Gregory Frost
Analyst · Barclays Capital
Thanks, Ann and good morning to everyone. We appreciate you joining us on our fourth quarter and year end call for 2011. This morning, we'll elaborate on the press release issued this -- earlier this morning. In a few minutes, Kurt Gustafson, Halozyme's CFO, will provide additional details on the quarter and year-end underlying financial results and comment on our outlook for 2012. I'll provide an update on the status for key clinical programs, including significant progress made with our wholly-owned programs, as well as the clinical programs from our collaborators.
Before I do that, I want to highlight some new information we announced this morning. Roche's submission of a Line Extension Application for subcutaneous formulation of Herceptin to the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. While this finally triggers a $4 million milestone payment to Halozyme from Roche, it most notably marks a major achievement for the overall subcutaneous Herceptin development program and demonstrates significant progress from our long-standing collaboration. This formulation of Herceptin uses Halozyme's Enhanze Technology to enable the subcutaneous injection, just under the skin, of a full intravenous dose medication. If approved, this would result in faster administration times versus IV administrated Herceptin for both patients and their health care providers. Improving the efficiency and convenience of care with this patient population is very important.
Roche is also in clinical studies with pre-filled auto-injected device that could potentially allow some women to self-administer at home. With this device, dosing time could take approximately 5 minutes versus anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes for the IV administration. This may offer a significant advance over having to travel to infusion centers for treatment.
In October of last year, we announced positive top line results from Roche's Phase III registration trial. The full data set from this trial will be presented by Roche at the European Breast Cancer Conference on March 23 in Vienna, Austria. We look forward to these data being presented. Everyone at Halozyme is committed to making subcutaneous Herceptin available to patients in Europe as soon as possible and we'll work and continue to work closely with Roche and European Medicines Agency towards that goal.
While the subcutaneous Herceptin filing certainly got us off on the right foot for 2012, we're certainly just getting started. For those of you that have followed us throughout 2011, you're aware that we placed a good deal of emphasis on the near-term promise of our late-stage partner programs with Baxter and Roche. We have a PDUFA date nearing for subcutaneous immunoglobulin plus rHuPH20 with Baxter. You may have seen at the recent American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology or AAAAI annual meeting in Orlando that Baxter announced the proposed brand name for this investigational product HyQvia. At the conference, Baxter presented long-term clinical data from a Phase III extension study that continues to show favorable safety and activity for HyQvia.
As the 2 regulatory filings from Roche expected this year, I mentioned in the first filing earlier with the subcutaneous formulation of Herceptin, and we anticipate that a Line Extension Application will also be filed in Europe this year for the subcutaneous formulation of MabThera or rituximab. Additionally, we look forward to progressing many of our own innovative programs in 2012.
Through our proprietary pipeline that focuses on research with recombinant human enzymes that alter the extracellular Matrix, we're working on a truly unique set of programs in the therapeutic areas with significant market potential such as diabetes, oncology and dermatology. This diversified structure to research and development, one that balances a partnered and proprietary approach across multiple therapeutic areas, will put us on a growth trajectory beyond what we could achieve if we only focused on proprietary or partner programs alone.
This mix allows us to expand our reach, balance financial and technical risk and reward sharing and accelerate revenue. We believe this R&D model could result in a true win-win situation for all of our stakeholders. First for patients, it could mean novel medicines, as well as more convenient administration of current therapies. Payers could see reductions in overall healthcare costs. For investors, it has the potential to increase shareholder value. And for Halozyme, it means improved sustainability for future growth.
Now I'd like to turn the conversation over to the progress we made in 2011, as well as touch on additional milestones that we look forward to achieving this year. Reflecting on last year and particularly the last quarter, I'm proud of the numerous accomplishments we were able to realize.
