Bruce C. Cozadd - Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc
Analyst · UBS. Your line is now open
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. 2016 was a busy and productive year as we drove strong organic growth of Xyrem and Defitelio, including a U.S. Defitelio NDA approval and launch; completed enrollment of three JZP-110 Phase 3 clinical studies and a Phase 3 study of Xyrem in pediatric narcolepsy; advanced key projects in the R&D pipeline, including announcing two oxybate product candidates that have the potential to offer new and improved treatment options for narcolepsy patients; and initiating a Phase 3 study of defibrotide in the prevention of veno-occlusive disease in high risk patients post-stem cell transplantation; initiated the rolling NDA submission for Vyxeos in U.S., received regulatory approval and began shipments of Xyrem from our Athlone manufacturing facility, and executed multiple corporate development transactions, including the acquisition of Celator, the agreement with Phoenix around hematology assets, and the investment in Arrivo that has the potential to add future innovative products or product candidates to our portfolio. In 2017, we are looking forward to delivering solid top-line and bottom-line growth; expanding our commercial portfolio with potential FDA approval and U.S. launch of Vyxeos; executing on R&D, including multiple expected clinical trial initiations, completions, results and regulatory submissions; as well as continuing to diversify our portfolio through corporate development activities. I'll now provide an update on key commercial, legal, regulatory and clinical development activities, and highlight some key events that we expect in 2017. I'll then turn the call over to Matt to review our financial results for the quarter and full year and provide 2017 financial guidance. In our sleep therapeutic area, Xyrem delivered strong sales growth during the fourth quarter and full year 2016. Full year 2016 and fourth quarter 2016 bottle volume growth for Xyrem was 6% compared to the same periods in 2015. Following completion of enrollment of patients and prescribers in our current REMS in August, second half 2016 volume growth was approximately 7% compared to second half 2015. The average number of active Xyrem patients grew to approximately 12,925 in the fourth quarter. For 2017, our growth efforts are aimed at increasing disease awareness and accelerating diagnosis, focus sales targeting efforts on physicians with high narcolepsy patient volume and low Xyrem share, and reducing payer burdens through our field reimbursement team. On disease awareness, we have further analyzed insurance claims databases to access the impact of our larger 2014 narcolepsy disease awareness TV campaigns. Following this campaign in eight metropolitan areas across the U.S., we observed the statistically significant improvement in multiple sleep latency test views and narcolepsy diagnosis rate in the test cities compared to controls. In light of a general slowing in growth of overall narcolepsy diagnosis, earlier this year we kicked off a narcolepsy disease awareness campaign leveraging network and cable TV as well as social and digital media platforms which, based on the test market results, should accelerate the rate of diagnosis of this debilitating condition. Our Xyrem field reimbursement support team which launched in August has reached approximately 250 target account across the U.S., and we have observed measurable success on the prior authorization or PA approval rate in this target group versus national average. After assessing the positive impacts of the field reimbursement team, we plan to expand the size of this team from 5 to 11 this year to allow more consistent national coverage to reduce denials of PAs in key accounts and to reduce the time to first prescription. Next, I'll highlight our R&D plans for Xyrem and other oxybate-related programs. We anticipate submitting a Xyrem supplemental NDA later this year, which will include data from the pediatric study and the study report for the FDA pediatric written request that we received in 2014. We are advancing development of JZP-507, our product candidate that has a 50% reduction in sodium content compared to Xyrem and has demonstrated bioequivalence to Xyrem in a pilot study. We are not planning to conduct our previously anticipated pivotal BE study because we believe that we have more efficient task to obtain the data necessary to complete the NDA submission. We are evaluating our plans to complete this submission by the first quarter of 2018, including the potential for earlier submission. We are also moving forward with another product candidate, JZP-258, that has a 90% reduction in sodium content compared to Xyrem. We plan to initiate a global Phase 3 study of JZP-258 in narcolepsy patients this quarter. We expect to complete the study in the second half of 2018 to support a planned NDA submission in 2019. Turning to a brief legal and intellectual property update on Xyrem, patent litigation continues in the District Court in New Jersey, the trial with Roxane is scheduled to commence on May 1 with our respect to our Xyrem formulation patents and two of our patents related to the drug-drug interaction with divalproex sodium. The judge recently bifurcated and stayed before REMS-related patents in the Roxane case. A separate consolidated case that includes the remaining ANDA litigants is also proceeding, but no trial date has been said. With respect to challenges to our patents through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board, we recently filed a notice of appeal to the IPR