This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.
spk09: Welcome to Verona Pharma second quarter 2023 financial results and operating health highlights conference call. At this time all participants are in listen-only mode. Earlier this morning Verona Pharma issued a press release announcing its financial results for the three months ended on June 30th of 2023. A copy can be found in the investor relation tab on the corporate website www.veronapharma.com. Before we begin I'd like to remind you that during today's call, statements about the company's future expectations, plans, and prospects are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the management's current expectations. These statements are neither promised, nor guaranteed, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that may cause the actual results, performance, and achievements to be materially different from the expectations expressed in the plans for forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statement represented management existing on the date of this conference call. While the company may elect to update such forward-looking statement at some point in the future, it declaims any obligation to do so, even if subsequent event causes views to change. As a reminder, this call has been recorded and will remain available for 90 days. I would now like to turn the conference over to Dr. David Zaccardelli, Chief Executive Officer.
spk07: Thank you, and welcome, everyone, to today's call. With me today are Mark Hahn, our Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Kathy Rickard, our Chief Medical Officer, and Chris Martin, our Senior Vice President of Commercial. During the second quarter, we made substantial progress toward our goal of bringing ncFentrin to COPD patients with the submission of a new drug application to the FDA for nebulized ncFentrin for the maintenance treatment of COPD. The NDA submission is comprised of data from the successful Phase III enhanced program and other NC-Fentron clinical studies, including safety data from approximately 3,000 subjects. We look forward to working with the FDA on the submission and providing an update in the third quarter. In May, we presented additional analyses from the enhanced studies at the American Thoracic Society International Conference across 12 abstracts and a clinical trial symposium on subgroup data and pooled analyses from Enhance I and Enhance II covering exacerbations, symptoms, quality of life, use of rescue medication, healthcare utilization, and safety. In addition, an overview of the enhanced trial results was presented as part of the clinical trial symposium reserved for highlighting new breakthrough drugs. In June, The results of the enhanced trials evaluating ncfentrin and COPD were published in the peer-reviewed publication, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. In parallel with our regulatory progress, we continue to advance our pre-commercial medical affairs and marketing activities as we prepare for the potential US launch of ncfentrin in the second half of 2024 pending FDA approval. These efforts are critical in setting the stage for Ncfentrin, which, if approved, has the potential to be the first novel mechanism of action launched for the maintenance treatment of COPD in over 10 years. Turning to our global partnering strategy, in the second quarter, Nuance Pharma, our development partner in Greater China, announced they enrolled the first subject in their Phase III trial evaluating Ncfentrin for the maintenance treatment of COPD in China. Nuance Pharma has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize Ncfentrin in Greater China, and as such, will play a key role in addressing the global need for a novel treatment for COPD. We look forward to providing updates as the trial progresses. We believe Ncfentrin, if approved, has the potential to change the treatment paradigm for COPD. The data from our Phase III enhanced program was highly positive, and NC-Fentrin successfully met the primary endpoints in both Enhance I and Enhance II, demonstrating statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in lung function, and also successfully met secondary and other endpoints, including reductions in the rate and risk of exacerbations. The success of these trials and our recent NDA submission for NC-Fentrin brings us closer to providing NC-Fentrin to a patient population in urgent need of a new effective treatment option. Currently, more than 380 million patients suffer from COPD worldwide, and it is the third leading cause of death. Despite the availability of existing COPD treatments, approximately 50% of patients experience symptoms for more than 24 days per month, and physicians require new and effective COPD therapies to provide relief to their patients. With its novel mechanism of action as a selective PDE3 and PDE4 inhibitor, we believe Ncfentrin, if approved, will be a transformational advance in the treatment of COPD. Looking ahead, we plan to present new analyses of the enhanced trials at the upcoming European Respiratory Society International Congress and at the CHEST Annual Meeting. Also later this year, we plan to host an analyst meeting in New York providing an overview of our launch plan and will announce further details once finalized. I will now turn the call over to Mark to review our financial results for the second quarter.
