Alan Auerbach
Analyst · TD Cowen
Thank you, Mariann, and thank you all for joining our call today. Today, Puma reported total revenue for the first quarter of 2026 of $44.8 million. Total revenue includes product revenue net, which consists entirely of NERLYNX sales as well as royalties from our sublicensees. Product revenue net was $42 million in the first quarter of 2026, a decline from $59.9 million reported in Q4 2025 and $43.1 million reported in Q1 2025. As a reminder to investors, Puma's reported NERLYNX sales includes both U.S. net sales and product supply revenues of NERLYNX to Puma's ex-U.S. partners. Product revenue for the first quarter of 2026 was impacted by approximately $7.9 million of inventory drawdown at our specialty pharmacies and specialty distributors. Royalty revenue was $2.8 million in the first quarter of 2026 compared to $15.6 million in Q4 2025 and $2.9 million in Q1 of 2025. As noted in our last call, royalty revenue in 2025 -- in Q4 2025 was driven by the shipment of -- to our partner in China. We reported 2,328 bottles of NERLYNX sold in the first quarter of 2026 compared to 3,298 bottles sold in Q4 2025. In Q1 2026, we estimate that inventory decreased by 439 bottles. In Q1 2026, new prescriptions were up approximately 25% compared to Q4 2025 and total prescriptions were down approximately 4% compared to Q4 2025. Roger will provide further details in his comments and slides. I will now present the interim data from Puma's ongoing Phase II trials of alisertib in small cell lung cancer and HER2-negative ER-positive breast cancer, also referred to as the ALISCA-Lung1 and ALISCA-Breast1 trials. Heather Blaber and Roger Storms will add additional color on NERLYNX commercial activity. Maximo Nougues will follow with highlights of the key components of our financial statements for the fourth quarter of 2025. We now move to the ALISCA-Lung1 interim presentation. As a reminder, in clinical trials to date, alisertib has shown single-agent activity and activity in combination with other cancer drugs in the treatment of many different types of cancers, including hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, small cell lung cancer and head and neck cancer. The drug has also shown activity in previous clinical trials in peripheral T-cell lymphoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Takeda's previous clinical development program with alisertib was extensive. And due to this, there is a large well-characterized clinical safety database with over 1,300 patients who were treated across 22 company-sponsored trials. From a preclinical perspective, it has been shown that aurora kinase A and c-Myc upregulate each other, which suggests the existence of a positive feedback loop. c-Myc upregulates the cyclin complex, which leads to cell proliferation. So by inhibiting aurora kinase A with alisertib, it also inhibits c-Myc, which decreases cell proliferation. Additionally, preclinical data has shown that alisertib inhibited growth of cells with c-Myc overexpression and in xenograft models that expressed high levels of c-Myc, tumor growth was inhibited. Puma's Phase II trial, ALISCA-Lung1, which is also referred to as study PUMA-ALI-4201, was designed to enroll up to 60 patients with small cell lung cancer who had received prior treatment with a platinum-based chemotherapy and immunotherapy. The trial enrolls both second-line and third-line patients. Patients must provide tissue-based biopsies so that biomarkers can be analyzed. Alisertib was initially dosed at 50 milligrams BID on days 1 to 7 of a 21-day cycle. As investors are aware, the trial was then amended to increase the dose to 60-milligram BID, and the company is now in the process of increasing the dose to 70 milligrams BID. The primary endpoint of the trial is to determine whether any biomarker correlates with alisertib response with endpoints of overall response rate, duration of response, disease control rate, progression-free survival and overall survival. The secondary endpoints include investigator-assessed efficacy and survival. Mandatory G-CSF prophylaxis is also given in the trial in an effort to reduce the neutropenia that was shown to be dose-limiting in the previous clinical trials with alisertib. Slide 6 shows the baseline characteristics for the 52 patients treated at 50 milligrams BID and the 27 patients treated at 60-milligram BID that are included in this interim analysis. Slide 7 shows the summary of the prior treatments the patients received prior to entering the study. Of note, all of these patients were treated in either the second line or third line in this trial. To first discuss the safety in the trial. In previous clinical trials of