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8/7/2025
Good morning. My name is John and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the MLX Parameciedicals second quarter earnings conference call. All participants will be in the listen only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, please press star on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star 2. Please limit your questions to one question with one follow-up. If you would like to add additional questions, you may rejoin the queue. Please be advised that this call is being recorded at the company's request. I would now like to turn the call over to Lindsay Allen, Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications.
Please go ahead, ma
'am. Good morning and thank you all for joining us today to discuss our second quarter 2025 financial results and business updates. With me on the call today are Josh Cohen and Justin Klee, our co-CEOs, Dr. Camille Bedrogian, our Chief Medical Officer, and Jim Fradies, our Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that any statements we make or information presented on this call that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are based on our current beliefs, plans, and expectations and are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include but are not limited to our expectations with respect to Avexatide, AMX 35, and AMX 114, statements regarding regulatory and clinical developments, the impact thereof and the expected timing thereof, and statements regarding our cash runway. Actual events and results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place any undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and AMLX disclaims any obligation to update such statements unless required by law. Now I will turn the call over to Justin.
Good morning and thank you all for joining us. During the first half of 2025, we made meaningful progress across our clinical programs. Our lead asset, Avexatide, is an investigational GLP-1 receptor antagonist with FDA breakthrough therapy designation being evaluated for the treatment of post-bariatric hypoglycemia, or PBH. In April, we dosed our first participant in the pivotal Phase III lucidity trial, studying Avexatide and PBH following -en-Y gastric bypass surgery. We continue to expect a complete recruitment by year end. We have been pleased by the level of engagement from the clinical trial sites. Just a few weeks ago, we hosted an educational investor event at ENDO featuring a panel of KOLs, all experts in treating PBH, including investigators involved in the trial. Camille will share a few remarks on ENDO shortly. If you were not able to attend or listen live, I encourage you to listen to the replay available in the presentation section of our website. Importantly, we are preparing to be launch ready and, if approved, we anticipate a commercial launch of Avexatide in 2027. We have been focused on the initial steps for building the commercial organization and collecting insights on the market, which includes learning from people living with PBH and mapping out early disease education and market access strategies. We are encouraged by the potential of GLP-1 receptor antagonism as a therapeutic approach, beginning with Avexatide and PBH and potentially extending to other rare diseases where this mechanism may be relevant. Reflecting our conviction in this target, last December, we initiated a research collaboration with GUBRA, a global leader in long-acting peptide drug development. We are pleased with the progress we are making to develop a novel, long-acting GLP-1 receptor antagonist. Initial efforts with GUBRA are already showing proof of concept with new molecules, demonstrating promising potency values both in vitro and in vivo and extended in vivo half-lives. We are excited about this collaboration and will share more as timelines toward IND-enabling studies become clearer. Turning to the rest of our pipeline, AMX35 is an oral small molecule therapy designed to target endoplasmic reticulum or ER stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. We are studying AMX35 in progressive supranuclear palsy or PSP and Wolfram syndrome.
PSP
is a rare, progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that affects an estimated 23,000 people in the U.S. and has no currently approved treatment. We expect top-line data from the phase 2b portion of the phase 2b3 Orion trial this quarter, which will inform a -no-go decision on whether we move into the phase 3 program. Wolfram syndrome is a rare, progressive, monogenic, prototypical ER stress disorder with no approved treatment that we estimate affects approximately 3,000 people in the U.S. alone. Earlier this quarter, we presented long-term WEEK48 data, which demonstrated that treatment with AMX35 led to sustained stabilization or improvement over time in the study's clinical measures. These results and discussions with FDA are informing the design of a phase 3 trial of AMX35 in Wolfram syndrome, and we expect to provide an update on the program this year. Now, turning to AMX114, our investigational antisense oligonucleotide targeting Calpain2 with the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. We continue to expect early cohort data from our phase 1 lumina trial of AMX114 this year. AMX114 is designed to inhibit Calpain2 to prevent the breakdown of actons, which are the long fibers that carry signals from neurons to muscles. In preclinical studies, AMX114 demonstrated improved neuronal survival and reductions in extracellular neurofilament light chain, or NSL, a key biomarker of neurodegeneration across multiple disease models. In June, the FDA granted fast-track designation to AMX114, which provides us with the opportunity for more frequent interactions with the FDA and could allow for an expedited review process. Our pipeline progress reflects the focus and executional rigor of our team. As we look ahead to the second half of the year and into 2026, we're encouraged by the strength of our position and the momentum we're building across all of our programs. Now, I'll turn the call over to Camille.