decisions regarding six restricted distribution system patents that were considered unpatentable by PTAB. The Federal Circuit appeal process usually takes 12 to 18 months. Finally, we anticipate a decision next month on the pending IPR involving three claims of an additional restricted distribution system patent. Last month, Roxane received FDA approval for generic Xyrem, and two other ANDA filers, Ranbaxy and Amneal, received tentative approvals. However, we do not expect any launch prior to resolution of the intellectual property issues that are currently being litigated. FDA granted Roxane a waiver for a separate new generic sodium oxybate REMS with the condition that the new generic sodium oxybate REMS be open to all future ANDA or NDA sodium oxybate products. Although we do not believe the REMS waiver reflects the best approach for the safety of patients and the public, we were pleased that the FDA concurrently granted our Citizen Petition, affirming that FDA will not approve any sodium oxybate ANDA that does not include in its package insert information related to the drug-drug interaction with divalproex sodium. Turning to our development program for JZP-110, we completed enrollment in our two Phase 3 OSA studies in the third quarter and expect preliminary data next month. We completed enrollment in the Phase 3 narcolepsy study in the fourth quarter and continue to anticipate preliminary data from the study next quarter. Subject to the results of these Phase 3 trials, we are planning to submit an NDA late this year for excessive sleepiness in OSA and narcolepsy. We have received a number of questions from investors on the design and statistical plan for the Phase 3 studies. We believe that the Phase 3 study in narcolepsy is derisked due to a large body of evidence generated from the Phase 2 studies where we observed robust efficacy in an adverse event profile in line with other weight promoting agents. Our Phase 3 narcolepsy study also includes a lower 75-milligram dose to allow us to characterize the minimum effective dose. As a reminder, JZP-110 has not previously been studied in patients with OSA. However, data from other studies done with weight promoting agent suggests that agents such as JZP-110 should have a therapeutic effect in OSA. Our Phase 3 studies are known as the TONES studies for the treatment of OSA and narcolepsy excessive sleepiness. Study 14-003, or TONES 3, is a Phase 3, 12-week, double-blind placebo-controlled, randomized study, evaluating the safety and efficacy of JZP-110 in the treatment of excessive sleepiness in patients with OSA. The co-primary endpoints in this study are the change in the mean sleep latency on the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test, an objective measure of the ability to stay awake, and the change in the Epworth Sleepiness Scale score, a subjective measure of sleepiness. The key secondary endpoint in the study is the patient global impression of change. For the study to be considered successful, it needs to show a statistically significant improvement at the 0.05 level on both co-primary endpoints. Our hierarchical testing strategy for these endpoints will start with the co-primary endpoints at the 300-milligram dose and will step down to the key secondary endpoint at the 300-milligram dose before proceeding to the co-primary and key secondary endpoints at lower doses. The second Phase 3 OSA study, 14-004 or TONES 4, is a six-week study in which patients are first titrated to a maximum dose that is tolerated over two weeks, and then continue on that dose for two weeks in a stable dose phase. Patients who report much or very much improvement on the PGIC scale and who show numerical improvements on the MWT and ESS at week four are then randomized to receive the same dose of JZP-110 or placebo for two weeks. We're evaluating patient outcomes combined across dose, 75-milligram, 150-milligram and 300-milligram, on the co-primary endpoints of MWT and ESS measured from the end of the stable dose phase at week four to the end of the randomized withdrawal phase at week six. We expect to share the top-line results in OSA next month. Finally, earlier this month, we began enrolling patients in the Phase 2 study evaluating JZP-110 as a potential treatment for excessive sleepiness in adult patients with Parkinson's disease. Excessive sleepiness is a common nonmotor symptom and contributes significantly to the disease burden of Parkinson's disease. We expect to enroll approximately 50 patients. Now on to the hematology/oncology franchise. Erwinase sales were up in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. However, performance was negatively impacted during 2016 by continuing to supply challenges. While FDA has been extremely responsive to our request to facilitate release of product as quickly as possible, due to manufacturing issues at our supplier, we experienced multiple supply interruptions during the second half of the year. We continue to expect that we will experience inventories and supply challenges in 2017, which we expect will result in temporary disruptions in our ability to supply certain markets, including the U.S. Last month, Porton Biopharma Limited, or PBL, the manufacturer of Erwinase, received a warning letter from FDA that generally noted issues with quality, sterile aseptic manufacturing, and lack of change, control, and implementation of certain working cell banks. As the BLA holder, we are accountable along with PBL to maintain the quality of Erwinase manufacturing and be in compliance with CGMP. We have been working closely with PBL to develop a well-defined compliance action plan. We are highly