alisertib, the treatment-emergent adverse events seen were those characteristic of a cell cycle inhibitor with neutropenia being the main AE seen in the highest percentage. In this trial, the all-grade neutropenia was 19.2% in the 50-milligram arm and 22% in the 60-milligram arm. Slide 10 shows the rates of grade 3 and 4 AEs seen in the trial. Of note, the grade 3 or higher neutropenia rate was 13.5% in the 50-milligram arm and 11.1% in the 60-milligram arm. Slide 11 compares the Grade 3 and Grade 4 AE rates seen in the ALISCA-Lung1 trial to those that were seen in the previous Phase II trial of alisertib monotherapy in small cell lung cancer referred to as study C14007. C14007 was previously published in Lancet Oncology in 2010. As a reminder, in C14007, G-CSF prophylaxis was not mandated, while ALISCA-Lung1 requires mandatory prophylactic G-CSF. As can be seen on the slide, the use of prophylactic G-CSF appeared to reduce the rates of Grade 3 or higher neutropenia compared to what was seen in the previous trial. We next move to the efficacy seen in the trial. As you can see in Slide 13, in the 52 patients in ALISCA-Lung1 that were treated at 50 milligrams, we have seen 4 ((sic) [ 6 ]) patients or 11.5% with a best response of a partial response and 18 patients or 34.6% with stable disease. The median PFS for the 50-milligram arm was 1.7 months. In the first 15 patients in the 60-milligram arm, we have seen 1 patient or 6.7% with the best response of a partial response and 7 patients or 46.7% with stable disease. The median PFS for the 60-milligram arm is currently 4.2 months. Slide 14 shows the Kaplan-Meier curve for PFS between the 50-milligram and 60-milligram arm of the trial. As previously stated, the median PFS for the 60-milligram arm is currently 4.2 months. However, we caution it is still early, and we await additional patient numbers and additional follow-up. We will now move to the biomarkers in the trial. Slide 16 presents the Kaplan-Meier curve for the patients according to c-Myc H-score. c-Myc H-score is a semi-quantitative immunohistochemical assessment that measures the intensity and percentage of tumor cells staining for the c-Myc protein, typically ranging from 0 to 300. High c-Myc H-scores are believed to be associated with poor prognosis and lower overall survival in various cancers. As you can see on Slide 16, for the combined doses of 50 milligrams and 60 milligrams, patients with c-Myc H-score of between 0 and 100 had a median PFS of 1.68 versus a PFS of 4.17 for the patients with a c-Myc H-score of between 101 and 300. This would suggest that alisertib has better activity in cancers with a higher amount of c-Myc activity. Slide 17 presents the c-Myc -- presents the KM curve for the 50-milligram and 60-milligram dose separately for the patients according to c-Myc H-score. As you can see on the slide, for the 50-milligram dose, patients with H-score of between 0 and 100 had a median PFS of 1.68 months versus a PFS of 2.83 months for the patients with a c-myc H-score of between 101 and 300. While for the 60-milligram dose, patients with H-score of between 0 and 100 had a median PFS of 1.41 months, while the median PFS has not yet been reached for the patients with c-Myc H-score of 101 to 300. We believe that these slides are suggesting that alisertib has greater activity in tumors with higher c-Myc H-score and hence more c-Myc activity, which we believe is due to the inhibition of the aurora kinase pathway by alisertib. Slide 18 presents the KM curve for the patients according to percent of tumor cells that are c-Myc positive. As you can see on Slide 18, for the combined doses of 50-milligram and 60-milligram, for tumors having between 0 and 10% of the cells c-Myc positive, there's a median PFS of 1.68 months versus a PFS of 2.83 months for the patients with tumors having between 11% and 100% of the cells c-Myc positive. Slide 19 presents the KM curve for the 50-milligram and 60-milligram doses separately for the patients according to the percent of tumor cells that are c-Myc positive. As you can see on the slide, for the 50-milligram dose, patients with tumors having between 0% and 10% of the cells c-Myc positive had a median PFS of 1.68 months versus a PFS of 2.73 months for patients with tumors having between 11% and 100% of the tumor cells c-Myc positive. While for the 60-milligram dose, between 0% and 10% of c-Myc positive had a median PFS that has not been reached versus a PFS of 4.17 months for the patients with between 11% to 100% of the tumor cells c-Myc positive. We believe that these slides are suggesting that alisertib has greater activity in the tumors where a higher percentage of the cells are c-Myc positive, which we