Kabir Nath
Analyst · EF Hutton. Your line is open
Okay, great. Thank you. So, no, thank you for the question. And I think, yes, you raise a couple of very important points here around the CPT code. So, I think, first, let’s understand that, as I said, there are existing codes that can account for preparation and integration. Those fall within the normal range of psychotherapy sessions. But we recognized a long time ago that in terms of a six to eight-hour administration session or, in the case of MAPS, multiple sessions of therapy associated with MDMA that there were not the appropriate codes to cover that. And it, therefore, became a priority for us, working together to establish that. Recognize this is a CPT III code, but this enables physicians and other HCPs to track the work that’s involved, the activities that are required, and it’s really a central precursor to converting that ultimately into a CPT I code that can be reimbursed. And I think for – for Johnson perhaps the recognition that the Spravato sessions under the REMS would require this monitoring period, which was different from anything else that was available at the time, was something that came a little later in the process. And again, we – we’re grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from that. For the second part of your question, as you said, esketamine does require multiple administrations in the first month and, thereafter, at regular intervals. And that’s not surprising given the relatively short duration of effect. Obviously, during our Phase 3, we’re going to generate evidence around durability, around the impact of retreatment, and that will give a sense also of when retreatment might be expected. But certainly, we saw from the Phase 2B a lasting effect for a significant number of patients even at 12 weeks, and we have some modest data that suggests it can go longer than that. So, we would expect a much less frequent administration for COMP360 than you need to see for esketamine. And we believe that that will also translate into a lower burden not only for patients critically, but also for providers and treatment centers as well. And finally, yes, as you – as you mentioned, Janssen broke out for the first time Spravato sales this year, a few years into the launch. Let’s recognize, though, the launch did come just ahead of the pandemic, which put all sorts of challenges into pharmaceutical drug launches. But I think the fact that you saw over $100 million of sales in the U.S. in the first quarter with a strong growth trajectory is very encouraging for us in a couple of different ways. It shows, first, that despite some initial skepticism about the efficacy and clinical trials, physicians have become very used to working with esketamine and are actually seeing real-world evidence of efficacy. That’s perhaps the patient acceptance that’s strong. I think, critically, it speaks to the fact that the infrastructure has developed significantly since the launch, not just in terms of interventional psychiatry centers, and we’ve talked in the past about some of those standalone centers, but also in the fact that other psychiatry practices, other academic, and hospital settings have become much more used to the fact that this is a treatment paradigm that’s here to stay. And we would expect much of that infrastructure to be relevant to us at COMPASS for psilocybin as well. So, overall, I think we take strong encouragement from that and the fact that they’ve identified that as a growth driver.