Let's start with the highlights from our proprietary programs. In December of last year, we launched HYLENEX. This wholly-owned product of Halozyme's is a formulation of recombinant hyaluronidase, does not contain animal-derived ingredients and is FDA approved for the dispersion and absorption of other injected drugs and fluids. This year, our commercial focus is on hospitals and emergency departments for regional anesthesia, drug extravasation most commonly used in the Nikeo and fluid administration or dehydration patients with difficult venous access. We have an appropriate and experienced commercial infrastructure in place to support this relatively small market, and we believe this product will be profitable.
Our next program, Ultrafast Insulin, saw tremendous advancement over the last 12 months. We completed and presented results from 5 clinical programs, we continue to demonstrate the need for a faster acting meal-time insulin for people living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. With nearly 26 million Americans living with this chronic disease and direct medical costs associated with the disease circling $115 billion, the need for improved therapies that can help people better control their diabetes has never been greater.
Our Ultrafast Insulin program combines our lead enzyme PH20 with mealtime analog insulins with a goal of developing a best-in-class, rapid acting insulin that surpasses the current standards of care. We're researching this approach for use with multiple daily injection therapies or MDI, where the product is intended for use in conjunction with basal insulin therapy, as well as with continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion or CSII, where both basal and bolus insulin are delivered at the same site through a pump.
All 5 of the clinical studies I mentioned demonstrate a faster in, faster out insulin profile, which led to better control of blood glucose levels. In 2 insulin analogue treatment trials, we demonstrated that the ultrafast rHuPH20 insulin analogue formulation achieved non-inferior A1C, a measure of average blood sugar over 3 months compared to the insulin analogue alone. With superior reductions in postprandial glucose excursions in the rHuPH20 analogue arms. Additionally, rHuPH20 insulin analogue use also resulted in a greater than 50% increase in the proportion of patients able to consistently achieve the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists guideline target for post prandial glucose, both at the 1 and 2 hours after meals in both type 1 and type 2 patients compared to the insulin analogue alone.
This faster in, faster out profile allows the insulin to be absorbed faster, achieving a higher post-meal peak that your body needs most and is eliminated more quickly when your body doesn't need it. We believe this PK profile to better glucose control and could be an important step towards helping people to live with diabetes, maintain good health.
With regard to CSII, we presented results from an insulin pump study at the Diabetes Technology Society meeting last year. The data indicated that a single pre-administration of 150 units of rHuPH20 prior to the start of 3 days of NovoLog insulin aspart pump infusion therapy led to consistent ultrafast insulin exposure over the infusion set life and superior glucose control following meals.
This is important because in previous studies conducted by Halozyme and others, it was observed that insulin absorption from a pump was quite variable over 3 days. It's worn at a single infusion site, providing a means to achieve more consistent insulin absorption over the infusion set life to provide people who use insulin pump therapy with a more predictable way to control their disease and potentially reduce the risk of hypoglycemic events.
We are enthusiastic about the potential of this franchise and what it may mean for patients, health care providers and Halozyme. We believe that both MDI and CSII programs have attractive commercial appeal. When we think about our strategic options for this franchise, we continue to view the 2 programs, Ultrafast Insulin for MDI and for CSII, as distinct product opportunities, which do not have channel complex.
We have several options for commercializing this franchise that range from partnering the MDI program, a market that will require commercialization by a large pharmaceutical company with global access to primary care physicians to partnering both MDI and CSII programs, to launching HYLENEX for use in pumps on our own. This represents a more focused, predominately U.S. market that does not require a large commercial infrastructure and is a program for which we can continue to add value for patients.
We're exploring the optimal pathway for both programs and anticipate it will have determined the best approach by the second half of the year. Now let's switch gears to our internal program on oncology with pegylated rHuPH20 or PEGPH20. On our last call I mentioned that we initiated a Phase II study with PEGPH20 in patients stage 4 previously untreated pancreatic cancer. The study design looks at the Standard of Care gemcitabine plus PEGPH20 or placebo with the primary endpoint being overall survival. We're currently in the Phase I, the running the trial gemcitabine with PEGPH20 and expect to start the multi-center Phase II trial this year with sites in Europe and the U.S.