again believe is due to the inhibition of the aurora kinase pathway by alisertib. We believe that the initial clinical data with alisertib in small cell lung cancer are demonstrating that alisertib is showing better activity in patients where c-Myc is playing a role in driving the tumor, which is indicative of tumors where aurora kinase A is activated. There are currently 32 patients enrolled in the 60-milligram arm of the trial. Based on this preliminary safety seen at this dose, we are continuing to dose escalate to 70 milligrams, and we hope to begin enrollment of the 70-milligram cohort in the second half of 2026. We believe that the data generated thus far in ALISCA-Lung1 is showing that alisertib monotherapy is showing a PFS at higher doses and in certain biomarker-directed populations that is as good or slightly better than the PFS for currently approved drugs in this space. As discussed previously, we are hopeful that with increasing doses of alisertib monotherapy ALISCA-Lung1, we can achieve higher concentrations of alisertib in these biomarker-defined populations and potentially open up the opportunity for a Phase III design that tests alisertib monotherapy in a randomized trial. As investors are aware, alisertib was previously tested in a randomized Phase II trial of paclitaxel plus alisertib versus paclitaxel plus placebo where PFS and OS benefit was seen in patients with tumors with biomarkers that appear to indicate that the aurora kinase A pathway was activated. Based on this data and the data from ALISCA-Lung1, Puma will be looking to a dual approach for the development of alisertib in small cell lung cancer. Therefore, in addition to the monotherapy dose escalation approach in ALISCA-Lung1, Puma will also be looking to initiate ALISCA-Lung2, which will investigate the efficacy of alisertib given in combination with paclitaxel using mandatory G-CSF prophylaxis. We are hoping to initiate this trial in the second half of 2026. We are pleased with the interim data from ALISCA-Lung1, and we believe it is showing an improved tolerability profile for alisertib monotherapy and improved efficacy with dose escalation as well as improved efficacy in a biomarker-directed population that is indicative of the aurora kinase pathway activation. We anticipate additional interim efficacy data from ALISCA-Lung1 in the second half of 2026 or the first half of 2027. I will now move to the ALISCA-Breast1 interim presentation. As a reminder, and as previously stated, in clinical trials to date, alisertib has shown single-agent activity and activity in combination with other cancer drugs in the treatment of many different types of cancer, including hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, small cell lung cancer and head and neck cancer. There's also a large well-characterized clinical safety database with over 1,300 patients who were treated across 22 company-sponsored trials. As previously stated, from a preclinical perspective, it has been shown that aurora kinase A and c-Myc upregulate each other, which suggests the existence of a positive feedback loop. Preclinical data has shown that alisertib inhibited growth of cells with c-Myc overexpression and in xenograft models that expressed higher levels of c-Myc, tumor growth was inhibited. Puma's Phase II ALISCA-Breast1, also referred to as study, PUMA-ALI-1201, investigates alisertib in combination with endocrine treatment consisting of either anastrozole, exemestane, letrozole, fulvestrant or tamoxifen in patients with HER2-negative hormone receptor positive recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. Patients must be chemotherapy naive in the recurrent or metastatic setting and have had previous treatment with a CDK4/6 inhibitor and have received at least 2 prior lines of endocrine therapy in the recurrent or metastatic setting to be eligible for the trial. Patients were dosed with alisertib given at either 30 milligrams, 40 milligrams or 50 milligrams BID on days 1 to 3, 8 to 10 and 15 to 17 on a 28-day cycle in combination with the endocrine therapy of investigator's choice. Patients must not have been previously treated with the endocrine treatment in the metastatic setting that will be given in combination with alisertib in the trial. The primary endpoints include objective response rates, duration of response, disease control and progression-free survival. As a secondary objective, the company is evaluating each of these efficacy endpoints within biomarker subgroups in order to determine whether any biomarker subgroup correlates with better efficacy, which might give the company the potential to focus the future clinical development of alisertib in combination with endocrine