spk05: Thank you, Dave, and good morning. We ended the second quarter of 2023 with $270.7 million in cash and equivalents, We believe our balance sheet remains strong, and with the cash currently on Hedon, expected receipts from the UK tax credit program, and funding expected to be available under the Oxford Loan Facility, we expect to have sufficient runway at least through the end of 2025, including the planned commercial launch of NC Venture in the US, pending regulatory approval. For the quarter ended June 30, 2023, the net loss after tax was $8.8 million compared to a net loss after tax of $17.8 million for the same period in 2022. This represents a loss of one cent per ordinary share or 11 cents per ADS for the quarter compared to a loss of four cents per ordinary share or 29 cents per ADS for the second quarter of 2022. Research and development costs were a net reversal expense of $2.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023, compared to costs of $15 million for the three months ended June 30, 2022, a decrease of $17.5 million. As study conduct under the Phase III Enhanced Program was essentially complete late in 2022, R&D expense was dramatically lower in Q2 2023 compared to Q2 2022 when the program was in full operation. In addition, we favorably resolved the matter with the supplier as well as certain disputed invoices in Q2 2023 resulting in the reversal of approximately $6.3 million of costs accrued in prior periods. This resulted in net negative R&D expense for the three months ended June 30, 2023. Selling, general, and administrative expenses were $12.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, and people-related costs, including share-based compensation, as well as an increase of $1.7 million in costs related to the build-out of our commercial infrastructure as we prepare for a potential commercial launch. We expect SG&A expenses to continue to be the main driver of expense for Verona Pharma as we prepare for a commercial launch in 2024. In the aggregate, we expect total expenses to be in the range of $20 to $25 million per quarter until we add sales reps at FDA approval. I'll now turn the call back to the operator for the Q&A.
spk09: We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then 1 on your touchtone telephone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your headset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed, If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star, then 2. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Your line is open.
spk00: Good morning, team, and congrats on all the updates. Maybe two questions. The first one would be directed to Chris. You know, we would love to just sort of get an update on what are some of the key priorities on your to-do list, you know, between, I guess, now and the PDUFA date. And then second, why is it so critical for... you to really implement these strategies early on. I guess a lot of investors may not recognize the importance of building product awareness and all the prep that goes. So I guess what I'm trying to get at is
spk10: Thanks, Yaz.
spk12: Thanks, Yaz, on the questions.
spk13: I'll start really with the priorities between now and PDUFA.
spk12: One is, as we think about how we need to build the organization to get ready for launch, there's a variety of things we need to do across market access and trade, operations and systems. and then in marketing and sales. So if I take each one of those individually and I look at market access and trade, between now and PDUFA, you know, a vast majority of our work will be spent setting up our channel and our distribution pathway to ensure that NCFentron can get our third-party logistics organization to the patient in an efficient and effective manner. That takes time. That takes integration of systems, and it also leaves us time to test to make sure that the channel is working appropriately before launch. The other thing that we'll be doing during that time is really continuing to evolve our payer discussions. As we know, NC Fentron is, we believe, will be primarily reimbursed through a medical benefit, and that can come through either traditional Medicare Part B, but also through Medicare Advantage, as they have to follow the Medicare Part B pathway as well. So our team, from a payer standpoint, has really been focusing on those Medicare Advantage plans and getting out there and engaging in conversations around what Medicare Advantage could bring to the marketplace there. If I switch gears now to operations and IT, as an organization that's transitioning from a clinical development organization to a really commercially focused organization, the system that we're implementing and actually has already gone live is a data warehouse system. And the reason why I highlight this is the importance of a data warehouse is it provides the flexibility for us to analyze and look at our data on a really a minute-by-minute basis. this internal capability is so important when it comes to launch because we can effectively look at all our tactics that we're putting out to the field through non-personal channels and personal channels and see what are more effective and what tactics maybe are less effective and redistribute our spend in a very quick manner. We've actually started testing this already.
spk13: We did some
spk12: We're able to get some physician interaction data and now can start to use that to test the system as we speak. And then on the third area is really the marketing side. You know, NC Fentron will be the first new product launched and mechanism in over a decade. And when we think about that, you know, the market has become very used to LAMAs, LABAs, and ICS products. market shaping work is essential to ensure that when ncfentrin comes to market that the physicians are receptive to to the drug when it comes out and specifically when we look at some of our research we see some disconnects between the burden of copd in the patient and how the physician feels the patient's actually feeling what you can see in the freesia data is that You know, the patients are experiencing symptoms up to between 24 and 30 days a month in almost 50% of these patients. So there's a significant symptom burden that affects their overall quality of life and ability to interact with members of their families that maybe the physicians are underestimating.
spk10: And this is some work that we'll be doing very soon. half of the year into 2024.
spk12: So I really think about the work that we need to do between now and DUFA and those three functions. And then you mentioned why is it critical to implement these now? If we don't do this today or if we're slow in doing these activities, it can, you know, it can affect the ramp.
spk13: Specifically, you know, sometimes biotechs launch without marketing a new product. And that's
spk12: that potentially limits the physician's receptivity to the product when it comes to launch. So all this work is essential to ensure that smooth transition from product to patient and then the physician uptake at launch.
