Ionis Pharmaceuticals Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
February 19, 2025

There are 12 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Ionis' Fourth Quarter and Full Year twenty twenty four Financial Results Conference Call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Wade Wach, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations to lead the call. Please begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you, MJ. Before we

Speaker 2

begin, I encourage everyone to go to the Investors section of the Ionis website to view the press release and related financial tables we will be discussing today, including a reconciliation of GAAP to non GAAP financials. We believe non GAAP financial results better represent the economics of our business and how we manage our business. We have also posted slides on our website that accompany today's call. With me on the call this morning are Brett Monya, our Chief Executive Officer Kyle Janae, Chief Global Product Strategy Officer Richard Geary, Chief Development Officer and Beth Haugen, our Chief Financial Officer. And joining us for the Q and A portion of our call will be Eric Swayze, Executive Vice President of Research and Eugene Schneider, Chief Clinical Development Officer.

Speaker 2

I would like to draw your attention to Slide three, which contains our forward looking language statement. During this call, we will be making forward looking statements that are based on our current expectations and beliefs. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and our actual results may differ materially. I encourage you to consult the risk factors contained in our SEC filings for additional detail. With that, I'll turn the

Speaker 1

call over to Brett. Thanks, Wade. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. As we begin a new year, I am thrilled to share that Ionis has begun a new chapter as a fully integrated commercial stage biotechnology company with our first independent launch of TRINGOLZA underway. With the FDA approval of TRINGOLZA in late December, adults with familial chiral microenemius syndrome or FCS for the first time have access to a treatment that substantially and sustainably reduces triglyceride levels and substantially reduces the risk of life threatening acute pancreatitis.

Speaker 1

Our highly experienced team has been executing the launch flawlessly, which enabled TRINGOLZA to be in the hands of patients within a couple of weeks following the December 19 approval. And TRINGOLZA is just beginning. We're on track to deliver three additional independent launches over the next three years. Donadolorsen, a potential treatment preferred treatment for hereditary angioedema later this year a second indication for olexarsen in severe hypertriglyceridemia or SHTG, a large patient population with high unmet need and zilganersen for Alexander disease, a rare leukodystrophy with no approved therapies. These programs collectively provide the opportunity to help tens of thousands of patients and represent multi billion dollar revenue potential.

Speaker 1

In addition to our independent launches, we also expect four launches from late stage partnered programs over the next three years. These important medicines are poised to treat a range of serious life threatening diseases, including several that target broad patient populations. Salacarsen for Lp cardiovascular disease, addressing an independent cardiovascular disease risk factor with high unmet need with no approved therapies. Eplantercen for ATTR cardiomyopathy, a progressive fatal condition that continues to be under diagnosed with significant need for more effective treatments. Eplantercen for chronic hepatitis B virus, a serious disease that affects hundreds of millions of people globally and Tifaxacin, previously referred to as IONIS FPLRx in development for IgA nephropathy, one of the most common causes of chronic kidney disease and kidney failure.

Speaker 1

If approved, these important investigational medicines would join our other marketed partnered medicines including SPINRAZA for SMA and WAYNEUWA for hereditary TTR polyneuropathy, which are generating considerable value for patients and revenue for Ionis. Our partnered medicines enable our innovative science to reach even more patients, bolster our strong revenue base and provide substantial growth potential, while allowing us to focus our efforts on advancing the medicines we plan to commercialize. Ionis is on a path to bring important medicines to patients for years to come. And in turn, we are positioned to achieve substantial and sustained revenue growth and positive cash flow. Our recent accomplishments and ongoing investments position us well to drive accelerated value for all Ionia stakeholders.

Speaker 1

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Kyle.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Brett. As we start this important new chapter as a fully integrated commercial stage biotech, I cannot be prouder of our team. Their seamless execution of initial launch activities ensured that our first independently launched medicine, Tringolza, got to FCS patients quickly. Following the approval of TRINGOLZA, the first prescription was written within twenty four hours. The team got drug in channel within one week and the first patient self administered TRINGOLZA within two weeks of approval.