therapy for patients with HER2-negative hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in these biomarker-specific populations. Slide 25 shows the baseline characteristics for the 164 patients included in this interim analysis. As the slide shows, the majority of these patients were treated in the third line or later setting. First, discuss the safety in the trial. As previously mentioned, in previous clinical trials of alisertib, the treatment-emergent adverse events seen were those characteristic of a cell cycle inhibitor with neutropenia being the AE seen in the highest percentage. Slide 27 shows the rates of Grade 3 or 4 AEs seen in the trial. Of note, the grade 3 or higher neutropenia rate was 8% in the 30-milligram arm, 10.2% in the 40-milligram arm and 26.9% in the 50-milligram arm. It is important for investors to note that prophylactic G-CSF was not given in the study. Slide 27 also compares the Grade 3 or 4 AE rates seen in the ALISCA-Breast1 trial to those that were seen in the previously published Phase II of alisertib in HER2-negative ER-positive breast cancer that was published in JAMA Oncology in 2020, referred to as study TBCRC041. As can be seen in the slide, the rates of Grade 3 or higher neutropenia appear to be lower in the ALISCA-Breast1 trials compared to what was seen in TBCRC041. To next move to the efficacy seen in the trial. Slide 29 shows the summary of clinical benefit for the patients with at least 1 post-baseline scan or who ended treatment or died before they got a scan. As you can see in the slide, the best response was 5% in the 30-milligram arm, 20% in the 40-milligram arm and 18.4% in the 50-milligram arm. Slide 30 shows the Kaplan-Meier curve for PFS in the trial. As is seen in the slide, the median PFS of the 30-milligram arm is currently 2.04 months. The median PFS of the 40-milligram arm is 5.45 months and the median PFS of the 50-milligram arm is currently 5.59 months. We will now move to the biomarkers in the trial. Slide 32 presents the KM curve for all the patients in the trial according to c-Myc copy number, also referred to as c-Myc copy number gain. As you can see on the slide, for all of the patients in the trial for which there are tissue results, patients with c-Myc copy number of greater than 2 had a median PFS of 7.29 months versus a median PFS of 2.0 months for the patients with a c-Myc copy number equal to 2. Slide 33 presents the KM curve for all of the patients for which there are tissue results according to percent of tumor cells that are c-Myc positive. As you can see on the slide, for the patients with between 0 and 10% of the cells c-Myc positive. The median PFS was 3.06 months versus a PFS of 5.62 months for the patients with between 11% and 100% of the cells c-Myc positive. Slide 34 presents the KM curve for the 50-milligram and 40-milligram doses separately for the patients according to percent of tumor cells that are c-Myc positive. As you can see on the slide, for the 40-milligram dose, patients with between 0% and 10% of the cells c-Myc positive had a median PFS of 3.9 months versus a PFS of 5.75 months for the patients with between 11% and 100% of the tumor cells c-Myc positive. For the 50-milligram dose for patients with between 0% and 10% of the cells c-Myc positive, there was a median PFS of 3.58 months versus a PFS of 9.3 months for the patients with between 11% and 100% of the tumor cells c-Myc positive. Similar to the data from ALISCA-Lung1, we believe that these slides are suggesting that in patients with alisertib has greater efficacy in ALISCA-Breast1 in tumors where a higher percent of the tumor cells are c-Myc positive, and hence, a greater degree of c-Myc activation. Preclinically, it's been shown that alisertib inhibits c-Myc positive cells. So we believe that this increased efficacy is due to the mechanism of action of alisertib and the inhibition of the aurora kinase pathway. Slide 35 presents the KM curve for all the patients according to ESR1 mutation status. As is seen on the slide, for patients at all 3 dose groups who are ESR1 mutated as measured by ctDNA, a median PFS of 5.62 months was seen versus a PFS of 3.58 months for the people who are ESR1 wild type as measured by ctDNA. For patients at all 3 dose groups who are ESR1 mutated as measured by tissue, a median PFS of 7.23 months was seen versus a PFS of 3.71 months for patients who are ESR1 wild-type as measured by tissue. It is important for investors to remember that these patients are being treated in the third-line setting. So these patients have already received treatment with a selective endocrine receptor degrader or SERD. Since enrollment of this trial was done, while the newer oral SERDs have either