Tom Neff
Analyst · Jefferies
Thank you, Karen. Good afternoon. Thank you all for joining us today. The time period since July has been highly productive. We reported positive Phase 2b data from our randomized placebo-controlled double-blind study of Pamrevlumab in IPF and presented these data at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in September. We also achieved major milestones in our roxadustat program. First, the CFDA has accepted our new drug application or NDA to support the registration of roxadustat for the treatment of anemia associated with CKD and dialysis and in non-dialysis patients in China. This NDA submission triggered a milestone payment of $15 million from our partner, AstraZeneca, which was earned in Q4. In addition, last week, Astellas and FibroGen reported positive top line results from a Phase 3 peritoneal dialysis study, which is the first completed Phase 3 roxadustat study in Japan. Last quarter, we shared top line IPF results from our Phase 2B study of pamrevlumab as well as some analysis of that data. Today, I'll provide a couple of additional observations underscoring the impressive safety results. Perhaps, the most striking result was that the number of pamrevlumab patients who experienced decline in lung function of FEC percent predicted of 10% or more, resulting in discontinuation of therapy was less than 15% of what was observed in the placebo arm. Another notable result was this study's safety profile mirrored the results seen in our prior exploratory study in the same subgroup of FVC percent predicted of 55%, percent predicted at entry and received the same dose of 30mgs/kg every three weeks. These are the only two studies with this impressive safety record any of the trials involving all the companies to date. We have been focused on further bolstering our strong IP position in pamrevlumab for treating IPF. We will be reporting more study data on FVC improvement antibiotic activity in the next few months. Turning to our pancreatic cancer program, as we are reaching the end of our ongoing open label phase 2 study, we continue to see higher rates in tumor resectability and surgical resections in the pamrevlumab treated patients versus patients receiving standard of care chemotherapy. We are now focused on working with regulatory authorities to develop the registrational path for this program. With regard to roxadustat, with our partners AZ and Astellas, we are moving closer to the completion of roxadustat phase 3 trials in CKD and anemia in support of four independent registrational pathways globally. Apart from the NDA filing in China, multiple trials are nearing completion in the US, Europe and Japan and we continue to target and NDA filing with the US Food and Drug Administration in 2018, subject to accrual of sufficient number of unique stations in both CKD and on dialysis and in dialysis for the full safety analysis required in CKD non-dialysis versus placebo and in dialysis for ESA respectively. Following on our successful $120 million financing in April to support the expansion of roxadustat beyond CKD in China and then the announcement of positive phase 2 data from Pamrevlumab in IPF in August, we further increased our cash reserves with a substantially oversubscribed $375 million financing completed mid to late August to facilitate development of Pamrevlumab in pivotal studies. We greatly appreciate the support we are receiving from the investment community and we are very committed to delivering the value creation that these funds make possible in our first in class fibrosis and fiber proliferation platforms and with our HIF anemia platform. We expect to end 2017 with approximately 750 million to 760 million of cash and cash equivalents. A final introductory note for today. We are pleased to welcome Gerald Lema to FibroGen's Board of Directors. Gerald comes to us with more than 27 years of pharmaceutical, healthcare and consumer, commercial experience. He was a Senior Executive Officer in Baxter International for over a decade, most recently, as President, Baxter Gambro Asia Pacific and President and Chairman, Japan at the time of his retirement in 2015. Previously, Gerald had been a Senior Executive at Abbott in areas of general management strategy and business development. Welcome, Gerald. We are pleased to add his extensive experience and leadership in commercialization, finance and strategy in Asia Pacific region as well as in Europe, Middle East, Africa, US and Latin America. I will now ask Dr. Seth Porter to discuss the status of our Pamrevlumab product platform. Thank you. Seth, go ahead, please.