Susan Rodriguez
Analyst · Citigroup. Your line is now open
Thanks, Justin. I will touch on several topics today. First, that our IBSRELA launch strategy is working. We are gaining traction and are well positioned to continue to build market share. Next, I will review market response to the four core elements of our strategy, critical to driving update. And lastly, I will review our judicious approach to investing in opportunities to accelerate future growth. As Justin mentioned, we are 6 months into our launch, and I’m pleased to report that IBSRELA is rapidly becoming established as an important new treatment for IBS-C. Net product sales of IBSRELA were approximately $4.9 million for the second quarter of our launch and nearly $7 million from launch to the end of the third quarter of this year. HCPs are enthusiastically adopting IBSRELA because of its novel mechanism of action and robust clinical data. They are viewing IBSRELA as an accessible new therapy and are integrating IBSRELA into the office practices they have in place to manage specialty drugs. Offices are submitting prior authorizations and experiencing favorable approval rate, since most of their patients have been treated with the limited option, which is the criteria in place across most payers. Early reports of patient treatment experience have been positive, driving interest and expanded use to the sizable pool of patients under their care who continue to suffer with persistent symptoms despite treatment with a GC-C agonist. Our strategy is working. When we announced the launch of IBSRELA earlier this year, we emphasized four core elements of our strategy that were innovative and not seen before across the IBS-C therapeutic space. These strategies were designed to disrupt the market with a novel first-in-class mechanism therapy and capitalize on the opportunity existing within what is now an established uncluttered IBS-C Rx market with limited treatment options and a recognized unmet patient need. I will briefly review these core disruptive elements today and the results we are seeing during the first 6 months of launch that reflects growing market traction and are predictive of continued success. The first core element to our commercial strategy is to capitalize on the opportunity existing within the patient population currently under a doctor’s care and treated for IBS-C. This is a critical market dynamic where it indicates the potential to address an existing clinical need with a novel product offering with a promotional focus centered predominantly on treating HCP. This targeted focus enables the ability to access value from the existing IBS-C Rx market, in contrast to the products that launched over the last decade and needed to build the market through heavy direct-to-consumer spend. Additionally, our market assessment informed us that HCPs considered IBS-C to be a condition with a multi-factorial pathophysiology, and in this context, view the therapeutic of IBS-C to be characterized by limited single-mechanism treatment options. They reported that due to the limited options, many patients under their care continue to suffer with symptoms and were in need of a different treatment approach. All of these market insights are central to the potential for a novel mechanism agent like IBSRELA and I am pleased to report that our on-market experience has confirmed these dynamics. With our sales force now deployed for 6 months, the Spherix tracking results report that 60% of HCPs have seen in IBSRELA reps, with a 64% overall awareness level. 90% of HCPs who are aware of IBSRELA rated it as an advance versus existing therapies. 44% of HCPs identified themselves as a current prescriber, with an additional 31% reporting intent to adopt within 6 months. The second core element to our strategy is centered on access, with a targeted approach focused on the clinical need amongst patients who have been treated with an existing therapy and need a different approach. Success of our access strategy centers on two critical factors: one, recognition by HCPs and payers that IBSRELA addresses an important clinical need as it works in a manner that is novel versus available branded options; and two, establishing IBSRELA as a specialty drug that could easily be integrated into currently existing office procedures to secure prior authorizations needed for patients to access therapy. 6 months into our launch, payers have evaluated IBSRELA and the policies they have established enable a path to access for IBSRELA on the basis that the patient has been treated with a limited treatment option and is in need of a different approach. The PA approval rates we see reflect the sizable subset of the treated population who meet these criteria and the office willingness to submit the prior authorizations required to access IBSRELA. The fact that the pool of IBS-C patients currently under the care of high-treating HCPs have typically been treated with an existing therapy, combined with the HCP willingness to submit the prior authorization requests will continue to support a favorable patient access environment for IBSRELA going forward. Third, our launch is centered on driving early experience with IBSRELA to establish it as a critical part of what is now an expanded IBS-C treatment armamentarium. HCP experience with the early patients they have treated with IBSRELA has been favorable, reflected by positive refill rates as well as some launch tracking report issued by Spherix where 42% of IBSRELA users reported moderate satisfaction, which is a rating of 4 to 7 on a scale of 10, and 58% reporting high satisfaction, which is a rating of 8 to 10 on a scale of 10. Additionally, current users projected that their use would increase significantly over the next 6 months. And fourth, and quite notably, we have achieved this strong start with a targeted promotional approach not seen before in the IBS-C space, but one that has proven to be highly viable given the established nature of the market today and the clinical need for new treatment options, promotions focus on HCPs managing a high volume of IBS-C patients, with demand not dependent on DTC spend and access not dependent on heavy payer rebating. Additionally, we are achieving early uptake at a price aligned to the clinical value proposition of IBSRELA as those patients in need of a different approach have had no other options prior to the launch of IBSRELA. In this regard, IBSRELA’s position in the market is unopposed. Demand for IBSRELA will be driven by HCP adoption for those patients in clinical need of disperse in-class novel mechanism drug with a strong clinical data profile. Going forward, we will continue to amplify our sales and marketing efforts, capitalizing on the growing awareness and interest in IBSRELA, the access we are experiencing for in-person rep engagement with offices, the favorable patient access environment and strong market momentum. Our sales force will leverage this early user base to expand use to the sizable number of patients HCPs consider to be candidates for IBSRELA, while continuing to grow awareness and cultivate new writers. Our scientific and promotional presence at national, regional and local level conferences will continue to grow. Our comprehensive digital initiatives via medical platform, social platforms, electronic health record platform and rep-driven communications will be further targeted and personalized as we leverage the increasingly informative HCP engagement data we have collected since launch. Content will continuously be refreshed, including comprehensive opinion leader video vignettes that reflect the important role IBSRELA has in the now expanded IBS-C treatment armamentarium based on their own clinical experience. We will leverage digital format to deliver in-person speaking events across multiple locations concurrently. In-person rep follow-up will be further amplified by targeted e-mails with continuously refreshed content capitalizing on the high open and engagement rates we are seeing across our highly digitally engaged targeted HCP. Our launch of IBSRELA embodies all that is possible in this post-COVID environment, leveraging the power of focused in-person engagement amplified by digital tactics to bring a first-in-class new therapy to address a recognized patient need to advance the overall clinical management of a common condition with scientific innovation. In summary, our first 6 months of launch demonstrates strong market performance indicators of interest, adoption, access and favorable treatment experience. Our strategy is working. IBSRELA is gaining traction with a strong foundational market presence in place that is predictive of future market penetration, revenue growth and company profitability. We expect to further bolster this growth through our prudent investments aimed to accelerate our future success. I will now turn the call back to Justin to review our Q3 2022 financials and to provide some closing remarks. Justin?