Thanks, Justin. Touching briefly on the upcoming phase 2b data readout in PSP. PSP is a tauopathy characterized by the accumulation of tau protein in the brain. Unlike other investigational agents that have targeted extracellular tau protein or are focused on downstream effects, AMX35 is both brain and cell penetrant. Notably, in our phase 2 Alzheimer's trial, AMX35 demonstrated significant reductions in tau protein in cerebral spinal fluid. With these characteristics, we believe AMX35 may offer a differentiated and potentially disease modifying approach in PSP. We have set a high bar for AMX35 in PSP. Based on natural history data and feedback from clinical experts, we believe a clear slowing of disease progression of at least 20% on the PSP rating scale could signal meaningful clinical activity. We plan to base our decision making for advancing to the phase 3 portion of the trial on the totality of the data and the potential for clinically meaningful outcomes for those living with PSP. Now, let's focus on Avexatide, our lead program. Post-bariatric hypoglycemia is characterized by recurrent hypoglycemic events which can impose a significant and lasting burden on a person's quality of life. The condition often impairs the individual's ability to perform basic activities of daily living. There are currently no FDA approved treatments. The pathophysiology of PBH is believed to be primarily driven by altered nutrient transit after bariatric surgery, which leads to exaggerated secretion of glucagon-like peptide 1 or GLP1. In individuals with PBH, postprandial GLP1 levels can be more than tenfold higher than normal, triggering excessive insulin release and subsequent hypoglycemia. Avexatide is our investigational first in class GLP1 receptor antagonist, which has been granted FDA breakthrough therapy designation. It is designed to inhibit GLP1 receptor activity, thereby reducing insulin secretion and stabilizing blood glucose levels. At ENDO 2025, we present a new exploratory analysis from the phase two prevent trial in PBH following RU-Y gastric bypass surgery and the phase two B clinical trial in PBH following a variety of upper GI surgeries, including RU-Y gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, esophagectomy, nisinfund application, and gastrectomy. These data show that avexatide 90 milligrams once daily, which is the dose being evaluated in the pivotal phase three lucidity trial, led to a 64% least squares mean reduction in the composite rate of level two and level three hypoglycemic events from baseline and people with PBH, with a P value of 0.0031. Importantly, more than half of participants receiving this dose experienced no level two or level three hypoglycemic events during the treatment period. Consistent reductions in the composite rate of level two and level three events were also seen with other avexatide doses studied in the phase two and two B trials. Avexatide was generally well tolerated with a favorable safety profile replicated across the clinical trials. We also presented new pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data at the ENDO conference demonstrating continuous pharmacological activity of the 90 milligram once daily dose for a full 24 hour period. These findings build on a consistent body of data from five clinical trials of avexatide and PBH. When we designed our pivotal phase three lucidity trial, the goal was to be as consistent as possible with the previous successful phase two study, which directly informed the dose, end points, surgical subtype, and inclusion criteria. As a reminder, lucidity is a multi-center, randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial of approximately 75 participants with PBH following -on-y gastric bypass surgery. Lucidity is evaluating the FDA agreed upon primary endpoint of reduction in the composite of level two and level three hypoglycemic events through week 16. In addition to the analyses Amelix presented, expert PBH clinicians and researchers shared new data and research findings at ENDO 2025. For example, Dr. Colleen Craig and her colleagues at Stanford presented a US prevalence model for PBH, which they have been working on for the past five years, including an assessment of prevalence and incidence based on surgical subtypes. Dr. Craig and team used historical census data going back to 1993 and found that there were approximately 1.3 million -on-y and 1.6 million sleeve gastrectomy surgeries during this time. Then using life expectancy estimates and disease state modeling, they found that nearly 400,000 people in the US who previously underwent bariatric surgery experienced clinically important hypoglycemia, defined as glucose less than 54 mL per deciliter, or three or more PBH symptoms. Of these, approximately 167,000 people experienced recurrent events that are intense enough to require medical attention, which is a population considered to have medically important PBH. Further breaking down these numbers, approximately 119,000 had -on-y gastric bypass and approximately 48,000 had sleeve gastrectomy. These estimates reinforce our projections, which are based on published literature and claims-based analyses and underscore both the urgency of the unmet need and the significant opportunity for a vexatide to make a meaningful impact for people living with PBH. From a clinical and mechanistic standpoint, we remain highly encouraged by the therapeutic potential of GLP-1 receptor antagonism. We view lucidity as just the beginning for a vexatide. Hypoglycemia does not just occur after -on-y gastric bypass surgery, but after several other types of major upper GI surgeries, which may be conducted for weight loss, gastric or esophageal cancer removal, or severe gastroesophageal reflux disease. Additionally, GLP-1 receptor antagonism may be important in several other rare diseases. We continue to work through plans to evaluate a vexatide in these additional areas. But first and foremost, our focus is on lucidity. We are pleased by our continued progress on the vexatide program and the growing recognition of PBH as a serious underserved condition. We look forward to top-line data from lucidity expected in the first half of 2026. With that, I'll turn it over to Jim to discuss the financial highlights from the quarter. Jim?
