Will Lewis
Analyst · Leerink Partners. Your question please
Good morning and thank you for joining us today. The past several months have been a very productive time for Insmed as we advance our goal of building a self sustaining biopharmaceutical company that addresses the unmet needs of patients with rare diseases. As you know we are developing our lead product candidate ARIKAYCE initially for the benefit of the thousands of patients who suffer from refractory NTM lung disease. This is a debilitating, pervasive and costly disorder with no approved therapies in the U.S. or Europe. Our global Phase 3 study, which is known as CONVERT is the largest study ever conducted in NTM lung disease. It is taking place in 18 countries around the world. Thanks to the diligent efforts of our entire team and our CRO, we're very happy to report today that the enrollment phase of the study is now complete and topline data are on track for the second half of next year. We will of course fine-tune the timing of the release of those results as we gain additional visibility. The study's protocol is robust involving multiple doctor visits and frequent sampling for almost two years beyond the initial six month primary endpoint. When fully completed, we believe the data will inform the most thorough understanding of the treatment of NTM ever undertaken. It will represent the gold standard in the industry for this disease state. The primary endpoint for this study is three consecutive negative monthly sputum cultures by month six. As of today, not only is the study enrollment phase complete, approximately half of the patients have already completed their six-month visit. Patients who achieve culture conversion by month six will continue in the CONVERT study for an additional 12 months of treatment as they would in clinical practice. All others have the option of enrolling in the 312 open label study in which all patients receive ARIKAYCE plus guideline-based background therapy for 12 months. We believe the primary endpoint from CONVERT will allow us to file for U.S. approval under Subpart H. This regulation enable sponsors the file on an accelerated basis and subsequently complete post-market activities to verify and further describe clinical benefit. In our case, we anticipate this would be the remainder of the CONVERT study, which has been designed to demonstrate durability of culture conversion consistent with what we saw in our Phase 2 study. On finalizing the CONVERT protocol, we incorporated feedback from FDA, EMA in Europe and PMBA in Japan. So we expect CONVERT will ultimately fulfill the regulatory requirements for the U.S., EU, Japan as well as other countries that we decide to pursue. Our first submission will be our U.S. NDA and our regulatory team is now preparing the necessary components. Upon the successful approval of ARIKAYCE, we will be ready. We have invested significantly in our manufacturing capability and our supply chain around the world. We now have two sources of clinical and commercial supply. Our second facility is online and is fully automated at a 200-liter scale. This gives us both improved margins and adequate supply to address the global demand we anticipate for ARIKAYCE. On the commercial side of our business, we recently appointed Roger Adsett as Chief Commercial Officer, Roger brings more than 20 years of global biopharmaceutical experience to our leadership team. Most recently at Shire, Roger had P&L responsibility for six specialty and two rare disease brands representing $1.7 billion of net revenue. We are thrilled to have him on board to lead our effort as we evolve into a commercial stage company. Other recent pre-commercial priorities include conducting pricing research and building disease awareness. We will continue to refine our understanding of the size of the target addressable market based upon our expected label. Insmed's pricing strategy for ARIKAYCE will be value-based and data-driven. The value proposition will focus on the unmet need, the significant disease burden, health system costs, the investment we have made over the past 10-plus years and the innovation we are offering. Three recent pharmacoeconomic studies were presented last month at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomic and Outcomes Research or ISPOR European Congress. First, a survey of positions in Canada, France, Germany and the U.K. collected healthcare resource utilization data among patients with newly diagnosed and existing NTM caused by MAC. 63 physicians provided data from 182 patients. The results demonstrated that patients with refractory NTM caused by MAC utilize substantial resources with annual cost exceeding asthma, COPD or tuberculosis. A second study categorized patient cost during three phases of NTM lung disease. Positive sputum cultures, negative sputum cultures and cured meaning no evidence of positive culture after conversion. The average monthly cost for patients with positive sputum cultures with nearly five times higher than patients who are considered cured and nearly four times higher than patients with negative sputum cultures. This highlights the fact that it pays to treat NTM patients and that it pays to continue to treat them as you pursue the goal of culture conversion. And third, data collected from the German Health Risk Institute Database show that patients with NTM lung disease had a mortality rate that exceeded patients with COPD bronchiectasis or cystic fibrosis. Patients whose NTM coexist with COPD had almost triple the mortality rate observed