Speaker 3

And today, we are encouraged by seeing both genetically confirmed and clinically diagnosed patients on drug. While it's early in the launch, we are encouraged by the positive response in several key areas. The breadth of physicians identifying FCS patients and prescribing TRINGOLZA the mix of prescribers, including endocrinologists and cardiologists with an interest in lipids and that we're already seeing numerous repeat prescribers the rapid time from prescription to patients receiving Tringolza and coverage by payers for both commercial and Medicare patients. Our experienced team is laser focused on continuing this momentum. As the first ever treatment in The U.

Speaker 3

S, we are capitalizing on our first mover advantage that is enabling us to develop the market, identify and onboard patients early and create positive treatment experience that encourages long term adherence. Additionally, it has enabled us to establish a strong presence in the patient community, all of which we expect will drive long term success for Tringolza. The total addressable U. S. FCS patient population is estimated to be up to approximately 3,000 people.

Speaker 3

And currently, the vast majority of the FCS population remains unidentified and undiagnosed. As a result, there are multiple critical steps that we are taking to get patients identified and on Tringoldza. First, our team is focused on patient finding efforts, working to identify FCS patients who are not yet diagnosed. Building on these efforts, our team is working to increase FCS awareness through HCP education to drive increased diagnosis and our commercial field team is actively engaging with HCPs who treat patients with high triglycerides. Once patients are identified and diagnosed, the team works closely with prescribers and patients to obtain coverage and initiate treatment for Tringolza.

Speaker 3

We have deployed a suite of services to accomplish this, anchored by our innovative IONIS Every Step patient support program. As part of this program, dedicated patient education managers provide patient disease and nutrition education, auto injector administration training, reimbursement support and more. For HCPs, Ionis Everystep streamlines the Tringosa prescribing process by offering insurance authorization and coverage assistance, as well as coordinating delivery, reauthorizations and refills. To date, we have had very high engagement with patients sharing their excitement as they now have a treatment and the services that they are experiencing from the program. Our market access and reimbursement teams have been actively engaged with a broad set of U.

Speaker 3

S. Payers representing the vast majority of covered lives. And through these efforts, payers have recognized the significant burden FCS places on patients. With this recognition, we are pleased to report that in the early days of the launch, patients have received timely access to TRINGOLZA. Finally, our omni channel capabilities extend the reach of our commercial team and amplify our efforts with patients and physicians.

Speaker 3

Our launch trajectory will reflect the time it takes to execute on these efforts, which we fully expect will gain momentum as the year unfolds. To realize the full blockbuster potential of ole's arsine, we plan to further scale our commercial organization and infrastructure to address the much larger SHTG patient population where we have substantial first mover advantage. SHTG is comprised of people with triglycerides over 500 mgdL and is a symptomatic disease where people can suffer debilitating chronic symptoms that impact all aspects of their life, including severe abdominal pain and cognitive impairment. In the most severe manifestation, SHTG patients can suffer from life threatening pancreatitis events that require intensive hospital care. As a result, physicians recognize the importance of lowering severely elevated triglycerides with established guidelines already in place.

Speaker 3

Many people with SHTG are severely underserved by current treatment options and in many cases are unable to reduce triglyceride levels to current recommended guidelines with available options. This is why we are excited about the potential olexarsen could offer to people with SHTG. Today, the team is focused on pre commercialization activities ahead of an anticipated launch next year. WAYNEUWA, our co commercialized medicine with AstraZeneca for hereditary ATTR polyneuropathy has now been on the market for about a year and we couldn't be more pleased with the strong progress of the launch. WAYNEUWA delivered accelerating sequential growth throughout last year, including strong demand in the fourth quarter with product sales nearly doubling compared to the third quarter.

Speaker 3

Uptake continues to be strong with the majority of top centers of excellence prescribing WAYNEUWA and broadening use into the community setting. Patient growth continued to come from patients new to treatment as well as switches and patients adding WAYNEUWA to their existing therapy. We consistently receive positive feedback from physicians about their patients' experience with WAYNEUWA, including patients' quality of life improvements, their ability to rapidly access WAYNEUWA and patients' ability to easily self administer WAYNEUWA. And we are pleased with the reimbursement and affordability dynamics we saw in 2024. The vast majority of patients who initiated WAYNEUWA treatment regardless of insurance type paid $0 out of pocket.