focused on resolving FDA concerns in the warning letter of PBL and consistently delivering high-quality products to the patients who need it. We expect PBL will submit the warning letter response to FDA in March. Now I'll turn to Defitelio. The launch of Defitelio in the U.S. continues to progress well with 117 accounts having ordered products. These accounts represent approximately 74% of the total transplant volume in the U.S. We continue to observe growing demand with the addition of 12 new accounts and 71% of accounts reordering product in the fourth quarter. We held 79 regional disease and product awareness educational events in the fourth quarter, and we're pleased to see new adult centers ordering for the first time following these events. As we look at known pediatric and adult accounts, approximately 78% of pediatric accounts have ordered products since launch and just over a half of adult accounts have now ordered. Our U.S. sales initiatives remain focused on educating healthcare providers for adult patients on the recognition of signs and symptoms of VOD, the diagnosis and treatment of VOD with multi-organ dysfunction, and the clinical benefits of Defitelio. This remains an important growth opportunity in the U.S. market. In the EU, our team is focused on ensuring that physicians, key hospital administrators, and pharmacists are aware of the clinical and health economic benefits associated with the administration of Defitelio. On the R&D front, we have started enrolling patients in the Phase 3 study of defibrotide for the prevention of VOD in high-risk adult and pediatric patients following HSCT. The study is expected to enroll 400 patients from 100 sites globally, and depending on the results from the interim analysis, enrollment could increase up to a maximum of 600 patients. As we've mentioned previously, we are interested in investigating defibrotide in other settings and announced this quarter that we intend to start a study later of defibrotide for the prevention of acute graft-versus-host disease in transplant patients. That's later this year. We continue our efforts on Defitelio geographic expansion with our new drug submission for Defitelio in Canada, which was accepted in January. We estimate the review of this regulatory submission may be completed mid-year, as it received priority review. As we prepare for our planned U.S. launch of Vyxeos and consider the importance of healthcare providers treating adult HSCT patients, we have expanded our U.S. hem/onc sales team from 35 to approximately 55. The hem/onc sales force will focus on Defitelio and Erwinase until Vyxeos receives marketing approval. We've reorganized the hem/onc sales force to focus on either physicians specialized in treating pediatric patients or adult patients. We believe that this approach will allow us to more efficiently reach treaters of adult patients undergoing HSCT and developing veno-occlusive disease with multi-organ dysfunction, and treaters of adult AML patients while maintaining our strong relationships clinicians who specialize in pediatrics. Following the Celator, acquisition the preparation of high-quality NDA submission for Vyxeos has been our priority, and we continue to anticipate completing our NDA submission by late next month. Vyxeos has breakthrough therapy designation and fast-track designation in the U.S., and we plan to request priority review. We anticipate submitting our EU marketing authorization application later in the year, following the required pre-submission regulatory meetings. Our clinical development team is actively evaluating future development opportunities for Vyxeos as well as opportunities for the CombiPlex technology platform. We anticipate providing more information on our plans later this year. We're looking forward to an exciting 2017 with multiple clinical development, regulatory and other milestones including announcement of the preliminary data from the Phase 3 JZP-110 studies evaluating excessive sleepiness and OSA and in narcolepsy, with a planned NDA submission by year-end; submission of an sNDA for Xyrem to include the pediatric Phase 3 study results and the submission of the report meeting the requirements for the pediatric written request; completion of the Vyxeos NDA submission by the end of March and potential FDA approval and launch in the U.S. this year; submission of the marketing authorization application for Vyxeos in the EU; initiation of enrollment in the JZP-258 Phase 3 study this quarter; and evaluation of potential acceleration of our NDA submission timeline for JZP-507 and potential corporate development transactions. Through 2017, we expect the President and Congress will continue to focus their efforts on revisions to the Affordable Care Act, exploring the potential for reducing drug prices, increasing manufacturing in the U.S., and reforming tax laws. We don't know how rapidly these events will evolve or the nature or extent of any changes, but we remain focused on delivering important products to patients who have unmet medical needs. We believe that our business model, which is to develop and commercialize clinically important and differentiated products that provide value to patients, payers, and society, will continue to be a successful and sustainable model. We believe our continued investment in our R&D pipeline and commitment to bringing meaningful products into the portfolio through corporate development activities provides the potential to generate strong mid-term and long-term growth for shareholders, and to further diversify and expand our commercial and development portfolio. Matt, let me now turn the call over to you.