John C. Lechleiter
Analyst
Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us today to discuss Eli Lilly & Company's third quarter 2014 earnings. I'm John Lechleiter, Lilly's Chairman, President and CEO. Joining me on today's call are Derica Rice, our Chief Financial Officer; Dr. Jan Lundberg, our President of Lilly Research Laboratories; Dr. Sue Mahony, President of Lilly Oncology; Enrique Conterno, President of Lilly Diabetes; Dave Ricks, who's President of our Lilly Bio-Medicines business; Chito Zulueta, President of Emerging Markets; Jeff Simmons, President of Elanco Animal Health; and Ilissa Rassner, Brad Robling and Phil Johnson of our IR team. During this conference call, we anticipate making projections and forward-looking statements based on our current expectations. Our actual results could differ materially due to a number of factors, including those listed on Slide 3 and those outlined in our latest forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the SEC. The information we provide about our products and pipeline is for the benefit of the investment community. It is not intended to be promotional and is not sufficient for prescribing decisions. Before we cover our third quarter results in detail, I'd like to provide some high-level comments about where I see our company at this important juncture. Losing patent protection in relatively rapid succession for Gemzar, Zyprexa, Cymbalta and Evista created an unprecedented challenge for Lilly. Leading up to and through this period of patent expirations, our management team made disciplined choices so that we could invest to drive growth in key brands, geographies and businesses, and replenish and advance our pipeline. We've stayed focused on executing our strategy and I'm proud of the results we delivered to-date. In the face of a series of major patent expirations, we drove strong financial results from the rest of our business. We delivered on our promise to maintain our dividend while at the same time, returning additional cash to shareholders via share repurchase. And the significant progress we've made with our pipeline reflected in the large number of regulatory and clinical milestones achieved this past quarter validates the decision we made to maintain our investment in R&D. As we begin to turn the corner with multiple new product launches over the course of this year and next, having withstood the profound economic impact of patent expirations for 4 of our largest products, we also recognize we operate in an ever more challenging external environment. We intend to apply the same focused, disciplined execution of our strategies that we've displayed in recent years in order to succeed, and I'm confident we will. We aim to compete effectively and to win in diabetes, oncology and animal health. This includes investing in successful launches for Jardiance, Trulicity and Cyramza, including important new indications of line extensions, and continuing to drive growth in our Elanco business following the acquisition of Novartis Animal Health. In the near term and long term, these businesses represent significant growth opportunities for our company that we must capitalize on. In our Bio-Medicines business, we have opportunities to drive a subsequent wave of substantial growth in areas that include autoimmune disorders, with molecules like ixekizumab and baricitinib; cardiovascular disease with evacetrapib; Alzheimer's disease with solanezumab and other molecules to follow; and in pain with tanezumab and our CGRP antibody, all dependent on Phase III data readouts that will be accomplished for the most part over the next 2 years. In R&D, we will sustain the flow from our pipeline and bring ever more innovative drugs to patients and do so more quickly and effectively than in the past. On the commercial side of our business, we will continue our quest to find ever more efficient and effective ways to engage physicians, patients and payers and we intend to capitalize on compelling growth opportunities in Asia in particular, specifically Japan and China. Going forward, we'll remain focused on executing our innovation-based strategy, focusing in on those areas where we have strong presence and capabilities or where we determine we can establish a leadership position. We believe this provides the best opportunity to meaningfully improve patients' lives and create value for shareholders. With that, let's turn to the key events since last quarter's call. For the second quarter in a row, we launched a new product. In the second quarter, we launched Cyramza in the U.S. for second line gastric cancer. In the third quarter, in collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, we launched the oral SGLT2 inhibitor Jardiance in the U.S. and in certain European countries. We're optimistic about the potential of this brand, including the opportunities that could come with being first to market with a fixed dose combination of an SGLT2 and a DPP-4, as well as being the first SGLT2 to report out results from a large cardiovascular outcome study in the second half of next year. We've also had a large number of