spk00: Great. Thank you so much, Chris.
spk10: I'll jump back into the queue.
spk11: Good morning, guys, and thanks for taking our questions and congrats on all the progress as well. just two from us to start here. What additional analyses from Enhanced can we expect to see at ERS and CHESS? And then can you provide any updates on where you stand with the combination product of Ensoventrin and Alama? Is there a certain Alama that you think would work best in conjunction with Ensoventrin? Thanks.
spk08: Hi, good morning. Thanks, Andreas. Yeah, so let me take the second one first, and I'll turn it over to Cassie to talk about ERS and CHESS.
spk06: You know, we continue
spk08: a combination nebulized product of a LAMA plus NC-Pentrin, which we think will work extremely well, well-suited for the COPD space, give us a dual bronchodilator as well as anti-inflammatory in a nebulized delivery. So as far as the next product, we think that that makes a lot of sense. We are currently... in the earlier stages of formulation development, making sure that we have a formulation that can stand up and be stable, of course, before we launch into clinical activities. We'll be much more informed on that later this year. And so I think as we get towards the end of 2023, we'll be articulating where we are with that a little bit clearer for everyone, as well as our plans for 2024 in that development. So I would stand by for that. And then, Kathy, you want to comment on ERS and CHESS? Sure.
spk02: So I'll take ERS first. So for ERS, which is going to be in the early to mid part of September, we have a number of abstracts. The first abstract is the 48-week exacerbation data. Again, further confirming that over 48 weeks, we continue to see a 44% decrease in exacerbations rate and a 52% decrease in risk, which is the times of first. That is a poster presentation. We have an oral presentation, again, looking at health resource utilization in moderate severe exacerbations. And again, we're continuing to show, again, the decrease in rate and risk of exacerbations, but we're also showing the decrease in physician visits and hospitalizations over the 24 weeks of the study. Then for chest, which is in October, we have a couple of abstracts being shown. These are all in somewhat of a short-form oral format. So we have the full results by exacerbation history, again, demonstrating that despite exacerbation history, we continue to see a strong decrease in exacerbations. And then side-by-side symptoms from the two pivotal trials, which again show consistently decrease that we are able to decrease symptoms in these two trials. We also have a pooled efficacy data looking at whether patients were originally on LAMA or LAMA, again demonstrating that equal efficacy occurs whether they're on LAMA or LAMA. And then lastly, there's a pooled safety from both large studies, again showing the consistency of our very good safety profile. So those are the ones that you'll expect to see at ERS and CHESS.
spk13: Okay, great. Thanks for all that, Paula. How's it going on? Looking forward to all the progress. Jump back in the queue. Thank you.
spk09: The next question comes from Andrew Tsai from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
spk16: Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking our questions, and again, congrats on the progress. So two questions on our side, maybe one on the ongoing filing. As we wait for the potential acceptance from the FDA, has the agency accepted You know, what kinds of questions has the agency maybe sent you since you've submitted the filing? What's the correspondence been like? And if there haven't been any correspondence, would you then say no news is good news? And then secondly, you know, as we think about the sales trajectory of Ensofentrin and think about launch precedents, are there any relevant launch comps that you think applies to Ensofentrin? Not necessarily within the COPD space, but maybe even in the neuro space in general. Any other kind of SMIT cap type launches with a similar situation? You've got it like a novel MOA for a big market, strong efficacy, clean safety, and so forth. So what would be the best case studies for investors? Thank you.
spk08: Thanks, Andrew, for the questions. I'll take the first and then hand it over to Chris to take the second on launch comps. As you'd expect, we're not going to comment on regulatory interactions in detail. But just to say that the submission is in, as you know, and that we're in a proper communication with the FDA. I think that it's, from my perspective, normal course of business. um, with them. And, uh, you know, I think that, um, we will see where, where they stand, um, right now, you know, near the end of August, um, would be our, our target expectation for around day 60. And as you know, uh, they will also deliver a day 74 letter as well that, that provides additional detail on, um, uh, the submission and usually includes the PDUFA, uh, date, et cetera. So, um, you know, I would say, um, normal course of business, um, from my perspective. And with that, I'll turn it over to, um, Chris.
