Bruce C. Cozadd - Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc
Analyst · David Amsellem, Piper Jaffray
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. During the third quarter, we achieved total revenues of $341 million, an increase of 11% compared to the third quarter of 2014, driven by solid sales of Xyrem and Erwinaze. We realized adjusted net income of $159 million in the third quarter of 2015. GAAP net income for the quarter was $88 million. In addition to the strong commercial sales of our key products, we accomplished a number of regulatory and clinical goals during the third quarter including: receiving priority review status for our NDA for defibrotide with a PDUFA date of March 31, 2016; progressing the enrollment in the JZP-110 Phase III trials, evaluating excessive daytime sleepiness and narcolepsy and obstructive sleep apnea; and implementing the approved Xyrem REMS and submitting our first REMS assessment report to the FDA in late August. I'll now update you on our key commercial, legal, regulatory and clinical development activities during the quarter, after which, Matt will review our financial results for the quarter and provide comments on our guidance. I'll start my comments with our sleep therapeutic area and our lead product, Xyrem. In the third quarter, the average number of active Xyrem patients grew to approximately 12,450 from 12,050 in the same period of 2014. During the third quarter our bottle volume growth was 4% compared to the same quarter of 2014. Our year-to-date volume growth through the third quarter was 8% compared to the same period in 2014 and organic demand for Xyrem remains strong. In the third quarter, Xyrem product sales were negatively affected by operational disruption at the central pharmacy following the implementation of the approved Xyrem REMS that began in late August. The process under which enrolled patients receive Xyrem is complex and includes multiple mandatory steps by the central pharmacy. The transition to the approved REMS led to significant operational changes at the central pharmacy, including revised forms and processes for the pharmacy, patients and prescribers. As the central pharmacy, physicians and patients familiarized themselves with the revised forms and processes, the central pharmacy experienced an increased volume of calls that led to a backlog and resulted in delays in prescription fills. We and the central pharmacy have identified and are addressing the processes that have led to operational delays, and the central pharmacy has increased staffing to handle the workload. In the fourth quarter to date, we have observed an improvement in key metrics compared to the third quarter, and we expect to see continued improvements in pharmacy operations. We are continuing to work with the central pharmacy to optimize the processes, to minimize further disruptions and any further impact on Xyrem product sales. Our first priority is ensuring that patients continue to receive Xyrem therapy in a timely manner. As Matt will discuss in further detail, we expect Xyrem sales for full year 2015 to remain strong with an increase of 22% to 24% as compared to 2014. We expect the operational disruption of the central pharmacy to be resolved toward the end of the fourth quarter and we are narrowing sales guidance to $950 million to $965 million for full year 2015. We anticipate the 2016 Xyrem volume will once again reflect growing end market demand as was the case before the REMS transition. Turning to a brief legal and intellectual property update on Xyrem. Patent litigation continues in the District Court in New Jersey. No trial dates have been set in any of the cases, although the expert discovery phase of a portion of a case against the first filer, Roxane Laboratories, is nearing completion and we anticipate the trial in this case could occur as early as the first quarter of next year. Activity on challenges to our patents with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board, or PTAB, is continuing. In July of this year, PTAB instituted proceedings for inter partes review, or IPR, on six of our distribution patents listed in the Orange Book for Xyrem. We recently filed our response of evidence and arguments in those proceedings. In September, certain of the ANDA applicants filed an additional petition for IPR on the seventh patent covering our distribution system for Xyrem, and in October, two of the ANDA applicants filed petitions for IPR on Jazz's 306 patent. The 306 patent is a method of treatment patent that relates to the safe use of Xyrem for a patient receiving concomitant administration of divalproex sodium. We expect to file preliminary responses to these petitions in the first quarter and anticipate decisions from PTAB on whether or not to institute the review in the second quarter. Now turning to our development program for JZP-110. Enrollment is progressing in the Phase III safety and efficacy studies. Additionally, we hosted an investigator meeting in Europe during the third quarter. EU investigators were enthusiastic about the JZP-110 program and EU sites have begun randomizing patients. We expect that preliminary efficacy results from the Phase III studies in narcolepsy and in obstructive sleep apnea will be available in the second half of 2016 and subject to these results, we anticipate submitting an NDA in 2017. Now on to the hematology, oncology franchise. First, Erwinaze. We continue to believe that Erwinaze has the potential to help additional patients in the adolescent and young adult population with acute lymphoblastic leukemia as more adult oncology centers have incorporated pediatric inspired asparaginase protocols for the treatment of some of their ALL patients. As part of our preparation for potential defibrotide launch in 2016, we completed a sales force sizing analysis and are planning for a joint