for patients with COPD who did not have NTM. This study also show that managing NTM was associated with substantial healthcare resource utilization. In the first year following diagnosis, inpatient and outpatient costs were four times higher for NTM patients versus mass controls. In summary these studies demonstrate the cost burden of NTM and the benefit of curative patients and the health systems that support them. When we speak of a cure, we define this as durable off treatment culture conversion. We have a number of other studies looking into these and other issues both in the U.S. and around the world and expect to publish more in this regard in the coming months and years. Another critical component of our launch strategy centers around disease awareness and education. Our non-branded disease awareness campaign continues to deliver impressive results. Our dynamic website NTMfacts.com is designed to help physicians understand the importance of an appropriate diagnosis and provides valuable information on how to recognize the signs and symptoms early to better manage NTM lung disease. The site also features an award-winning creative campaign called a Thousand Words about NTM. Patients discuss the daily challenges of living with NTM and their stories are told through the eyes of artists from around the world. We've been driving awareness of this campaign to pulmonologist through medical meetings, emails, banner ads and journal ads. The response so far has been overwhelming with a high level of physician engagement. In fact since its launch date last year, the level of agreement among sample pulmonologists around the importance of making a definitive NTM diagnosis has increased by nearly 30%. This is just one example of the bridges we're building between Insmed, physicians, and NTM patients. Now I would like to turn to recent developments on the corporate development front. Last month, we announced a highly strategic transaction with AstraZeneca that gave us the global rights to INS1007 a reversible oral DPP1 inhibitor. This compound aligns perfectly with our established expertise in the rare pulmonary space and directly overlaps with NTM lung disease. The initial indication we will pursue is non-CF bronchiectasis, but we are also looking at several other indications in parallel. Non-CF bronchiectasis is a rare chronic pulmonary disorder. Patients with bronchiectasis experience a vicious cycle of bacterial colonization, inflammation, airway destruction and abnormal mucus clearance. There are currently no FDA approved treatments for bronchiectasis. Current supportive care approaches do not target the inflammation, rather they focus on clearing the airway, reducing infection and managing exacerbations. 1007 is a novel oral inhibitor of DPP1. This enzyme catalyzes the activation of neutrophil serine proteases that reside within our neutrophils. The three neutrophil serine proteases, neutrophil elastase, proteinase 3, and cathepsin G are involved in the regulation of inflammation. When they're released in excess of endogenous inhibitors, they become destructive and trigger excessive mucus release and pro-inflammatory events. The therapeutic inhibition of DPP1, represents a novel approach because it is impairing the production of active neutrophil serine proteases and their accumulation at inflammatory sites, which is what contributes to lung matrix destruction and inflammation. A compound with a related mechanism of action, the neutrophil elastase inhibitor AZD9668 was evaluated in a randomized placebo-controlled Phase 2 study in bronchiectasis. After four weeks of treatment there was a significant increase in lung function in the AZD9668 group, specifically FEV1 and slow vital capacity. There were also positive trends favoring 9668 for other pulmonary function markers such as forced vital capacity and quality of life scores. As a DPP1 Inhibitor, INS1007 acts upstream of neutrophil elastase inhibitors, rather than trying to inhibit neutrophil elastase after it is released locally a DPP1 inhibitor prevents the activation of neutrophil elastase in the neutrophils as they mature. In addition 1007 targets additional neutrophil serine proteases. This suggests that an enhanced effect could be expected. In a Phase 1 study of healthy volunteers, 1007 was well tolerated and demonstrated dose-response of inhibition of neutrophil elastase activity. While the potential for off-target effects are always a concern, it is important to note that there is a genetic model of DPP1 inhibition in humans called Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome. This is an extremely rare genetic disease that results in severely reduced activity and stability of neutrophil serine proteases. Despite this severe deficiency, there are no consistent reports of generalized immunodeficiency in these patients. Since announcing this transaction, we have been very encouraged by the number of physicians who have reached out to us and expressed interest in our clinical development program for 1NS1007. Bronchiectasis is an underserved market and INS1007 is the only DPP1 inhibitor in human studies and the only compound that looks to prevent the development and evolution of the disease instead of its consequence like infection that are the result of the disease. We're currently finalizing our plans for a Phase 2 study, key next steps include a pre-IND meeting with FDA where we'll discuss our proposed study design and development program in non-CF bronchiectasis. We expect the study to begin next year. Now let's turn to our internal research efforts. As you know, we have a talented team of scientists at Insmed for advancing a number of preclinical programs in rare pulmonary disorders using a variety of homegrown formulation and delivery technologies such as nanoparticles, liposomes and inhalation to name a few. The most advanced program from our internal pipeline is INS1009 a nebulized prodrug formulation of Treprostinil. We believe this compound will be ready to interface to next year. At the ERS Conference in September, we presented the results from our Phase 1 dose escalation study in healthy volunteers. 