With this program, we're investigating the ability of PEGPH20 to deplete hyaluronic that surrounds many solid tumors. While accumulation of hyaluronidase found in only 20% to 30% of the most prevalent solid tumors, it's found in the majority of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, a target population for this trial. The hyaluronin forms halos that surround the tumor and creates resistance to such therapies. Through our translational Phase I clinical studies, it is our hypothesis that PEGPH20 reduces the metabolic activity of the tumor, completes the hyaluronin and normalizes the blood flow to these tumors. This may increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy.
Through additional Phase II trials, we're also very interested in exploring whether the subpopulations of patients with other cancers that accumulate this hyaluronin-rich Matrix can benefit from PEGPH20. To test this hypothesis, we've been developing companion diagnostic tools that allow us to identify patients with tumors that accumulate hyaluronin. We'll have more details on this approach later this year as we continue to develop and validate the diagnostic tools and acquire more knowledge on the hyaluronin expression in certain tumor types.
Turning to our last internal development program. We recently presented interim results from a Phase I proof of concept and tolerability study of HTI-501, our investigational conditionally active recombinant human cathepsin. This trial is in chemo patients with moderate to severe fibrosclerotic panniculopathy, more commonly known as cellulite, a condition that affects nearly 90% of women. Cellulite is believed to be caused by collagen fibrils that anchor the epidermis against the swelling of subcutaneous fat and creates a dimpled appearance associated with the condition.
HTI-501 is Halozyme's first conditionally active biologic, meaning its only active at the intended location and for which we can control the duration of the enzyme's therapeutic activity. And it's designed to degrade the collagenous fibers associated with cellulite. In the Phase I portion of the trial, no serious or severe adverse events have been reported, and the injection has been well tolerated. These data support commencement of the Phase II portion of the clinical trial, which we expect to begin soon and anticipate its completion by the end of this year.
Now I want to quickly touch on one last partnership program, and that's with ViroPharma. In May of last year, we entered into a worldwide exclusive licensing agreement with ViroPharma for Cinryze plus rHuPH20 to treat patients with hereditary angioedema or HAE, a rare debilitating and potentially fatal genetic disease. Throughout the last few months, we've made significant progress with this program.
ViroPharma recently presented positive Phase II data at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Orlando. These data demonstrated that subcutaneous coadministration of Cinryze with rHuPH20 is well tolerated and resulted in sustained physiologically relevant C-1 inhibitor functional concentrations. We're pleased with the results of this trial, and ViroPharma reiterated on their most recent earnings call that these data warrant further clinical development of the program. We anticipate working with our partner to initiate a Phase II dose ranging study this year.
Now that we've discussed major milestones from last year and highlighted key milestones for 2012, let's talk about the strategic direction of the company over the coming year. 2011 was an exceptional in terms of execution and laid the groundwork for a transformative 2012. With a PDUFA date nearing, a marketing application filed and another filing anticipated this year, we have true near-term upside, balanced by an innovative pipeline that's evenly distributed across all stages of research and development that will enable sustainable growth for years to come.
To continue that momentum, our business is focused around 4 strategic drivers that will ensure that we continually work on the highest value opportunities for the business. Our path is clear. First, we'll continue to secure revenue from existing channels, a regular stream of milestone and royalty payments from our established partnerships and revenue from our wholly-owned product, HYLENEX, will provide a constant source of cash.
Second, we'll continue to pursue additional high-value partnerships by leveraging our validated technology to penetrate new markets. At the same time, we'll advance our proprietary pipeline investing in and progressing development programs that leverage our expertise in extracellular Matrix science and position the company for organic growth by commercializing assets where we can continue to add value.
Lastly, all of these activities along with strong financial discipline will allow us to drive towards positive cash flow by 2013. With that, I'll turn the call over to Kurt Gustafson who can provide more detail on our financial results released earlier this morning.