Thanks, Camille. We ended the second quarter with a cash position of $180.8 million, compared to $204.1 million at the end of the first quarter. We believe we have the necessary cash to deliver our planned clinical milestones, which include top-line data from the Phase III lucidity trial of the vexatide, expected in the first half of next year, top-line data from the Phase IIB portion of the Orion trial and PSP, expected this quarter, and early cohort data from our LUMINA trial of AMX114 and ALF, expected by the end of the year. In addition, our cash supports early commercial preparations for the potential -to-market launch of a vexatide. Turning now to our results for the quarter. Total operating expenses for the quarter were $42.9 million, down 43% from the same period in 2024. Research and development expenses were $27.2 million, compared to $23.3 million in Q2 2024, primarily due to an increase in spending on a vexatide and AMX35 for the treatment of PSP. The increase was partially offset by a decrease in spending on AMX35 for the treatment of ALF. Selling general and administrative expenses were $15.6 million, compared to $21.6 million in Q2 2024, primarily due to a decrease in payroll and personnel-related costs and a decrease in consulting, professional, and other services. We recognize $7.4 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense for the quarter, compared to $9.6 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense in Q2 2024. With our current cash balance, we believe we're well-positioned to execute on our clinical milestones. We expect our cash runway to last through the end of 2026. With that, I'll turn the call over to Josh.
Thanks, Jim. In closing, I'd like to take a moment to highlight what continues to inspire us. The experience of people living with PBH is often underappreciated, but it's central to understanding our work. As Camille described today, PBH is a serious and life-altering condition. People living with PBH often experience frequent, unpredictable hypoglycemic events that can severely limit their independence and quality of life. Many live with constant anxiety around meals, social isolation, and an inability to perform basic daily activities. These patient experiences are not outliers. They reflect a broader underserved patient population that we continue to learn about and which motivates us to move with urgency and precision. As we look ahead, we're increasingly confident in the strategic value of antagonizing the GLP-1 pathway and the potential to help many patients in need. We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress across our pipeline.
Now, I would like to open the call up for questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin
the question and answer session. To ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star 2. Please limit your question to one question with one follow-up. If you have additional questions, you may rejoin the queue. At this time, we'll pause momentarily
to assemble our roster. Thank you for waiting. We now
have our first question. And this comes from Seamus Fernandez from Guggenheim. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Great. Thanks so much for the question. So really, the question that I have is more on the understanding of the market opportunity. You know, there's a lot of confusion, I think, in the marketplace in terms of how the moderate to severe patient population actually, you know, is broken up. And what would be a kind of clinically relevant result for this patient population? I know your event provided a lot of information along those lines, but I think it would be helpful to just know what you believe the sort of truly severe kind of baseline population for a rapid potential uptake of exotide would be. And just sort of a separate very quick follow-up question is just the pace of enrollment in your Phase 3. Just hoping you might be able to give us a little bit of a sense, your confidence in recruiting that study seems quite high. Just wondering how we should anticipate that enrollment to proceed, given the timing of the Phase 3 data in the first half of next year. Thanks so much.
