John L. Higgins
Analyst · Presidio Management
Erika, thank you. Thank you for joining us. Welcome to our call. Last quarter, Ligand saw a major drug approval, 2 new NDA filings, numerous positive partner and clinical events and solid financial performance. We feel great about the recent developments in the company we have built and are even more excited for what the future holds. If you're on this call, you know the significance the Kyprolis approval holds for Ligand. Kyprolis is Onyx's drug for multiple myeloma, and given the excellent data and the well-managed development work by Onyx, we had confidence the drug would eventually be approved and had optimism it might be approved this year. To actually see that come to fruition is a major event for Ligand, as it will significantly accelerate our royalty revenue growth by 1 to 2 years. Now, Kyprolis depends on Captisol for its formulation. And now with the product approved and launched, Ligand will earn tiered royalty between 1.5% and 3% on annual sales. For illustration, on $1 billion in annual sales, Ligand will earn a 2.25% royalty. Some analysts believe Kyprolis could achieve $3 billion in peak annual sales. At that level, we will earn an average royalty of 2.75%. In addition to the royalty, we will also enjoy revenue from the sale of Captisol, for any Captisol that we supply to Onyx for clinical and commercial use. Now following the Kyprolis approval, some investors asked if we will raise guidance for 2012, since the approval came early. We have not changed guidance, however, we feel great about the business. First, we have revenue and expenses are in line with plan, and the second half revenue outlook is strong as we have indicated in our press release. John Sharp will also elaborate more on our second half outlook. As for 2012 revenue impact of Kyprolis, I just want to clarify, we booked royalties on a 1 quarter lag basis and the product just launched. So we anticipate we will have just a small stub of royalties booked in Q4 2012 for that product. Now in terms of material sales, obviously, Onyx had prepared for a potential approval and had already stockpiled some commercial supply for the near term. The real growth and opportunity for Kyprolis will be in 2013 and beyond. To put the Ligand model in perspective, Kyprolis is only 1 of over 30 partner programs that rely on Captisol. Of those more than 30 programs, 6 are in or entering Phase III trials, 10 programs are in Phase II and over 15 are in Phase I development. In all of these partnerships, Captisol addresses a common need, drug solubility or stability issues while also conferring additional patent protection and a strong safety database. Now our cost to run the Captisol business are low, yet, I want to be clear, on the other hand, the upside and opportunity with Kyprolis and all of these other partnered programs is quite significant. And the business keeps growing. When I say that we have 30 other Captisol licensees, I'm talking about the later stage programs. Every quarter, we sign up new research collaborators which may lead to new license deals downstream. And shortly, Matt will elaborate on that in a moment. The other major development this quarter is the continued commercial and development success of Promacta. This is our drug program partnered with GSK for the treatment of thrombocytopenia, or the case of low platelet count. On the commercial sign, GSK continues to enjoy strong sales growth and market expansion. For Q2, GSK reported $47 million in sales, that is up 67% from last year's second quarter and 9% from the prior-quarter this year. In addition to continued revenue growth with Promacta for ITP, GSK also filed Promacta for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in HCV patients. We see this market opportunity as many times larger than the existing labeled indication of ITP. GSK just announced 2 weeks ago that they have secured priority review for its supplemental applications in the U.S. Now a priority review is a designation given only to drugs that, if approved, offer major advances in treatment or provide a treatment where no adequate therapy exists. The FDA's goal for completing a priority review is 6 months. Given that the submission was in late May, that puts a targeted action date in the late November timeframe, a little over 3 months away. GSK has acknowledged publicly that this is, and I quote, "a very good signal and of course, we agree with that in light of the priority review designation. GSK has also noted that this is perhaps the, "leading edge of expansion opportunity for Promacta." We look forward to seeing what the rest of the year holds for Promacta and the possible second approval for a major Ligand partnership this year. Now before I hand the call over to Matt, I believe the Ligand portfolio and business model is among the most compelling investments in all of biotech at this time. We have an economic interest in a vast array of potential biotech and pharmaceutical products. Clearly, other people are taking note as well, as we now have 5 analysts covering Ligand today, up from 1 just last summer. Ligand has an easy-to-understand business model and investment thesis. Our revenues have the potential to grow significantly without any additional investment. Our company expenses are modest. We have a lean share base with fewer than 20 million shares outstanding. And of course, we have a strong research and business development engine to drive future growth. Our ultimate goal at Ligand is to generate substantial profits and cash flow per share. And given the recent events, we are well on the path to making that a reality. I'll now turn it over to Matt.