Speaker 3

We and AstraZeneca are confident WAYNEUWA will continue to provide a differentiated experience for patients. The growing global ATTR polyneuropathy launch sets the foundation for our efforts to address ATTR cardiomyopathy, a substantial opportunity with three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand people estimated worldwide. Switching gears to Donnie de Lorsen with the potential approval just six months away, the team is preparing for our second independent launch. In fact, we recently hired the head of Donnie Dolores in sales and plan to add the customer facing team soon ensuring that they will be ready to bring Donnie Dolores in to patients quickly after anticipated approval. Our team is also leveraging and building upon the way new entrant Golza launches.

Speaker 3

For example, we will expand our innovative IONIS Every Step Patient Support Program to include the needs of HEE patients. Our medical affairs team has been in the field meeting with physicians. This includes ensuring high visibility at key medical conferences, building awareness of Ionis' platform technology and presenting the positive clinical data generated from our robust Phase three program ahead of our anticipated launch. More than 20,000 people are estimated to have HE in The U. S.

Speaker 3

And Europe. In The U. S, while the HE market is well defined, prophylactic treatment continues to grow with a meaningful segment of patients switching treatment in search of a better option. Based on Donny de Lorsen's strong clinical data, including the positive data in patients switching from current prophylactic treatments to Donny de Lorsen and the simplicity of monthly or every two months self administration via an auto injector, we believe Donny De Lorsen offers the attributes that many people with HAE are looking for. And while we expect the Donny De Lorsen launch ramp to take time as we work to convert patients from existing treatment, we believe Donny Delorsen has the potential to be a preferred prophylactic treatment for many HAE patients.

Speaker 3

We have built a highly experienced, efficient and scalable commercial organization. With the Tringolda FCS launch underway, we are focused on delivering its full potential while preparing to successfully execute our three additional launches planned over the next three years with more to follow positioning Ionis for sustained growth and long term success. With that, I'll now turn it over to Richard.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Kyle. We had many important pipeline achievements in 2024 that position us well for success in 2025. These included numerous positive late stage data readouts, which resulted in multiple regulatory submissions and our first independent launch. Additionally, as our pipeline advances, we are on track for multiple late stage data readouts and regulatory actions this year and next, positioning Ionis to bring transformational medicines to people with serious diseases for years to come. Starting with TRINGOLZA, the first ever approved treatment for adults with FCS in The U.

Speaker 4

S, the positive data from the Phase three BALANCE study formed the basis for TRINGOLZA's approval. In the BALANCE study, Trangoliza eighty mg demonstrated substantial and sustained triglyceride reductions, clinically meaningful reductions in acute pancreatitis, a substantial reduction in all cause hospitalization and days spent in the hospital, and a favorable safety and tolerability profile in people with FCS. We believe these positive data underscore the tremendous benefit Trangolxa can bring to adults with FCS. And while we are starting with FCS, we expect to quickly expand to a second broader indication, SHTG. Many SHTG patients are unable to manage their triglycerides with currently available treatments and physicians are eager for a more effective treatment.

Speaker 4

As a reminder, we have three separate studies. We expect to report top line results from Essence, our supported safety exposure study first with data expected in mid this year. Essence is being conducted primarily in patients with triglyceride levels between 150 mgdl and 500 mgdl who are not at high risk for acute pancreatitis. This is not the patient population we're targeting commercially, rather the ESSENCE study was designed to satisfy the regulatory requirements for a safety database to support a highly prevalent disease. We look forward to data from our pivotal studies COR and COR2 to truly understand the olefarsen profile and SH These studies are evaluating olefarsen in our target patient population who have triglycerides greater than 500 milligrams per deciliter.