spk12: Thanks, Andrew, on the question on sales trajectory and comp. You know, in the COPD space, there's really not a comp that fits the NC Fenton profile because You know, as we think about the launch for ncfentrin, ncfentrin is not a drug that needs to replace another drug in the treatment armamentarium. It's a drug that can be added to what the patient is currently taking, and so it provides that extra benefit. But if I look more broadly at other categories and diseases where, you know, you have a mid-sized biotech competing against larger pharma, you know, I really go back to the most recent example of Biohaven in the – migraine space where they were able to successfully launch an oral drug for a migraine indication against a large competitor and do it very effectively. And I think part of what we've learned and got an insight from around that is part of the work that we're doing that was explained with Yaz around how you set up the launch beforehand with market shaping, how you use data to be more efficient in your deployment and are things that we've learned from that launch to make us very competitive and overly competitive against, you know, the larger pharma players within there. So I really look at that example as a precedent for Verona and NC Frenterin.
spk10: Makes sense. Thanks.
spk09: The next question comes from Edward Nash from Conacord Genuity. Please go ahead.
spk14: Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Could you just remind us, I think you've spoken to this before, but how quickly do patients move from first-line therapy to the point of needing encephentrine? And then another question I have is just, I guess just as far as the future R&D development besides combo therapy, are there any specific or potential interstitial lung diseases where you could see intertentering being applied?
spk08: Great. Thanks for the question. You know, let me take the second one first, and I'll turn it over to Chris on sort of the patient journey. You know, Besides our combination product, which we're definitely focused on and we think is another advance for ncfentrin, you know, we are looking at other diseases as potentials. We also think other indications may require different formulations as well, possibly different dosing. So I think that some of that is going to be helpful to be informed in our partnering strategy and working with partners that may have IP on different devices and expertise on different devices. And so some of that is staged and going to be following as we progress the nebulized formulation. But we are attentive to it. And again, I'd expect more clarity on that as we get through 23 and into 24. And as we have an eye towards the approval of NC-Fentron and the launch in COPD, I think other indications open up as well. So that's our general plan on R&D. So Chris, you want to comment on the patient journey?
spk12: Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Dave. As we think about the patient journey, the patients are typically treated based on two pathways. The first pathway is really a symptom-based pathway where if they have dyspnea as the primary driver of symptoms and issues, then a physician moves down a treatment algorithm there. The other pathway is exacerbations. What we know from our market research is that the patient typically sees the physician between two and four times a year. and that the overall symptomatology of the patient will drive therapy changes. So if a patient's having increased inability to breathe, and really what the physician talks about not only is the inability to breathe, but it's the inability to do certain activities, or if their activity level is changing, the physicians will make therapeutic changes. So when I look at that journey, there are significant opportunities for ncfentrin to be inserted into a patient's treatment algorithm over the course of a year. I think the important thing there is, you know, NC-Fentron, you don't have to wait until a patient's on a dual or a triple. NC-Fentron can be inserted into the treatment paradigm very early, and the data supports NC-Fentron being added to a LAMA or a LABA or a LABA-ICS in a very early situation for these patients. And the great thing is the physicians are looking for products that can help the patient kind of continue to keep some sense of normalcy in their life through either a reduction in symptoms and improvement in quality of life, an improvement in FEV1, or the potential for help with exacerbations as well. So as I look at the treatment journey, we see multiple intervention points over the course of the year, both early in their treatment cycle but also late in a patient's treatment cycle where N-C-Phengrin can be inserted.
spk13: Great. That's very helpful. Thank you.
spk09: The next question comes from June Lee from Tourist Securities. Please go ahead.
spk04: Hi, this is Jeremy on for June. Thanks for taking our questions. Two quick ones for me. What do you see as the greatest risk to the probability of NC Venturin, and what do you expect the SG&A ramp as you prepare for commercial launch? Thanks.
spk08: Great. Thanks for the question. When it comes to risk in the submission, you know, I think, you know, the regulatory process is inherently has its underlying risks that are quite broad and consistent across any new chemical entity. We feel we've handled that very comprehensively in this submission, all the way from how we view and data package and CMC, non-clinical, the clinical data, and of course the overall safety. So we spent an enormous amount of time to make sure that we were looking at that broadly, comprehensively, and I think we're as confident as we can be that we've addressed all of those areas. Of course, during the regulatory process and feedback from the FDA. Of course, we'll be highly responsive to items that may need to be addressed, if any. And so we will handle that as this team has been through the process numerous times previously. So, you know, early days in the submission, and so much more to come. But I think for where we are right now, I think we're in as good a place as we can be.
spk10: With that, I'll turn it over to Mark. We'll take the next question from Tom Schrader from BTIG.
spk09: Please go ahead.
spk03: Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. This is really for Chris. On approval, Chris, what are the steps to get a drug through the Medicare Part B process? Pathway, how long does it take and is it exactly the same for Medicare Advantage or is there another step and then a temporary J code? Is that your price or is that kind of a agreed-upon price for a nebulized drug?