positive developments on the regulatory front. In fact, I cannot recall another time in my 35 years with Lilly, so full of positive regulatory actions. In our diabetes business, we achieved regulatory milestones in the U.S., Europe and Japan for dulaglutide, our once weekly GLP agonist. Here in the U.S., the FDA approved dulaglutide or Trulicity for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes. Trulicity truly was designed with the patient in mind. It comes in a single dose pen that does not require mixing, measuring or needle attachment and can be administered any time of day independent of meals. We're excited to enter the GLP-1 market with Trulicity and we believe this product can be a catalyst for growth of the class. We began shipments of Trulicity here in the U.S. earlier this week. In Europe, the CHMP recommended approval of Trulicity and we anticipate European Commission approval this quarter, with European launches beginning early next year. In Japan, we submitted dulaglutide for regulatory review and expect regulatory action in the second half of 2015. The European Commission also approved the Humalog 200 units per milliliter KwikPen for the treatment of diabetes. This product is bioequivalent to our current product, Humalog 100, and is intended for people with diabetes who take more than 20 units of rapid acting insulin per day. In the U.S., we remain on track to resubmit Humalog U-200 by year end. In collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, we achieved additional regulatory milestones in the last 3 months. We received FDA approval of Jardiance or empagliflozin, a once daily oral SGLT2 inhibitor for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. As I mentioned earlier, we launched the product in both the U.S. and Europe during the third quarter. Also in the U.S., we submitted the fixed dose combination of empagliflozin and metformin. In addition, we made progress with our insulin glargine product as the U.S. FDA granted tentative approval of Basaglar. With this action, the FDA determined that Basaglar meets all regulatory requirements for approval. However, it is subject to an automatic stay of final approval as a result of patent infringement litigation filed by Sanofi. The FDA may not give final approval until mid-2016 unless the court determines the patent is not infringed or is invalid or unenforceable prior to that time. We're confident that we do not infringe any of the patent claims asserted and that we will prevail in this litigation. In Europe, the European Commission granted full approval of our insulin glargine product. This product called Abasria is the first insulin approved using Europe's biosimilar pathway. Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim will launch our insulin glargine product based on dates that do not infringe valid and enforceable patents. As you can see over these past 3 months, we made significant progress advancing our diabetes pipeline, moving closer to our goal of offering the widest range of diabetes treatment, spanning orals, GLP-1s and insulins both basal and mealtime. We feel each of our products will be competitive in its class, putting us in a unique position to help people with diabetes as well as the physicians who help them manage their disease. Diabetes wasn't the only area where we saw significant regulatory progress. Our oncology group has been busy as well. We achieved regulatory milestones for ramucirumab across all 3 major geographies. We received a positive opinion in Europe for ramucirumab in second line gastric cancer. This opinion included use in combination with paclitaxel as well as monotherapy use. As with Trulicity, we anticipate European Commission approval late in this quarter, with European launches beginning early next year. We submitted ramucirumab to Japanese regulators for the treatment of second line gastric cancer and were granted a priority review. We expect regulatory action in Japan in the first half of 2015. And here in the U.S., we submitted ramucirumab to the FDA as a treatment for second line non-small cell lung cancer. The FDA assigned a priority review and we anticipate FDA action before the end of this year. This could lead to a launch in early 2015. Keep in mind as well that we have an ongoing FDA review of ramucirumab in combination with paclitaxel in second line gastric cancer. The action date for this submission is in the first quarter of next year and we expect FDA to act on or before the action date. Finally, with FDA having granted Fast Track status to necitumumab as a first-line treatment for squamous non-small cell lung cancer, we initiated our rolling submission, which we expect to complete before the end of this year. Turning now to clinical news. During the quarter, we also had Phase III trials read out in each of our therapeutic business areas: diabetes, oncology and bio-medicines. In diabetes, we announced positive top line results of 2 Phase III clinical trials in patients with type 1 diabetes for basal insulin peglispro or BIL, which is being studied as a once daily treatment for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In