Thanks, Seamus. So maybe going one by one, starting on the market, yeah, we've continued to learn and continued to dive in. We actually, you know, updated our slide and our deck as well, so you can see a little bit more information there on the market as well. You know, I think as we've continued to learn about hypoglycemia, these are the, you know, even a single hypoglycemic event can be very dramatic for patients. It could be a moment where they fracture bone, could be a moment where they fall downstairs, or, you know, potentially crash a car. And it's traumatic, you know, for individuals. And also, just to try to prevent or reduce the rate of those hypoglycemic events, patients are forced to live a very limited life, you know, both in terms of their diet, you know, being on a very restrictive diet where they have very, very few carbs and aren't able to eat, you know, are only able to eat very, very small meals, but also just from a sense of fear in terms of feeling like at any point they might fall into this hypoglycemia. So we think that this population, you know, I'd say in general, is very eager for treatments and, you know, for potential benefits. You know, breaking down a little bit, you know, Dr. Craig did present recently at ENDO some information on prevalence as well. She estimated overall, you know, a prevalence of about. 160,000 of what she called medically important PBH, which is defined by people that were seeking medical care, you know, for their, you know, PBH. She further subsetted that down to about 30,000 patients. That was what she called critical PBH, which were people who were, you know, potentially going to an ER, you know, or a hospital, you know, for an inpatient visit, you know, to manage their PBH. So, you know, I think we're still working a little bit on, you know, maybe your follow-up question of exactly who, you know, gets on drug first, you know, what is the very first segment that we might, you know, tackle in the market. That's work we're still doing commercially. But I think overall, you know, we do believe that there are, you know, you know, approximately 160,000 patients who may ultimately benefit, you know, over time, you know, as we continue educating and building the market. You also asked about the pace of enrollment and the clinical trial. So, you know, we expect to complete enrollment by the end of the year, you know, with data in the first half of 2026. We're making good progress towards that goal. So, you know, we
reiterated that goal today as well. Thanks so much.
Thank you. And the next question comes from Joseph Thome from TD Cowan. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Hi there. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. Maybe the first one on the phase three lucidity trial design, just because this treatment period is a little bit longer than the other, the phase twos. I guess, can you just remind us what you have in place to prevent patients from self-liberalizing their diet or maybe how that can be tracked? And then just a quick follow-up on the PSP program. What's going to be the most important determinant in deciding to move that forward? Is it just going to be a certain level of improvement on the PSPRS? Or are there any other secondary endpoints or safety measures that you're going to be looking at before you decide to make that step? Thank you so much.
Sure. Thank you. So, regarding the lucidity trial, we actually have great training initially with the site and through them with the participants regarding the dietary modifications and dietary following. Everyone is already on medical nutrition therapy, beginning with the run-in period. And participants are asked to continue doing whatever they were doing during run-in throughout the trial. And this is double-checked throughout the study. Individuals in the study also respond to questionnaires attesting to their dietary habits. And the diet piece is reinforced throughout the study.
And maybe I might just add there as well, you know, this is also, you know, consistent. In fact, if anything, even more close management as what was in the phase two and phase two B. So, just as Camille said, at every interaction with the site, at every visit, patients are, you know, reminded, kind of retrained on the appropriate diet for people with post-bariatric hypoglycemia. You know, there was some dietary training in the phase two and phase two B. This is even more significant. And as a reminder, the phase two and phase two B showed, you know, quite significant, you know, results on the hypoglycemic endpoints that we're also looking at here. So, maybe I'll pass back to Camille on PSP. Sure.
Yeah. And just one more point about this. The participants, as we've learned from the PIs in the study, are highly motivated. So, they are, you know, they do identify and follow the instructions based on their motivation. And that was observed in phase two to B. With regard to PSP program, as we remarked earlier, we are looking at a clinical endpoint, the progression rate as measured by the PSPRS, as well as biomarker and imaging data. And all those elements will go into our -no-go decision for PSP. And also, as a reminder, we are setting a high bar, as noted earlier.
Great. Thank you very much.
Thank you. And the next
question comes from Michael DeFiori from Evercore. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Thanks so much for taking my questions. Two for me. One on the PBH market. What's the potential for payers to force step edits on these non-approved therapies such as diazoxide and nocturitide? I mean, recognizing that most of these patients will probably have been already on them, especially the severely affected patients. But for newly diagnosed patients, potential for step therapy edits. Have a follow-up. Thank you.
Sure. So, I'm happy to start with that one. So, we don't anticipate that. You know, one, there's not really any solid clinical evidence that those therapies, you know, are effective in PBH. So, that, you know, wouldn't be the, you know, payers wouldn't turn to that, given the lack of clinical evidence for benefit. I'll also add just, you know, as we spoke into physicians, as we spoke into patients with this disease, there's very minimal, you know, satisfaction with those therapies, both in terms of patients continuing to have, you know, significant amounts of events, even when on those therapies, as well as, you know, a number of side effects that they experience, you know, when taking them.
