Corvus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CRVS) outlined expanding clinical plans for its selective ITK inhibitor soquelitinib while reporting higher research and development spending for 2025, reflecting a broader and more advanced pipeline. Management emphasized recent atopic dermatitis data, ongoing enrollment in a phase 3 peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) study, and new mid-stage trials planned for additional inflammatory diseases.
Financial results and updated cash runway
Chief Financial Officer Leif Li said research and development expenses were $9.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2025, up from $6.0 million in the year-ago quarter. For the full year, R&D expenses totaled $33.7 million versus $19.4 million in 2024. Li attributed the increases primarily to higher clinical trial and manufacturing costs related to soquelitinib as well as increased personnel costs.
As of December 31, 2025, Corvus reported cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $56.8 million, compared with $52.0 million at year-end 2024. Li also said the company completed an upsized underwritten public offering in January that generated net proceeds of $189 million. Including that financing, pro forma cash at December 31, 2025 was approximately $246 million, which management said extends the company’s cash runway into the second quarter of 2028.
Atopic dermatitis: cohort 4 data and mechanism discussion
Chief Executive Officer Richard Miller highlighted progress in soquelitinib across both oncology and inflammatory disease programs, pointing to recently announced cohort 4 results from the company’s phase 1 atopic dermatitis trial. Miller described soquelitinib as a first-in-class selective ITK inhibitor intended to “rebalance or reset the immune system.”
Miller said cohort 4 was designed as a randomized, placebo-controlled trial with an eight-week treatment period. Key efficacy figures he cited included:
- Mean percent reduction in EASI of 72% for soquelitinib versus 40% for placebo (p=0.035).
- EASI 75 achieved by 75% of treated patients (9 of 12), with one additional patient reaching EASI 74.
- EASI 90 achieved by 25% of treated patients; IGA 0/1 achieved by 33%.
- Two placebo patients required rescue medication due to disease flares versus none in the active-treatment group.
He added that the only non-responder in the active group was described as refractory to prior therapy with both Dupixent and Rinvoq, while two of the EASI 90 responders had been resistant or non-responsive to prior systemic therapies. Miller also discussed outcomes by prior treatment history, stating that none of seven placebo patients with prior systemic therapy achieved EASI 75, while three of five treated patients with prior systemic therapy achieved EASI 75.
Miller emphasized durability as a differentiating feature, stating that in cohort 3, responses observed at day 28 were maintained or slightly improved out to day 118 (90 days off therapy). He said the company observed no rebound phenomenon in cohorts 3 and 4. He linked this to a hypothesized induction of T-regulatory cells (Tregs), noting biomarker data showing increased circulating Tregs in cohort 3 patients.
On safety, Miller said no new safety signals were seen with the longer eight-week treatment in cohort 4, and he reported similar adverse events in placebo and active groups, no significant lab abnormalities, and no hepatic abnormalities. He also addressed investor questions about EBV reactivation risk, citing experience in more than 150 treated patients across lymphoma, atopic dermatitis, and ALPS trials, representing more than 14,000 patient-days of exposure, with some patients treated for more than two years. In the phase 1 lymphoma study, he said more than 30 patients had detectable EBV at baseline and none had evidence of EBV reactivation or related illness during treatment.
Upcoming presentations and partner trial activity in China
Miller said Corvus’s soquelitinib abstract was accepted for oral presentation at the Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID) annual meeting in mid-May, where the company plans to present phase 1 clinical data with expanded safety and durability results and a focus on biomarker findings, including work involving Tregs and JAK-STAT signaling.
He also discussed progress at Angel Pharmaceuticals, Corvus’s partner in China, which is enrolling a blinded, placebo-controlled phase 1b/2 atopic dermatitis trial evaluating 12-week treatment in 48 patients across multiple dose regimens (including 100 mg BID, 200 mg QD, 200 mg BID, and 400 mg QD). Miller said results from the initial cohorts are expected late this year, with additional dose cohorts expected to read out later as the study progresses.
Phase 2 atopic dermatitis trial initiated; PTCL phase 3 enrollment continues
Corvus announced on the call that it has initiated a phase 2 randomized, placebo-controlled atopic dermatitis trial expected to enroll 200 patients with moderate to severe disease. Patients will be randomized into four cohorts (50 patients each) to receive 200 mg QD, 200 mg BID, 400 mg QD, or placebo for 12 weeks, followed by a 90-day off-treatment follow-up period. The primary endpoint is median percent reduction in EASI at 12 weeks, with additional endpoints including EASI-75, EASI-90, IGA, and PP-NRS. Management said it expects data from this study in mid-2027 and noted the trial is blinded, limiting interim visibility into results.
In oncology, Miller said Corvus continues to enroll patients in its phase 3 registration trial in PTCL, with an interim analysis expected later this year. He also noted a recent independent data safety monitoring board meeting with no safety signals observed. Discussing the trial design during Q&A, Miller said patients are randomized to soquelitinib 200 mg BID monotherapy versus investigator’s choice of belinostat or pralatrexate, and that the study is not blinded given differences in administration and typical toxicities between treatments.
Miller also referenced final data presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting from the phase 1/1b trial in T-cell lymphoma, stating that in the 200 mg BID cohort, median progression-free survival was 6.2 months and median overall survival was 28 months.
Beyond these programs, Miller said the company plans to initiate phase 2 trials in hidradenitis suppurativa and asthma later in the year. For hidradenitis suppurativa, he outlined a preliminary design of about 60 patients across 200 mg BID, 400 mg QD, and placebo arms over 12 weeks, with safety and efficacy endpoints including HiSCR50 and HiSCR75. For asthma, he said the study design is still being finalized and is expected to involve roughly 150 patients treated for three months, with dosing guided by experience in atopic dermatitis and PTCL.
About Corvus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CRVS)
Corvus Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of next-generation immuno-oncology therapies. The company’s research efforts are centered on harnessing both the innate and adaptive immune systems to counteract tumor-driven immunosuppression. By targeting key pathways that regulate immune cell function, Corvus aims to create novel agents that can be combined with existing cancer treatments to improve patient outcomes.
Corvus’s lead pipeline candidates include small-molecule and antibody therapies designed to inhibit the adenosine pathway, a known mediator of tumor immune escape.