Erwinaze, defibrotide sales force once defibrotide is approved in the U.S. The size of the sales force is increasing by 10 representatives during the fourth quarter and we anticipate that they will be supporting Erwinaze in their new territories in January. On Defitelio, we continue to observe good volume growth in the EU and are pleased to see better than expected usage of Defitelio in countries such as France, as individual hospitals and hospital groups have successfully managed to incorporate Defitelio into the treatment of appropriate patients with severe Hepatic Veno-Occlusive Disease, or VOD, following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Our focus in the EU continues to be on medical education, around VOD pathophysiology, appropriate diagnosis and prompt treatment with Defitelio, as well as expanding the base of experienced physicians in the EU to drive further volume growth. On the U.S. regulatory front, we were pleased that we have received priority review for our defibrotide NDA with a PDUFA date of March 31. We have prioritized our regulatory resources to efficiently support the ongoing FDA review process for the defibrotide NDA as we work toward our goal of FDA approval in 2016. We are responding to all review questions in a timely manner and are preparing for anticipated manufacturing and clinical trial-related inspections in the coming months. In the U.S., our efforts are also directed to educating health care providers on the recognition of VOD through an unbranded disease awareness program and we are ramping up our commercial preparation for the potential approval and launch of defibrotide in the U.S. next year. Finally, we are moving forward with our plans to evaluate defibrotide for the prevention of VOD. Our development team will be meeting with the FDA to discuss the clinical trial design and we look forward to providing more details in early 2016 when we expect to finalize the protocol. We are excited about opportunities for defibrotide in other diseases, and are in the process of evaluating other potential development programs for defibrotide. We're pleased that we have a number of defibrotide abstracts accepted for the American Society of Hematology 2015 meeting in December. We have one oral presentation of Phase III pivotal trial outcomes, including analyses requested by the FDA, and five posters. We will also be presenting four posters focused on health economic outcomes research on the costs of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and VOD and SVOD, the indirect cost of loss of productivity for patients with premature mortality and the incidence of VOD and SVOD. We announced last quarter that we planned to analyze the results of our Leukotac Phase III clinical trial in the third quarter. Leukotac was evaluated in 100 patients who developed steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease post-allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant. The primary efficacy endpoint of this study was time to treatment failure and overall survival at one year was a key secondary measure. Although some benefit was observed in the Leukotac treated patients, it did not reach statistical significance, and therefore the primary end point and key secondary endpoint were not met. After evaluating the results and discussing with key opinion leaders, we've decided to discontinue Leukotac development. We will continue to focus our investments on products that we believe can bring highly differentiated and important benefits to patients with significant unmet medical needs. For example, we are evaluating whether the acute graft-versus-host disease signal observed in the study of defibrotide in prevention of VOD warrants further consideration. In summary, 2015 has been a busy and productive year for us thus far. We've delivered on key commercial and R&D goals that we believe will drive significant value creation. We're preparing for a potential launch of Defitelio in the U.S. at the end of the first quarter. And our Corporate Development group remains active as we continue to evaluate a number of potential transactions to further enhance and diversify our portfolio and our business. Before I turn the call over to Matt, I wanted to briefly comment on current industry dynamics. It goes without saying that our sector is in a period of significant volatility with unprecedented political and regulatory activity, which has naturally resulted in investor concerns. The areas of greatest near-term concern have largely centered around the activities of companies pursuing substantially different business models and strategies compared to ours, which I hope is obvious from the business update that I just went through. I want to take a moment to reiterate our business model and growth strategy, which we've been pursuing for the past several years. We are focused on delivering clinically meaningful products to patients with disabling or potentially fatal diseases such as narcolepsy, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Hepatic Veno-Occlusive Disease with multi-organ dysfunction and chronic pain. And in most of these patient populations, our drugs are the only approved treatment option available for the patients who use our drugs. We intend to invest in and further diversify our business by one, pursuing focused development of product candidates in our current R&D pipeline; two, adding new pipeline assets to expand our R&D portfolio; three, acquiring on or near market products; and four, growing sales of our existing products in existing and prospectively identified new indications and geographies. We believe that our international biopharmaceutical business model is sustainable and provides for future growth opportunities through organic product growth, our R&D pipeline and future licensing and acquisitions. Matt, let me now turn the call over to you.