That's very helpful. And my second question is on the PFB trial. I mean, as we headed into the interim analysis for this trial, how should we think about the variation in treatment duration across patients, given that, you know, all patients will have been treated for 24 weeks, but I think you mentioned before that some patients will have been treated for much longer. So, I guess what I'm asking is, is what is the potential for these longer duration patients to really derive the signal versus the ones who were just treated for 24 weeks? Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you, Mike. All participants will have completed 24 weeks of treatment, and that's the analysis that we'll be doing. And you are correct. We will also look at data through 52 weeks for those who have progressed and advanced through 52 weeks. All the data will be taken into account, not one or another driving more or less our -no-go decision.
Okay. So, basically, just the interim will just be at the 24-week endpoint for everybody. That'll be the analysis?
And, yes, that will be the analysis, and we will also understand what longer-term treatment does for these participants as well.
Yeah. We'll use all available data in the analysis. You know, I think, as Camille mentioned, at least everyone will have crossed that week 24 time point. If there are, you know, important differences between week 24 and, you know, going out to, you know, the full duration time point, we'll definitely explore those and share
those, you know, as well.
Thanks so much.
Thank you. And the next question comes from
Chowk Michum from Citi. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Hey, guys. Good morning. This is Jarway on for Jeff. Just a couple of quick questions from us. Again, on the PBH market opportunity, you know, the lack of an ICD-10 code has made it a little challenging to pinpoint an exact prevalence number. And to that effect, you know, you guys mentioned, you know, current efforts under way to get a better understanding of the market opportunity. And so as you talk to additional, you know, payers and additional KOLs, you know, what do you think would be the easiest path forward to demonstrate, you know, the need for a therapy and the benefit that a VEXITI could bring when you think about the need for educating the broader marketplace? And then a second question real quick on PSP. How would you characterize patient community and its awareness of, you know, the phase two helios trial and the ongoing Orion study?
Thanks. Sure. So maybe starting on the ICD-10 code, you know, one, I'd say, you know, stay tuned there. It's definitely an area of active work towards having an ICD-10 code in this condition. We've also done a good amount of claims work. You know, while there isn't an ICD-10 code, we've been able to analyze the claims looking at, you know, those patients who have had bariatric surgery, who go on to have hypoglycemic events. And we've tried to eliminate other possible causes for those hypoglycemic events, such as various diabetic medications, you know, and otherwise that might be, you know, causative for that hypoglycemia. When we've done that analysis, we do get very similar numbers to both what Dr. Craig's analysis, you know, comes up with, as well as, you know, what our analysis, you know, from the literature, you know, comes up with as well. You also asked about the, you know, need for therapy and education. I will say, as we've spoken to adult endocrinologists, it really isn't hard to, you know, hear messages about, you know, just how significant the need is. You know, a number of endocrinologists have described this as, you know, our most fragile patient population. You know, we've heard, you know, I definitely encourage to, you know, for all listening to kind of go through the endopresentation as well. But in that, there were a couple of patient stories, including, you know, a couple of patients who, you know, found their symptoms so severe, they ultimately decided to have their pancreas fully removed, you know, just to kind of prevent these kind of, you know, you know, ups and downs of blood sugar. And having your pancreas fully removed has a lot of downstream consequences. But, you know, that was the kind of risk benefit analysis they made because of how severe PBH was and how, you know, significantly it was affecting their life. So it really has not been hard to find, you know, a number of physicians who have sizable groups of patients who are experiencing kind of, you know, consistent and, you know, progressive, you know, events as well. Maybe I'll pass over to Camille to talk a little bit about the, you know, patient community, as you were saying, in PSP. And I think you asked about, you know, potentially Wolfram as well, or I can touch on it either way.
Yeah, thank you. Yes. Just as a reminder, there are no approved treatments for PSP. And it is a devastating disease that is ultimately fatal. And there isn't even the possibility of treatment for these individuals, unfortunately. So the patient community is very supportive and enthusiastic about the possibilities. As are we, we do see and appreciate the sense of urgency to identify a treatment that will favorably impact these individuals. Having said that, you know, we do understand also from patient community as well as the investigator and treating community that a clinically meaningful improvement in, or improvement in progression rate relative to placebo is about 20% in the PSPRS, the clinical rating scale. And that is one of the measures that we're using to make our -no-go decision. We do want to be sure that AMX35 could provide a very meaningful benefit to these patients.