Speaker 4

We are on track for data from core and core two in the second half of this year. And once we have data in hand for both of these studies, we will report the results. And assuming these data are positive, we plan to submit our sNDA before year end. With significant first mover advantage in both FCS and SHTG and compelling results already demonstrated in FCS, coupled with our expectation for similarly positive data in SHTG, we believe olefarsen could be the standard of care for both diseases. Following closely behind Tringolfa is Donnie Doloresen, a potential advance for patients with hereditary angioedema.

Speaker 4

We're pleased that Donna De Lorsen is now under regulatory review in both The U. S. And EU. Our regulatory submissions were based on positive data generated from our Phase II and Phase III studies, including a separate switch study. In the Phase III program, long term donadolorsin treatment demonstrated substantial reductions in HAE attack rates of more than ninety percent with both monthly and bimonthly dosing and a favorable safety and tolerability profile.

Speaker 4

These reductions translated to a high level of disease control and clinically meaningful improvements in quality of life measures. In the SWITCH study, patients who switched to Donna Doloresen from prior prophylactic treatment showed a further reduction in HAE attack rates from baseline with nearly eighty five percent of the patients surveyed preferring Donna Doloresen. With a PDUFA date of August 21, we look forward to bringing this potential preferred prophylactic treatment to HAE patients later this year assuming approval. Rounding out our IONISONE late stage pipeline is Zilganersen, our medicine to treat Alexander disease and ultra rare leukodystrophy that profoundly impacts patients and families and has no approved disease modifying treatments. Last year, Zilganersen was granted fast track designation by the FDA, reflecting the serious unmet need that exists for this rare disease.

Speaker 4

We are looking forward to reporting Phase three data for this program late this year. The rest of our rich pipeline is also making excellent progress. This includes ION five eighty two, our wholly owned investigational medicine for Angelman syndrome, which we believe has transformational potential for the tens of thousands of patients living with this serious rare disorder. Last year, based on the positive early results from the HALO study of ION five eighty two in children and adults with Angelman syndrome, we reached alignment with FDA to conduct the most robust and comprehensive Phase III study in this patient population to date. Our study will focus on clinical endpoints that reflect the most pressing and meaningful outcomes for people living with Angelman syndrome, endpoints that showed positive results in our HALO study.

Speaker 4

We remain on track to start ION five eighty two Phase three study in the first half of this year. As we look to our key value driving events, we have already made excellent progress. In addition to launching Tringolsa, we are pleased that higher dose nusinersen is one step closer to the market with the recent FDA and EMA acceptances of Biogen's regulatory submissions. With the well characterized profile of SPINRAZA established over the past ten plus years and the positive data from the higher dose SPINRAZA, we believe SPINRAZA is well positioned to continue to bring benefit to SMA patients around the world. To summarize, key near term value driving events, we anticipate many late stage data readouts, significant regulatory actions and numerous product launches.

Speaker 4

By the end of twenty twenty six, we expect seven Phase III data readouts, including two IONIS owned medicines. This year, olicarsen for the broad SHTG indication and zilganersen for Alexander disease. Next, five IONIS discovered medicines are on track for Phase III data, most of which are for very broad patient populations. If positive, these groundbreaking medicines could start to reach patients as soon as next year, And we expect to have five launches underway, including four independent launches. All of this sets us up to bring a steady cadence of new Ionis medicines to patients for years to come.

Speaker 4

With that, I'll turn it over to Beth.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Richard. We've made excellent progress advancing our strategic growth priorities, including executing our first independent launch, while simultaneously upholding our commitment to drive operating leverage. This important progress is reflected in our strong financial results for last year and our outlook for this year, both of which I am happy to share with you today. We delivered a non GAAP operating loss of $345,000,000 a significant improvement compared to our 2024 guidance. We also substantially exceeded our 2024 revenue guidance by more than $130,000,000 earning revenues of $7.00 $5,000,000 last year.

Speaker 5

During 2024, SPINRAZA remained the primary source of commercial revenue with $216,000,000 of royalties for the year. We were encouraged by SPINRAZA's performance and look forward to the anticipated launch of the higher dose option. WAYNEUWA product revenue achieved accelerating sequential growth throughout last year, driven by strong underlying demand. Notably, Wayneuwa product revenue increased 84% in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter. WAYNEUWA product sales were $85,000,000 for last year, which we earned for which we earned $20,000,000 in royalties.

