Dikla Czaczkes Akselbrad
Analyst · BMO Capital Markets
Thank you, Bob. On behalf of our team at PolyPid, I would like to welcome everyone to our second quarter 2022 earnings call. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to provide you with a corporate update today during such a truly exciting time for PolyPid. I will begin with the recent exclusive license agreement we signed with ADVANZ PHARMA for the commercialization of D-PLEX100 for the prevention of surgical site infections, or SSI, in abdominal and cardiac surgeries in Europe, which provides further validation for the significant sales potential of D-PLEX100 and represent substantial value for PolyPid. Under the terms of the agreement, PolyPid is entitled to receive an upfront payment immediately upon signing of the agreement an additional potential development-related milestones for a total of up to $23.5 million and up to $89 million in sales-related milestones. We will also supply D-PLEX100 to ADVANZ PHARMA for a negotiated transfer price and receive royalties on net sales in double-digit percentages of up to the mid-20%s. ADVANZ PHARMA is backed by Nordic Capital, one of the most active and experienced private equity investors in health care. ADVANZ PHARMA expertise in marketing hospital-based therapies, mainly after the recent acquisition of Intercept, that more than doubled their commercial and medical teams across major EU countries and the U.K. will prove invaluable in extending access to the D-PLEX100 and delivering this much-needed therapy, if approved, to patients. To understand our excitement for this licensing agreement, it is important to put in perspective the opportunity of D-PLEX100 in Europe. Surgical site infections represent a major unmet medical need in Europe. SSIs are one of the most common hospital-acquired infections and occur in up to 15% to 20% of major surgical procedures such as open colorectal resection. We are also talking about a very significant market opportunity. According to IQVIA, the addressable market opportunity in selected abdominal surgeries in the big 5 European countries represent approximately 3 million annual surgeries. Moreover, there are an additional estimated 450,000 open heart surgeries in the big 5 EU countries every year. As a result, it is not surprising that the World Health Organization estimates the significant economic burden SSI represents. The WHO estimates that SSI resulting up to EUR11 billion of traditional hospital cost per year in Europe. This deal is the first step in our strategic approach to commercialize D-PLEX100 in terms of additional potential collaborations in the U.S. and rest of the world. We remain in dialogue with several other large and midsized pharmaceutical companies that we believe would be ideal commercial partners. Like ADVANZ PHARMA, these companies are leading in selling pharmaceutical products to hospital, often with the current portfolio of marketed products, have strong established commercial infrastructures, exhibit a deep understanding of clinical benefits and health economics in the hospital channel and maintain strong relationship with the hospital, medical and administrative staff. Importantly, there continues to be a high level of interest in D-PLEX100 from additional potential partners. While there is currently no formal time line related to executing any additional potential collaborations in the U.S. or rest of the world, and most critical objective is to maximize the value of D-PLEX100 in any potential transaction, as we believe we have done in the ADVANZ PHARMA agreement. If and when we do finalize additional collaboration agreements, maximizing the value of D-PLEX100 will be the key determining factor. With that, I will now provide a brief update on the status of our pipeline. Let's begin with SHIELD I, our Phase 3 study evaluating D-PLEX100 for the prevention of abdominal soft tissue SSI. As we announced in May this year, the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board, or DSMB, recommended concluding this trial subsequent to the enrollment of 950 patients, which is the minimum number of targeted patients in the study protocol. This recommendation was based on the unblinded interim analysis by the independent DSMB of efficacy data from the first 750 enrolled patients. The enrollment of the last patient subsequently was announced in late May 2022. As a reminder, the SHIELD I study of D-PLEX100 in the prevention of SSI abdominal tissue surgery is designed to demonstrate at least 50% reduction in incisional SSI in the D-PLEX100 treatment arm compared to the control arm, with 90% power to detect the difference between the 2 arms and an alpha level of less than 0.05. Patients in this study have been enrolled across approximately 60 centers in the United States, Europe and Israel. Importantly, SHIELD I is the largest infection prevention trial in colorectal surgery conducted in more than a decade, which we believe only enhance the importance of disease data. Full top line results are anticipated by the end of the current quarter, followed by potential NDA submission to the FDA and European Union MAA filing. Resulting from the Breakthrough Therapy Designation, D-PLEX100 is eligible for rolling NDA submission targeted to start early 2023. Before we provide an update on OncoPLEX and PolyPid financial, Ori will provide color on key takeaways for market research we recently completed for D-PLEX100 in the U.S. and how this work was further supported by the real-world commentary provided by 2 KOLs our recent webinar focused on managing the cost of SSI. Ori?