And just briefly, I think you asked about Helios and Wolfram as well. Really, I guess in a way across all of the patient communities we serve, both our work and maybe just kind of continued awareness from the community has driven more and more interest, more and more patients kind of getting aware of these conditions. So, you know, Wolfram, one of the things we've heard from Dr. Urano is that ever since we started Helios, he's had more and more referrals, more and more patients coming to him, you know, with Wolfram syndrome. You may have seen there was actually just a Washington Post article that described one patient's experience with Wolfram syndrome. But I think it is indicative of this, you know, something, you know, in the Washington Post. So, you know, overall we believe there's about 3,000 people in the United States who have Wolfram syndrome. And, you know, I'd also just, you know, mention as well that, you know, we are one of the first, you know, phase 3s to be conducted in the condition. So, it really is, you know, quite an opportunity to bring, you know, excitement and awareness to
the space. Awesome. Thank you.
Thank you. And
the next question comes from Corrine Johnson from Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Good morning, guys. So, maybe one from us. I think in the epi data, you see that Rue and Lye surgery contributes a bit more significantly to the prevalence of the patient population. And that does align, I think, to your phase 3 design. How should we think about that from both, like, a label perspective and also with respect to trends in bariatric surgery approaches and sort of how that contributes to the incidence or prevalence of PPH from here? Thanks.
Yeah, great question. So, yes, in our phase 3 study, to most of the past studies with a vexatide, you know, enrolled people with Rue and Lye as a background. The phase 2b did actually enroll people who had multiple surgical types, and the effect looked very similar across all those surgical types. But going in the phase 3, we wanted to go in a population where we had the absolute most confident, the absolute most data. So, that's why we ran it in the Rue and Lye population. Ultimately, label and indication will be determined later by the FDA, but we do believe we will have arguments to make. We do believe pathophysiology is similar across these surgery types. And if we have to generate additional data, that's something that we think we can do very efficiently. From a trends in surgery perspective, it's actually been interesting to hear. If you go back to kind of the early days of bariatric surgery, Rue and Lye was the dominant surgery. Really, in the early 2010s, VSG passed it in terms of, you know, kind of the incident surgeries that were happening. And that was mainly due to a lot of kind of messages that were coming out that VSG might be the potentially safer surgery. Over kind of the 2010s and even more recently, longer term outcome studies have come out that in fact, you know, it doesn't appear that VSG is really safer than Rue and Lye. And Rue and Lye causes more significant weight loss. So, if you look at the last maybe three or four years, you see Rue and Lye starting to take some share back from VSG. And I'll say anecdotally, when we've spoken to surgeons, especially in this era of kind of weight management and otherwise, we have heard kind of continued excitement towards Rue and Lye, including because it causes deeper and longer lasting weight loss, ultimately with, you know, in their view, kind of a similar side effect profile. So I'd say, you know, hard to know exactly what the future may hold, but at least from our conversations, we think Rue and Lye is, you know, continuing to, you know, maybe take some share back as well. But maybe just reiterating initially, we believe our drug, you know, there's no reason our across all these surgeries and our Phase IIB supports that as well. So you know, that's definitely our ultimate plan is for this, you know, to be a drug that spans
across surgeries.
Thank
you.
And
the next question comes from Mark Goodman from Learing Partners. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Can you talk about where these patients are? Like, you know, are there centers of excellence? What kind of infrastructure would you need to build to reach these patients? And then secondly, just, Camille, if you could talk about the powering of Phase III, the SIDDY trial and what assumptions you have for the placebo reduction of levels 203. Thanks.
Sure. So starting with where are the patients. So we've spoken to, you know, many different clinical sites and, you know, physician sites. So primarily the call point seems to be adult endocrinologists who are most often caring for these patients. We've spoken to adult endocrinologists who have over 100 patients, sometimes hundreds of patients under their care. We've spoken to ones that have tens and we've spoken to ones that have a handful. So it does seem that, you know, different endocrinologists, you know, proportionally of different numbers of these patients as well. There are, you know, a number of KOLs who have kind of arisen in this space, but I'd maybe remind as well that bariatric surgery started becoming popular in the U.S. in the early 2000s. So this is a somewhat newer phenomenon, too. You know, there is a sense that, you know, there are a number of sites that have become KOLs recently and there are a number of ones that are kind of rising KOLs, if you want to put it that way, you know, who are, you know, becoming, realizing that they have a pretty sizable patient pool and kind of becoming, you know, I guess you could say kind of tomorrow's experts, you know, in this space as well. So I think overall, we think that there's a, you know, identified, you know, significant pool of identified patients who are at major academic centers that will definitely be really important, you know, kind of early in our launch, but also quite an opportunity to continue, you know, building and growing the market over the long term as we keep educating and expanding out to the, you know, to the broader pools of physicians as well. Maybe I'll pass over to Camille for the powering of the Phase 3 study. Sure. Thank you.