spk12: Thanks Yeah, I'll start with kind of the process on you know the Medicare Part B pathway so if we if we think about the Medicare Part B pathway and Yeah, that pathway is a medical benefit for these patients. So at launch, as you discussed, we launch with a temporary J-code. In our research and work with our consultants within CMS, we believe that NcFentrin falls under existing coverage policies or would fall under existing coverage policies for nebulized products for COPD delivered through nebulizers. So During that time that you're working under a nonspecific J-code, you're also working to make sure that the coverage policies are updating to ensure NC Ventron's in there. We would apply for a product-specific J-code as quickly as possible. That product-specific J-code now can be submitted quarterly. So depending on the approval date, we could have between a three- and six-month lag between when we get a product-specific J-code and using that nonspecific J-code. The other important thing here is that when we think about Medicare Advantage, Medicare Advantage has to follow the Medicare Part B pathway, and so they have to provide coverage for these drugs under the Medicare Advantage plans. However, Medicare Advantage can put use criteria in place unlike Medicare Part B, traditional Medicare Part B. And what I mean by use criteria is they could have simple step edits or prior authorizations that are needed before a patient could use a product. In our early discussions with the major Medicare Advantage plans, they see highly differentiated data with N-C-Pentron. Because they control both the pharmacy and medical benefits side of the business, They're very interested in some of the data that Kathy talked about that's being presented at ERS, like healthcare utilization, the exacerbation data, and that makes NC-Fentron potentially attractive to them from a payer standpoint so that, you know, in most conversations that we've had, you know, really a worst-case scenario is you'd have to step through a generic LAMA or a LAVA before going to NC-Fentron. And, you know, if we think about the patient we're trying to target with ncFentrin, which is a patient that's symptomatic, that's on therapy, that needs additional help, that's a very low hurdle for many of these providers in that setting. As far as the nonspecific JCO, the reimbursement is tied back to a WAC pricing. So it's more of a WAC pricing reimbursement related to ncFentrin versus, you know, a set price there. The other process during the nonspecific J-code is a manual adjudication, which takes a couple more days than when you have your product-specific J-code.
spk10: Okay, great. Thanks for all the coverage, Colin. Yes.
spk09: As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star followed by one. The next question comes from Bupalan Bayachan from HC Weinreich. Please go ahead.
spk15: Hi, this is Bubal, and thanks for taking my questions. So assuming the FDA accepts your NDA, and ncfentrin gets approved next year, what are your preliminary thoughts about ncfentrin subgroup usage during the early periods of launch, given enhanced studies were primarily conducted in Gold B patients with moderate to severe symptoms?
spk06: Chris, do you want to just talk about where we see the uptake?
spk12: Yeah, move along. Thanks for the question. If we look at our market research, what we see is, you know, Ncfentrin being added to patients that remain symptomatic on current therapies. And I'll bucket this into two groups of patients. One are the groups of patients that are on a single LAMA or a LABA or a LABA ICS. And based on the enhanced data, you would say that the next logical choice for a physician to choose is Ncfentrin. Our data is outstanding in those patients. It provides a new mechanism of action for the physician to layer on to these patient therapies. And we see from our market research significant uptake within that patient population. The second group of patients are patients that are on potentially dual or triple therapy that remain symptomatic. And we know there's at least 40% to 50% of these patients that are just having tremendous symptom burden And when we think about how the physician's treating those patients today, when they come into an office, they're getting oral steroids, oral antibiotics, Dalurest, and potentially referred for surgery. And so the physician's options are very limited. And given the benefit to risk profile of N-C-Phenterin, we see physicians also adding N-C-Phenterin to those patients as well. If we think about the potential for what's the first patient most physicians will prescribe ncfentrin in, it's more than likely the latter patient because that patient's in the most immediate need. But as we see in our market research and our conversations with HCPs, their use of ncfentrin moves earlier and earlier into the treatment paradigm because they see the potential that ncfentrin could provide this non-steroidal anti-inflammatory effect and that they've been really looking for within the COPD classes over the course of the last decade or so.
spk10: Thanks so much. Gentlemen, so far there are no more questions from the phone.
spk06: Great. So thank you, everyone, for your questions today.
spk08: And thank you to the patients and healthcare professionals that participated in the enhanced program, enabling us to submit a new drug application to the FDA for nebulized NC-Ventrin for the maintenance treatment of COPD. We are very excited about the potential of NC-Ventrin and look forward to providing further updates. Finally, I'd like to thank our shareholders for the continued support and the dedicated and talented team at Verona for their commitment.
spk10: Operator, that concludes today's call.
Disclaimer