Michael Weiss
Analyst · Ladenburg Thalmann. Please go ahead
Thank you, Sean and Jenna, and thank you all for joining us this evening. Let me start by acknowledging that 2016 has been a challenging year thus far for biotech stocks, including ours. But, let me reassure everyone that we continue to push aggressively forward with our innovative business plan to create best-in-class combinations of targeted and immune therapies with the goal to provide patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma the best possible outcomes, ideally cures with the least toxicity. Our vision entails a number of innovative and value creation steps for our shareholders as we build toward our proprietary three drug and four drug combinations that are designed to revolutionize the treatment of CLL and NHL. With a long-term vision like that, we need long-term proprietary protection. We were excited to announce this quarter, the issuance of two important patents for our lead programs for TG-1101, a composition of matter patent was issued in the United States providing protection through 2029, plus an additional up to five years under the rules of patent term extension. For TGR-1202, a composition of matter patent was also issued in the U.S., providing protection through 2033 and similarly TGR-1202 could be eligible for patent term extension. Collectively, these patents provide long-term exclusivity for our TG-1303 combination, a foundation for future multi-drug combination fitting perfectly with our long-term vision, which leads us directly into a discussion of our UNITY program, a unique program designed to get both TG-1101 and TGR-1202 approved at the same time. These both programs start in CLL, but that is just the beginning. UNITY is designed to get TGR-1303 combination approved across non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, both aggressive forms like diffuse large B-cell and indolent forms like follicular lymphoma. In fact, our UNITY diffuse large B-cell Phase 2b registration directed program should be open to enrollment later this month, and our UNITY indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma trial is in the late planning stages with a start-up expected later in the second half of this year. With all three UNITY studies open, we will then be in full execution mode for the first and critical stage of our plan to build the best-in-class combination. With that, let's jump right into an update of our Phase 3 trials starting with GENUINE, which is evaluating TG-1101 in combination with ibrutinib in patients with high-risk CLL. While not part of the UNITY program, we view this study as one of those iterative value creating steps for the company along the way to achieving our broader vision. We believe ibrutinib will continue to be a dominant player in relapsed/refractory CLL and our ability to demonstrate and enhance efficacy when combining our glycoengineered CD20 with ibrutinib will provide value to patients and to our shareholders. GENUINE study currently has over a 150 sites and we continue to try to identify and engage new sites interested in offering this trial to their patients. To remind everyone, this is a U.S.-only study and the first major Phase 3 trial for our company. And I believe our team is doing a great job building a network of clinical collaborators, they are excited to work with us and our drugs. Building this network takes time and effort, but once built provides enormous leverage and value for TG. As noted in our last conference call, earlier this year, we recognized that many of our community sites were not routinely retesting for high-risk features in their relapsed patients. Since identifying this issue, we designed and have been implementing a screening protocol, which enables sites to more easily screen all relapsing patients. The screen protocol has an abbreviated consent progress, requires only a simple blood draw and answers of thresholds question whether the patient has high-risk CLL. It really is an ideal tool for the sites to triage their patients. We have already heard positive feedback from our investigators, regarding the screening protocol and feel confident that this will aid us in reaching the critical point of the recruitment curve, that will help us better understand the timing of completion of enrollment. Our goals have all the key sites, approximately 75 sites to 80 sites active on the screening protocol by the end of June. The screening protocol also fits perfectly with centers that are running both the GENUINE and the UNITY-CLL study. Just to refresh everyone, the UNITY-CLL study is our Phase 3 clinical trial of TG-1101, plus TGR-1202 referred to as the TG-1303 combination, which is being conducted in both front-line and previously treated patients with the CLL. Because of the tremendous synergy of running both studies simultaneously with the screening protocol at a single center, we are targeting 50 of our best sites to participate in this CLL package. Sites on the TG suite of CLL studies will essentially have a CLL trial for every CLL patient whether they are front-line or relapsed refractory, high-risk or normal risk, they are eligible for one