Thanks, Mark. Just as a reminder, Lucidity is approximately 75 participants and also we expect to complete recruitment by the end of this year, just to let you know. We are, as is usual for AMLICS, we are conservative in our powering assumptions for Lucidity. So first, if we see similar results to the Phase 2B trial of Exotide with the same 90 milligram once daily dose of approximately 53% reduction in Level 2 and 66% reduction in Level 3, both highly statistically significant, we have substantially more than 90% power to detect an effect over placebo. If we, if the effect is approximately 35% reduction versus placebo, we still have 90% power to detect a difference. So very well powered for detecting clinically meaningful improvement under even the most conservative assumptions.
Thanks.
Thank
you. And the next
question comes from Anand Aghash from HE Wainwright & Co. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Hi, thanks guys. Two questions from me on AVEXOTIDE. Based on the endo discussion, look like educating PCPs on early diagnosis is a factor that needs to be considered as well as already discussed the PVH codes. So, you know, might be helpful to understand how are you thinking about these issues as you kind of, you know, approach that phase during the AVEXOTIDE development. And the second question is, as you speak with the KOLs, what has been, you know, how has been the definition of clinical significance looks like for PVH?
Yeah, absolutely. So maybe starting, we definitely see this as a endocrine-centered launch. So, yes, ultimately PCPs do probably refer and kind of help triage the patients to the endocrinologists. But, you know, our anticipation is that this will be kind of a targeted launch where we're focused on the endocrinologists, particularly with kind of our personal promotion efforts as well. And those endocrinologists already have, you know, quite a significant number of patients as well. So, you know, there's quite a lot of opportunity in that as well. In terms of clinical significance, the question actually got asked directly at the endo present, you know, at the end of discussion as well. And the physician's response and kind of what we've heard as we've spoken to KOLs is even one, you know, significant hypoglycemic event is a clinically meaningful change. You know, any one hypoglycemic event could be the moment where somebody fractures a bone, crashes a car, you know, has basically a permanent change in their life based on the downstream consequences of that event. So even reducing the risk or preventing, you know, one event was viewed as clinically meaningful by the KOLs we spoke to.
Thank you. Thank you. And the next question comes from
Tim Anderson from Bank of America. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. This is Susan On for Tim. Thanks for taking our questions. So my question is on the clinical trial timelines for lucidity. Given that lucidity as primary endpoint is event-driven, what can you talk about the the assumptions underlying the first half-26 timeline that you've reiterated? Thank you.
Sure, I'll pass that over to Camille.
Sure. So actually, we don't believe there will be. So I'll begin again. This is an interesting question. What we saw in the Phase II and Phase IIB studies were that the event rates from the run-in period were reduced substantially, as we noted from the data and the results. 53% reduction in Level II events, 66% reduction in Level III. And as we described during the ENDO conference on our poster with the composite, we also saw a 64% reduction in the composite of Level II and Level III. So those results are a framework against which we've planned and are facing our lucidity trial. We don't anticipate event rates having an impact.
Yeah, and maybe just adding to reiterate our timelines, should we anticipate completing by the end of the year with data in the first half of 2026. The event rate doesn't actually drive when recruitment completes. We track all patients for events. And ultimately, when the last patient's in, that kind of, I guess, starts them towards completing the 16-week study. So we're making good progress against our goals for that. So we reiterated today as well our anticipation of completing enrollment by the end of the year with data
in the first half of 2026. Thank you. And yes, the next question comes
from Craig Vanahen from Mizuho Securities. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Hi, this is Sam. I'm from Greg. Thanks for taking our question, and congrats on the progress. Maybe two from me. First, do you anticipate any issues with compliance for a VEXCIDE given the daily injection? And do you think that would potentially limit the population in terms of severity of the disease, of who would potentially take it? And then second, I'm just curious what the overall feedback has been from the physician community from the recent ENDO conference. If there's any feedback with a positive or negative, thank
you. Yeah, maybe I'm happy to start, and then maybe pass to Camille to add a little bit at the end as well. So starting on the compliance, you know, study is still ongoing, of course, but, you know, if you look back through the past of VEXCIDE trials, you know, compliance was nearly, you know, 100% through those past trials. So we've seen very great compliance with this drug in the past. We've also done market research about injections in this patient population, and by and large, we've heard very little concerns from patients about the daily injectable, including comments from the patients such as, you know, they're often doing finger sticks and describing that a finger stick, you know, actually hurts more, you know, your fingers are quite sensitive, that a finger stick can hurt more than a subcontinuous injection and otherwise. And, you know, some of these patients are doing 10, 20 finger sticks a day. The other thing is the efficacy, you know, is a big aspect too. You know, hypoglycemic events are really quite traumatic. Patients describe that often even just, you know, psychologically, it can take them several hours before they feel kind of back to normal, you know, after a, you know, hypoglycemic event occurs. So, you know, that's kind of what they're balancing in the equation as well. And you know, the idea of a, you know, kind of quick daily injectable seems, you know, far outweighed by, you know, the ability to potentially reduce the incidence of having those events or otherwise again from our market research. You know, and then from ENDO and the physician community, you know, we've just kind of continued to hear great outreach. We've had a number of different physicians ask if they can be part of the study. We've had a number of them kind of refer patients that, you know, they may have, you know, to potentially be in the study as well. So we get pretty constant outreach and excitement from patients as well, you know, including requesting compassionate use and otherwise. And I think ENDO just drove that even further because it was maybe another moment of putting a spotlight on PBH. Probably said a lot, but, you know, Camille, I don't know if there's any additions you want to make.