Speaker 5

As planned, our non GAAP operating expenses increased slightly for 2024 over 2023. The 12% increase year over year in sales and marketing expenses reflected our investments in The U. S. Launch of TRINGOLZA and preparations for the upcoming launch of Donny de Larson. Our SG and A expenses also included our minority portion of WAYNEUWA's sales and marketing costs, which are in the high teens to low 20% range.

Speaker 5

In line with our plan, we kept R and D expenses stable year over year while appropriately funding our rich pipeline. Our excellent progress last year coupled with our disciplined financial management positions us well for continued growth and value creation. Our financial guidance for this year reflects our evolution to a fully integrated commercial stage biotech company focused on maximizing the value of our innovative medicines, while remaining steadfast in our commitment to deliver strong operating leverage. We project to earn more than $600,000,000 in revenue from numerous sources, including a shift toward commercial revenue with the addition of Trangolza product revenues and initial Donadulersen product revenues assuming approval. With Trangolza, it's important to remember that FCS is a rare and under recognized disease and we anticipate an initial gradual buildup of launch momentum especially in the first few quarters.

Speaker 5

As our efforts aimed at driving physician awareness and patient identification progress, we expect the number of new patients diagnosed with FCS to increase, which in turn will translate to an acceleration of our launch progress. We're also looking forward to adding Donna Doloresen product revenues beginning in late Q3 assuming approval in August. And since this is primarily a switch market, we expect the launch to reflect the time it takes to convert patients from their existing therapy to dinodularcin. From our partnered programs, we anticipate earning substantial royalties from medicines on the market today. These include SPINRAZA, which continues to be our largest commercial revenue source.

Speaker 5

We expect the resilience SPINRAZA has demonstrated to continue and our royalties to reflect that. And this also includes WAYNEUWA, which we expect will continue its upward trajectory this year. With these expected launch dynamics coupled with the resetting of the royalty rate for SPINRAZA at the beginning of each year, we anticipate that our commercial revenue will increase as the year progresses. Our R and D revenue remains a meaningful contributor to our total revenue guidance, although we expect it to be lower this year than it was last year. With a rich pipeline and many partnered programs advancing, we have the potential to earn numerous milestone payments.

Speaker 5

And based on the timing of anticipated milestones, we expect to earn much of our R and D revenue in the second half of the year. Additionally, as we continue to conduct the Cardio Transform study, we will continue to earn revenue from AstraZeneca for its 55% share of the study costs. We project our 2025 operating expenses to increase in the high single digit percentage range compared to last year. This modest increase reflects our commitment to bring our medicines directly to patients and advance our pipeline while also continuing to exercise sound fiscal stewardship. Just as in 2024, our planned expense growth will come from increases in our sales and marketing expenses and as we invest to support the success of our multiple ongoing and planned launches.

Speaker 5

We expect our R and D expenses to remain steady in 2025 similar to last year. As several of our late stage studies have recently concluded or are on track to wrap up this year, we are able to reallocate our resources toward our next wave of opportunities, just as we have done for the Phase III development of ION five eighty two for Angelman syndrome. With sizable revenues and modest expense growth, we are projecting a non GAAP operating loss of less than $495,000,000 We project to end the year with cash and investments of approximately $1,700,000,000 Our projected year over year change in cash reflects our investments to bring our medicines directly to patients in addition to advancing our wholly owned medicines and development while exercising prudent fiscal responsibility. Looking beyond 2025, with the numerous opportunities before us, we are on track to deliver substantial and sustained revenue growth. This revenue growth combined with our commitment to drive operating leverage positions us well to also generate positive cash flow.

Speaker 5

To achieve our goal, we expect to continue making significant investments to advance our pipeline and bring our growing portfolio of medicines directly to patients. We estimate that the programs in our pipeline today have a combined multi billion dollar peak revenue potential. This includes estimated annual peak sales of more than $3,000,000,000 from our Ionis owned medicines, including olexarsen and ION-five eighty two. Additionally, based on our partners' peak sales estimates, we could earn more than $2,000,000,000 annually in royalties from our late stage partnered medicines. So as you can see, with robust revenue growth potential, we have a clear path to achieve positive cash flow.