of these two studies. We believe having a package of TG-CLL studies open will be very powerful for enrollment. With the screening protocol acting as a filter for those sites running both studies, patients can be enrolled onto the GENUINE study if they possess high-risk features, or placed on the UNITY study if they do not. This almost ensures all screened patients will be eligible for one of the two studies, avoiding the detrimental effects of screen failures. Again, the feedback from our sites has been positive and gives us confidence that the new screening protocol as well as the addition of more and more sites running the CLL package of GENUINE and UNITY will increase enrollment into both studies. Our goal is to have the 50 target sites up and running on the CLL package of UNITY and GENUINE by the end of June. Other keys to rapid enrollment will be launching the UNITY study in Europe. Significant recruitment to most of the other large CLL studies have come from both Western Europe and Eastern Europe, and we hope to begin enrolling patients there in UNITY before the end of the third quarter. Before I pivot to one of the most promising new areas of development for us, the treatment of multiple sclerosis, I wanted to touch on some exciting scientific research related to TGR-1202. At the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting held last month, collaborators at the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute presented a poster, which highlighted key differences and the impact of our PI3K-delta inhibitor on human T-cell subsets as compared in vitro to idelalisib and duvelisib. We believe the data from this presentation may begin to explain the differentiated safety profile observed with TGR-1202 to-date in the clinics. The issue of safety - safety has become even more important with the recent announcement of the suspension of a number of studies with idelalisib due to toxicity concerns. And now, more than ever, there is a need for a PI3K-delta that is well-tolerated and can be combined with other agents. Related to that point, in a few weeks, we plan to provide an update to our single agent, TGR-1202 and TG-1303 combination studies in a single poster to present in on Monday, June 6 of ASCO. Following which, on Monday evening, we will bring together some of our key investigators from analyst event to discuss the data presented and describe their experience with the drugs, and the role of TG-1101, TGR-1202 and TG-1303 across B-cell malignancies. Patients continue to tolerate the drugs well was approximately 70 patients on TGR-1202 based treatment greater than one year with rates of SAEs and discontinuations due to AEs remaining low, including from lung infection and non-infectious pneumonitis, the newest and now seemingly most troubling SAEs for idelalisib causing the discontinuation of a number of pivotal studies. Now, let me close today's prepared remarks by discussing a very exciting new area for us. Last week, we announced the launch of our MS program. We have been interested in autoimmune diseases for quite some time, and we are really excited to broaden our clinical trial pipeline to include MS. The Phase 2 dose finding study is being led by Dr. Edward Fox, Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic of Central Texas and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Round Rock, Texas. The primary objective of the study is to determine the optimal dosing regimen for TG-1101. Patients will be monitored for safety and tolerability at each dosing cohort as well as evaluating B-cell depletion and establish MS efficacy endpoints. The study will also evaluate accelerated dosing regimens to reduce infusion time similar to the way we have done in our cancer studies. B-cell depletion therapy has recently been proven to be highly efficacious in the treatment of both relapsing and progressive forms of MS. TG-1101 is a potent B-cell depleting agent with what we believe is a favorable safety profile as demonstrated in oncology studies. Additionally, preliminary data from our Phase 2 NMO study confirms the potent B-cell depleting effects of TG-1101. We are excited by the prospects of offering TG-1101 as a treatment option for MS patients, potentially with a more convenient, rapid administration schedule than other CD20s. We plan to have B-cell depletion data by the end of this year and look forward to working with the FDA to understand their Phase 3 expectations. Finally, we continue to evaluate the best approach to developing the autoimmune indications for our product portfolio whether alone, in collaboration or in some other creative way. For now, costs are relatively modest, giving us the flexibility to do what we believe is best for our shareholders. We do believe we can continue to add value to the program as we start to generate data from our Phase 2 study and define a regulatory path with the FDA, both of which we believe we could have before year end. With that, let me now turn the call over to the conference operator to begin the Q&A session. Following which, I will return to make some concluding remarks, as well as reiterate our goals for the remainder of the year.