Sure. Thank you, Josh. Thanks. Yes, I do have a couple of points first regarding the compliance and injections. I'll just reiterate the efficacy is most important for these individuals. And with regard to the study in particular, we've heard from the PIs that their participants or potential participants are highly motivated and are very, very much want to participate in the study and do the best possible in the study, including the injections on a daily basis. With regard to ENDO, yes, notably as well, there has been quite an exponential uptick in the information about PBH during this year's ENDO relative to last year, 2024. So clearly the awareness is increasing. More to come for sure. And as well, we heard from a number of ENDOs there that if they have people, and many do have patients who have PBH, and they reiterate how fragile these individuals are. So all very exciting and very, very positive.
Thank you. Thank you. And the next
question comes from Chris Shen from ABRADE. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I
had one on diagnosis rates, kind of diagnosis protocols for PBH. So the Society for Endocrinology came out with new guidelines, I think it was last year, in the hopes of standardizing diagnosis of PBH. What have you heard from conversations with providers about the potential impact those more standardized diagnosis guidelines might have? And I do have a follow-up.
Yeah, I'm maybe happy to start there. So I think maybe broadly characterized that general diagnosis for PBH is, in very simple terms, once somebody has a bariatric surgery, confirming that they have hypoglycemia, persistent hypoglycemia, and that there's not another explanatory cause, you can basically sum up the diagnostic guidelines as that. It's actually a relatively easy diagnosis to make once a physician suspects it. So I think that's the most important thing, that a physician maybe has a patient in front of them who's having things like dizziness, maybe has had some events of syncope, loss of consciousness, events of confusion or slurred speech or otherwise, and to put the dots together that they've had a bariatric surgery and that glucose and blood sugar might be the culprit for what they're experiencing. So it's actually quite a straightforward diagnosis to make once one expects it. I think by and large, going with that as well, we have seen a continued uptick in awareness and understanding of this disease. We did hear from a couple endocrinologists who are interested in the PBH space that they were really excited that this year for the first time on the annual endo boards where you have to get kind of recertified as an endocrinologist that there were questions on PBH. PBH is kind of also now in the endocrinology textbook as well. So I do think there's things like the guidelines also, as you called out too, there's a number of different initiatives that are going that kind of continue to build the awareness and suspicion when a patient has these types of symptoms and they've had bariatric surgery that PBH might be at play.
Great, very helpful.
And then just real quick, I know you can't go too deep into details on lucidity, but just wondering if you can offer just some color on anything you're hearing on durability of effect outside of 28 days and what gives you confidence that you'll continue to see that durability of effect through the 16 weeks?
Yeah, I'd say we try to make sure not to analyze a factor of efficacy early in a study. It is a blinded study. But I will say we are happy that we do have patients that have gone out beyond the 28 days, the past studies, and are certainly continuing on therapy as well.
Yeah, and I'll just add that we don't anticipate any tachypsolaxis based on the mechanism of
exotel. Thank you so much. Thank
you.
And
there are no further questions
at this time. I'll turn the call back over to Mr. Josh Cohen. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you. So thank you everyone for joining us today. Really appreciate the questions. And, you know, if you have follow up questions, please reach out and we're happy to find time. Thank you all. Have a great day.
Thanks, everybody.
Thank
you. This concludes our conference call for today. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.