sheet as an intangible and will be expensed gradually over the product's remaining life.

Accrued expenses stood at $45.1 million, up from $13.6 million at the end of last year. Headcount reached 218 full-time employees on September 30, from 202 at the end of June.

Cash funded by stock sales

Relay held $848.6 million in cash and investments and says that lasts into 2029. It raised its at-the-market stock program in August to $463.0 million from $250.0 million, but sold no shares under it in the third quarter.

The share count rose to 219,501,798 from 173,868,949 at year-end, helped by a May offering of 26,354,167 shares at $12.00 that netted $296.8 million. The company's market value was about $3.8 billion at Wednesday's report.

Relay plans to present updated vascular anomalies data at the American Society of Hematology meeting on December 14, followed by a call that day with a regulatory update.

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