Speaker 5

With that, I'll turn the call back to Brett.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Beth. Becoming a fully integrated commercial stage biotechnology company required the commitment and hard work for all Ionis employees and we expect to continue our great progress as we enter this next exciting chapter for Ionis. Innovation has always been a key differentiator for Ionis and through innovation we've established a proven and prolific discovery and development engine that has provided us with a rich pipeline of medicines with transformational potential and this will continue. Our pipeline is consistently delivering with three important FDA drug approvals in just under two years, Talsati for SAD1 ALS, WAYNEUWA for ATTR polyneuropathy and now TRINGOLZA for FCS and a fourth FDA approval anticipated later this year, Domino Larsen for HAE. We've also achieved several important approvals outside The U.

Speaker 1

S. And we expect a great deal more this year and in coming years. And with an advancing late stage pipeline, we have delivered several positive Phase three data readouts with more expected this year and next that are being developed to treat both rare and broad patient populations. And today, we have a scalable, highly experienced, innovative commercial organization in place currently launching Tringolza for FCS and positioned for three additional launches over the next three years. This progress provides us with a clear path to achieve positive cash flow driven by our expectations for substantial top line revenue growth.

Speaker 1

This sets us up to deliver accelerating value for all IONIS stakeholders. And with that, we'll now open the call up for questions. MJ?

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin our question and answer Today's first question comes from Mike Ulz with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Hey guys, thanks for taking the question and congratulations on all the progress. Maybe just one on olexarsen and SHTG, just given the ESSENCE study is supposed to read out sort of mid year ahead of the core studies and I realize it's more of a safety study and you're enrolling a different population, but what kind of read through could we make from ESSENCE to your core studies? Thanks.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Mike. The ESSENCE study, just as a reminder, is a patient population, as Richard described before, that is not our target commercial patient population. It's mildly elevated triglycerides 150 to 500. Our target patient population is SHCG five hundred milligrams per deciliter of triglycerides and a plus. So it is a safety study as you say, Mike.

Speaker 1

As for read through, safety will certainly be a key read through to demonstrate and we think confirm further validate the safety that we've seen in the FCS patient population. So that's very important as well the APOC3 reductions that we expect in that study. We of course will be looking at triglyceride reductions in that study. That as a predictor of what we'll see in SHTT is somewhat less direct, but we still think it will be still an indicator of what to expect in SHGG to some extent, a lesser extent because it is a different slightly different patient population. But we're really focused on the safety in that study and the target engagement as a read through to SHTG.

Speaker 7

Helpful. Thank you.

Operator

The next question comes from Jessica Fye with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hey guys, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. I was hoping you could talk a little bit about what you're seeing in the TTR polyneuropathy market. For example, what portion of new starts do you think you're capturing there? Thank you.

Speaker 3

Yes. Thanks, Jess. As Beth communicated earlier, we're so excited about the continued progress here with the launch of WAYNEUWA and hATTR polyneuropathy. The growth quarter over quarter of an increase of 80 four percent and $42,000,000 in Q4 and $85,000,000 on the year. I think what that speaks to is the strong demand and the continued growth that's within that category right now.

Speaker 3

Currently, the new to brand share is about 40% for WAYNEUWA. So we are continuing to capture in terms of new patient starts a significant portion of those and we expect that to continue to grow over time. We're seeing not only centers of excellence, but also community physicians begin prescribing. So the expansion, neuros and cardiologists are both prescribing. And we're still seeing a mix of naive switches as well as combination treatment for WAYNEUWA.

Speaker 3

So 2025 is really setting up I think to be a very strong year for WAYNEUWA to see the continued growth that we saw in 2024 quarter over quarter.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Akash Tewari with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Hey, thanks so much. Can you talk a little more about your design for SHG, the Phase three? I mean, you've mentioned previously the enrollment rate in that trial is 10x that of FCS. What does that imply for the effect size you powered for particularly on acute pancreatitis and severe abdominal pain? And really how does your event rate assumption maybe differ versus FCS, but also that ESSENCE study that you mentioned isn't necessarily representative of your other trials?