both trials, BIL showed a statistically superior reduction in HbA1c compared with Lantus. We've now completed the clinical trials for registration and are on track to submit to U.S. and European regulators by the end of the first quarter of 2015. In oncology, we announced positive top line results for RAISE. This is a Phase III study of Cyramza as second line treatment in combination with chemotherapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. RAISE showed a statistically significant improvement in overall survival in patients treated with ramucirumab plus chemotherapy compared to chemotherapy alone. We expect to initiate regulatory submissions based on these data in the first half of 2015. This marks the fourth positive Phase III trial in which Cyramza has improved overall survival, 2 in second line gastric cancer, 1 in second line lung cancer and this 1 in second line metastatic colorectal cancer. Finally, in our Bio-Medicines business, we announced positive top line results for 3 Phase III studies of Ixekizumab in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. All primary and key secondary objectives were met in the 3 studies, and Ixekizumab was superior to Enbrel on all measures of skin clearance in both of the active comparator trials. In our Phase III trials, up to 41% of patients treated with Ixekizumab achieved clear skin at week 12, with just 1 injection per dose. These results give us confidence that if approved, Ixekizumab could make complete resolution of psoriasis possible for significantly more people. We plan to submit Ixekizumab to regulatory authorities in the first half of next year. We also announced our decision to discontinue development of tabalumab, our anti-BAFF antibody. This decision was due to insufficient efficacy in 2 Phase III trials in lupus as well as in a Phase II trial in multiple myeloma. I'd also highlight, at the Annual Meeting of the European Society for medical oncology, we presented detailed data from the Phase III REACH trial, studying ramucirumab as a second line treatment in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after treatment with sorafenib in the first-line setting. While the study did not meet its primary endpoint of improved overall survival for the full study population, we saw encouraging results in patients with high baseline levels of alpha-fetoprotein. These data could form the basis of continued study of ramucirumab in this setting. During the third quarter, we completed enrollment in our core registration program for baricitinib in rheumatoid arthritis. Later in the call, Derica will provide you an update of our plans for top line press releases for this program. We also began Phase III testing for our CDK4/6 inhibitor, abemaciclib as we dosed our first patients in the first of 2 breast cancer trials. Dosing in the second breast cancer trials and in a lung cancer trial is anticipated later this quarter. In business development news, we announced an agreement with AstraZeneca to codevelop and commercialize AZD3293, an oral beta-secretase cleaving enzyme or base inhibitor, currently in development as a potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease. We recognize the initial milestone of $50 million pretax or approximately $0.03 per share after-tax as a charge to earnings in the third quarter. We aim to advance this potent base inhibitor quickly into a Phase II/III clinical trial in patients with early Alzheimer's disease. Lilly will lead clinical development while AstraZeneca will be responsible for manufacturing. The companies will take joint responsibility for commercialization. In line with our previously announced plans, we completed the sale of Lohmann Animal Health feed additives business to a management-led group. And earlier this week, we announced an expansion of our existing research agreement with Zymeworks to include development of immunomodulatory by specific antibodies for cancer. In other news, we announced plans to close and sell 1 of our 3 manufacturing plants in Puerto Rico. As a result of this action, we expect to record a charge of approximately $170 million pretax or approximately $0.16 per share after-tax in the fourth quarter. The IRS issued final regulations related to administration of the branded prescription drug fee under the Affordable Care Act. The final regulations modify the timing of when a company must recognize expense for their share of the fee. As a result, we recognized a $119 million non-tax-deductible charge in the third quarter for the fee we expect to pay in 2015. This accounting change has no impact on the timing of cash payments. Also, the third quarter charge is excluded from our non-GAAP results. Finally, during the third quarter, we repurchased shares worth $300 million under our $5 billion share repurchase program. Since authorizing the program in October of last year, we've now repurchased $1 billion worth of our shares. Combined with our dividend in the last year, we've distributed $3 billion to shareholders. And now I'll turn the call over to Phil for a discussion of our financial performance for the quarter. Phil?