24 subjects were enrolled and received INS1009 at doses of 85 micrograms, 170 micrograms, 340 micrograms or placebo. Participants in the first eight patient cohort received a single 54 micrograms dose of Treprostinil 24 hours before they received an 85 micrograms dose of INS1009, allowing us to compare the two compounds. The 85 micrograms dose of INS1009 provides an equivalent amount of Treprostinil on a molar basis as the single 54 micrograms targeted maintenance dose of inhaled Treprostinil. Inhaled Treprostinil has proven efficacy; however, it's half-life requires multiple daily doses and efficacy may not be maintained over a 24-hour period and it's high peak blood concentrations are likely associated with a number of adverse side effects that can limit the dose. We designed INS1009 to address these limitations. It is an inhaled formulation of our Treprostinil prodrug which is Treprostinil attached to a long alkyl chain in lipid nanoparticles. This formulation provides sustained release of Treprostinil after it is inhaled in the lungs. The prodrug compound is inactive toward prostanoid receptors, but once in the body it is converted to active Treprostinil when the pulmonary esterase is cleaved the alkyl chain. Our Phase 1 study was designed to determine the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics in healthy volunteers. We were especially eager to see the PK profile as we believe the very high peak concentration observed with the currently available inhaled Treprostinil treatment may be responsible for some of the side effects of the drug. The phase 1 study showed that the CMAX was approximately 90% lower for our formulation when compared with inhaled Treprostinil. This could suggest a reduced future AE profile. The PK characteristics also supported once or twice daily dosing. The adverse event profile of INS1009 at the 85 microgram dose showed good tolerability with adverse events consistent with those seen with inhaled prostanoid. We plan to continue to explore the best development pathway for all of the compounds under development in our internal lab. The last item I will touch on is our financial position, we ended the quarter with roughly $200 million in cash, leaving us well-positioned to answer the key question that underlies the ARIKAYCE program, top line results from converts primary endpoint. We will also be able to continue setting the foundation for long-term success through our Phase 2 study of INS1007 and non-CF bronchiectasis. So in summary we're pleased to share the progress that has been taking place at Insmed. We've concluded the enrollment phase of the CONVERT study, which places us on track for topline results next year, again it's too soon to predict the specific timing of the data, but we will provide greater detail as soon as we're able to do so. Our regulatory activities are ramping to support our US NDA submission for ARIKAYCE, we bolster our executive leadership with the addition of Roger Adsett as our Chief Commercial Officer, our pre-commercial activities continue to support the ARIKAYCE value proposition and build NTM disease awareness among physicians. We enhanced our clinical stage pipeline with INS1007 and we plan to launch a Phase 2 study in non-CF bronchiectasis next year and importantly, we are managing our resources to accomplish all of the above. Now before we turn to financials, I wanted to touch on the 8K we filed this morning reporting Andy Drechsler's plan to resign from his position as CFO in March 2017. Andy's decision is solely due to personal reasons. As some of you may know, Andy was the first employee I hired at Insmed in the fall of 2012. Since then he has played an instrumental role in transforming Insmed both strategically and financially. He personally orchestrated the turnaround and establishment of a sophisticated international financial infrastructure and his contribution stretched far beyond finance, across multiple operational areas of Insmed. Without Andy's steadfast commitment, we would not be where we are today as a company. While Andy will be with us full-time for the next five months, I want to take this opportunity to personally and publicly thank him. I have profound respect for Andy's decision to step away from Insmed and we will honor his contribution by continuing to uphold his high standards of integrity and excellence. He will remain in the office for the coming months, so we will have ample time to ensure a seamless transition. His insistence on handling his transition in this way speaks to his desire to see Insmed succeed. We are initiating a search for a new CFO, as we pivot to becoming more focused on our commercial future, we intend to recruit a financial executive with solid managerial skills, extensive international commercial experience and a history of working with multiple commercial and development stage products. With that, I will turn the call over to Andy for this quarter's financial update. Andy?