been FDA approved or in later stages of clinical development, many of the patients in the ALISCA-Breast1 trial have been previously treated with the new oral SERDs. More specifically, approximately 58% of the ESR1 mutated patients in the trial were previously treated with oral SERDs, including camizestrant, elacestrant, giredestrant, imlunestrant or palazestrant. Slide 36 presents the KM curve for the 50-milligram and 40-milligram dose groups separately for patients according to ESR1 mutation status as measured by ctDNA. For patients in the 40-milligram group who were ESR1 mutated as measured by ctDNA, a median PFS of 3.7 months was seen versus a PFS of 5.75 months for the patients who are ESR1 wild type as measured by ctDNA. For patients at the 50-milligram group who were ESR1 mutated as measured by ctDNA, a median PFS of 9.3 months was seen versus a PFS of 2.76 months for the patients who were ESR1 wild-type as measured by ctDNA. Slide 37 presents the KM curve for the 50-milligram and 60-milligram ((sic) [ 40-milligram ]) dose separately for patients who are ESR1 -- according to ESR1 mutation status as measured by tissue. For the patients at the 40-milligram group who were ESR1 mutated as measured by tissue, a median PFS of 4.86 months was seen versus a PFS of 4.04 months for the patients who were ESR1 wild type as measured by tissue. For the patients at the 50-milligram group who were ESR1 mutated and measured by tissue, a median PFS has not yet been reached versus a PFS of 3.58 months for patients who were ESR1 wild-type as measured by tissue. Slide 38 presents the KM curve for all the patients according to PIK3CA mutation status. As is seen on the slide, for patients at all 3 dose groups who are PIK3CA mutated as measured by ctDNA, a median PFS of 2.1 months was seen versus a PFS of 5.45 months for patients who are PIK3CA wild-type as measured by ctDNA. For the patients at all 3 dose groups who are PIK3CA mutated as measured by tissue, a median PFS of 3.71 months was seen versus a PFS of 4.86 months for patients who are PIK3CA wild-type as measured by tissue. Slide 39 shows the KM curve for the 50-milligram and 40-milligram dose separately for patients according to PIK3CA mutation status as measured by ctDNA. For patients at the 40-milligram group who were PIK3CA mutated as measured by ctDNA, a median PFS of 3.71 months was seen versus PFS of 5.65 for patients who are PIK3CA wild-type as measured by ctDNA. For patients at the 50-milligram group who were PIK3CA mutated as measured by ctDNA, a median PFS of 3.58 months was seen versus a PFS that has not yet been reached for patients who are PIK3CA wild-type as measured by ctDNA. Based on the efficacy seen in the patients who were ESR1 mutated and PIK3CA wild type, the company conducted a subset analysis to specifically focus on these 2 subgroups. Slide 40 presents the KM curve for patients who are PIK3CA wild-type according to ESR1 mutation status. As is seen on the slide, for patients at all 3 dose groups who are PIK3CA wild-type and who had an ESR1 mutation as measured by ctDNA, a median PFS has not yet been reached versus a PFS of 3.48 months for patients who are PIK3CA wild-type and ESR1 wild-type as measured by ctDNA. For patients at all 3 dose groups who are PIK3CA wild-type and who had an ESR1 mutation as measured by tissue, a median PFS has not been reached versus a PFS of 2.79 months for patients who are PIK3CA wild-type and ESR1 wild type as measured by tissue. Slide 41 presents the KM curve according to 50-milligram and 40-milligram doses separately for the patients who are PIK3CA wild-type according to ESR1 mutation status as measured by ctDNA. For PIK3CA wild-type patients at the 40-milligram group who were ESR1 mutated as measured by ctDNA, a median PFS of 4.86 months was seen versus a PFS of 5.75 months for the patients who were ESR1 wild-type as measured by ctDNA. For PIK3CA wild-type patients at the 50-milligram group who were ESR1 mutated, the median PFS has not been reached versus a median PFS of 2.14 months in the patients who were ESR1 wild-type as measured by ctDNA. We are very pleased to see that at the 50-milligram dose group for the patients who were PIK3CA wild-type and ESR1 mutant, no patient has yet progressed, although we caution these numbers here are small and further patient follow-up is needed. Slide 42 presents the KM curve for the 50-milligram and 40-milligram dose separately for patients who are PIK3CA wild-type according to ESR1 mutation status as measured by tissue. For PIK3CA wild-type patients at the 40-milligram group who were ESR1 mutated as measured by tissue, a median PFS of 7.23 months was seen versus a PFS of 3.98 months for the patients who were ESR1 