Speaker 8

And then any feedback from KOLs on what would be a clinically meaningful reduction would very helpful as well. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Akash. Let me take a stab at that. There were a few things there to unpack, very important questions, but then also Eugene can jump in. So our study, our SHCG Phase three study COR and COR2 are powered, of course, well powered for triglyceride reductions, which is our primary endpoint. As far as acute pancreatitis impact on acute pancreatitis events in the SHDG core studies, this has really never been studied before.

Speaker 1

We did not believe we were well powered for a positive AP outcome in FCS and we were pleasantly surprised to see what a tremendous impact we had at reducing AP events in that patient population, even though it was a very small study. The higher the triglycerides in patients, the greater the risk of acute pancreatitis that's obvious and well established. The SHTG population has somewhat milder triglycerides on average compared to FCS. So you might expect a lower rate of acute pancreatitis in that study in that patient population. Nevertheless, we have more than 10 times the number of patients in our core studies, which of course allows us to accumulate potentially more events.

Speaker 1

So although we're not necessarily powered and no one's ever studied this before, so it would be difficult to power a study on reduction of AP and SHGG. Certainly the balanced FCS data lends us some confidence that we'll see a significant or a meaningful signal in acute pancreatitis and SHTG. If you'd like to add anything to that, Yuchine?

Speaker 9

No, not really. There was another question about clinical meaningfulness of reduction. Of course, that's as Brett said, it's not really clear. There is no particular threshold that is considered to be clinically meaningful in terms of BP reduction. So what we're hoping to see is really any significant reduction overall.

Speaker 9

But as Brad said, of course, the powering of the study is not something that we were able to model based on any existing data.

Operator

The next question comes from Yanan Zhu with Wells Fargo Securities. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Great. Thanks for taking our questions and congrats on the quarter. First, I wanted to have a quick follow-up to a prior question on the WENUPA polyneuropathy eighty four percent quarter over quarter growth. How much of that growth is driven by switching? Because I did hear they're both naive patient and switching patient, but wondering how much of a force is the switch from siRNA?

Speaker 8

And my main question, I think Biogen announced a couple of updates to some new neurology collaboration programs. Could you provide a little more color and what's the plan for those programs? Thank you.

Speaker 1

Sure. Kyle, please take the question on quarter over quarter growth, what's driving that? And I'll happy to comment on Biogen.

Speaker 3

Yes. The growth as we know in this market, less than twenty percent of the patients are currently being treated in the polyneuropathy space with the therapy today. So the opportunity here remains to grow this market and that's really what we're seeing and that's the focus that AstraZeneca and our teams have in terms of identifying newly diagnosed patients and getting those naive patients started on treatment. What we are hearing consistently from physicians is that there is improvement in quality of life. The safety profile and the tolerability of WAYNEU is very strong and access to treatment is extremely strong.

Speaker 3

The majority of patients, as I highlighted, have a $0 out of pocket expense. That's regardless if they are commercial or Medicare patients. So to be able to afford the medication on top of the profile and the ability to self administer Waynewa at a place of their choosing continues to resonate extremely well. So as the market expands, physicians are choosing WAYNEUWA over some of these other treatments. Now in the instances where there are switches from other therapies, the main driver for that really is the ability to self administer.

Speaker 3

We're seeing very good access and very good coverage. And if patients are able to do this on their own and not have some of the challenges associated with site of care and they can do this at a place of their choosing. Physicians and patients are choosing WAYNEUWA. So with a very highly performing medication combined with the ability to self administer, it's really making a differentiation possible quarter over quarter and we're seeing that growth due to that.