wild type as measured by tissue. For PIK3CA wild-type patients at 50 milligrams who were ESR1 mutated, the median PFS has not been reached versus a median PFS of 2.14 months in the patients who were ESR1 wild-type as measured by tissue. Again, we are very pleased to see that the 50-milligram dose group for the patients who are PIK3CA wild-type and ESR1 mutant, no patient has yet progressed, although we caution these numbers here are small and further patient follow-up is needed. As we've shown in the earlier slides, c-Myc appeared to play a role in the activity of alisertib in HER2-negative ER-positive breast cancer. And more specifically, the analysis on Slides 33 and 34 showed that alisertib had better activity in patients with a higher percent of their cells being c-Myc positive. This analysis also showed that patients with between 11% to 100% of their cells being c-Myc positive showed the best activity with alisertib. We, therefore, conducted an analysis to see whether or not c-Myc had any correlation with the activity of alisertib that we are seeing in the PIK3CA wild-type patients, the ESR1 mutated patients or the patients who are both PIK3CA wild-type and ESR1 mutated. On Slide 43, we present the data that shows the percent of c-Myc positive cells for PIK3CA wild-type ESR1 mutated and patients who are both PIK3CA wild-type and ESR1 mutated. The left-hand side of the slide presents the patients whose mutation status was determined by tissue. The right-hand side of the slide shows the patients whose mutation status was by ctDNA. As you can see on the slide, patients who are PIK3CA wild-type patients who are ESR1 mutated and patients who are both PIK3CA wild-type and ESR1 mutated appear to show an increase in the median percent of c-Myc positive cells. This is seen in both the patients where the mutation status is determined by ctDNA and in tissue. It is also seen in this analysis that a high percent of the patients who are PIK3CA wild-type who are ESR1 mutant and who are both PIK3CA wild-type and ESR1 mutant have between 11% to 100% of their cells being c-Myc positive, which is again where the best activity of alisertib has been shown to occur. We believe this analysis is suggesting that better activity being seen with alisertib in the patients who are PIK3CA wild-type, ESR1 mutated or both PIK3CA wild-type and ESR1 mutated may be due to this increased c-Myc activity as it appears to be showing that c-Myc is playing a role in driving the tumor in these subgroups of patients, which is suggestive of tumors with the aurora kinase A is activated and hence, where alisertib's mechanism of action may be playing a role. When Puma licensed alisertib, it had stated that the goal was to enroll ALISCA-Breast1 in order to perform a biomarker analysis to better understand which biomarker subgroups had the best activity and then amend the trial to focus on a more biomarker-focused population. Based on the interim data from ALISCA-Breast1, the company is going to be expanding the enrollment in the trial to obtain more data on the biomarker-focused cohorts with a focus in the patients who are PIK3CA wild-type, ESR1 mutant or both. The company anticipates that this will occur in the second half of 2026. The company also plans to present updated data on the ALISCA-Breast1 trial in the second half of 2026. Similar to the data from ALISCA-Lung1, we believe that the data generated thus far in ALISCA-Breast1 is showing that alisertib in combination with endocrine therapy appears to be active in the third-line setting and more specifically in patients who are PIK3CA wild-type, ESR1 mutant or both PIK3CA wild-type and ESR1 mutant. Similar to ALISCA-Lung1, the activity of alisertib in the trial appears to be driven by c-Myc. To our knowledge, we are not aware of any drugs that have shown this level of activity in these subgroups of patients in the third line, which we believe differentiates the drug from others in development. We believe that this activity is attributable to biomarkers that are indicative of aurora kinase pathway activation, which we believe is in line with the mechanism of action of alisertib. As we've mentioned on prior earnings calls and in response to investor questions, Puma continues to evaluate several commercial stage and development-stage drugs to potentially in-license and acquire that would allow the company to diversify itself and leverage Puma's existing R&D, regulatory or commercial infrastructure. The company will keep investors updated on this as it progresses. I will now turn the call over to Heather Blaber for an update on our marketing initiatives. Roger Storms will follow with a review of our commercial performance during the quarter.