Speaker 1

And then regarding the other part of your question, Yanan, we couldn't be more pleased to retain global rights for both of these programs. These programs that you're referring to are our alpha synuclein program that is in development Phase II development for multiple system atrophy and the LARP2 program, which is indicated for Parkinson's disease. We couldn't be more thrilled to retain full control of these programs. Just a little color to add to these, the alpha synuclein program required a decision by Biogen to opt in on this based on partial data. It's a study that's ongoing.

Speaker 1

And in fact, they really only had access to the low dose cohort at the the time. This was based on the contract with Biogen for this particular program. And like I said, we're thrilled to have the full control of this very important drug going forward. The LARK2 program was a very small study, twelve weeks of treatment. Obviously, you're not going to have any clinical data, meaningful data, twelve week study in PD patients.

Speaker 1

The study was designed for safety and target engagement, and we're very pleased with what we saw in safety. We're very pleased with the magnitude of the heart LARQ2 reductions we saw in the study. This drug definitely deserves to be further developed and we're looking forward to forging a path forward for both programs, MARC2 and alpha synuclein. For alpha synuclein, we're having we're expecting to have data in MSA later this year. Our partnership with Biogen remains very strong and this was essentially a R and D prioritization decision by Biogen.

Speaker 8

Great. Thanks for all the color.

Operator

The next question comes from Jay Olson with Oppenheimer. Please go ahead.

Speaker 10

Hey, congrats on all the progress and thank you for taking the question. For Tringolza, I think you mentioned three thousand patients in The U. S. Can you just talk about how many of those patients are currently diagnosed and available for treatment? And if it's not too early, how many of those patients are on treatment or any other important metrics you could share to help track the launch of Trangoliza?

Speaker 10

Thank you.

Speaker 3

Yes. Thanks, Jay. I can't be more excited than to kind of talk about Tringulza. Obviously, a rare disease population, we're doing a lot of work right now to number one, identify number two, diagnose and then finally get prescriptions written and get these patients on drug. The launch is going very, very well.

Speaker 3

When you look at the label that we received, it's a very broad label, it's a clean label. It allows the physicians to prescribe Tringolza for clinically or genetically diagnosed patients. We have AP in the label demonstrating substantial reductions in acute pancreatitis and we've got first mover advantage, which allows us to develop this market and to take the patients that you're asking about and move them on to Tringolza very quickly. The feedback that we're receiving already is that all of the stakeholders, be it patients, HCPs, the advocacy groups, payers, etcetera, have been very, very positive about Tringolza. They are really excited to have a treatment option when they've never had a treatment option before.

Speaker 3

In terms of execution around this plan, we had product and channel before the end of the year. We launched in 2024, and everything that we've been trying to do to be able to deliver treatment to these patients is going very well. Now of the 3,000 patients, there are several hundred right now that are currently identified, and they are continuing to come in as I mentioned and become diagnosed formally and get prescriptions written for. So we've got some time in terms of the momentum and the launch ramp here. On the metrics, we're not disclosing too many metrics.

Speaker 3

Obviously, this is a competitive market that we're in. But what we're really encouraged by right now is the number of physicians that we've seen identifying and prescribing. So we've got a good breadth of prescribers. We are seeing a mix of specialties prescribing as well. So we have endocrinologists and cardiologists, those that have an interest in lipids and also pancreatology are prescribing Tringolza, which was to be expected.

Speaker 3

The other thing that we're keeping an eye on is time to prescription and how long it takes to go from prescription to actually getting the drug filled into the patient. And that's going very quickly, faster than we had expected here early on. And what that's telling us is that the FCS diagnosis, if it's either clinical or genetic, is confirming these patients and physicians are working through the medical exception process in order to justify the prescription and getting these patients on treatment quickly. And the final thing I'll say is our IONIS Every Step program is executing very well and that allows us to interact directly with patients and do disease education and product education and support them through the reimbursement process. And patients are giving us very positive feedback about the ability to self administer with an auto injector on a monthly basis and the profile of the drug is playing out very positively here in the first couple of weeks of launch.

Speaker 3

So thanks for asking.

Speaker 7

Thank you.

Operator

The next question comes from Jason Gerberry with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Speaker 11

Hey, this is Chi on for Jason. Thanks for taking our question. I guess I would like to follow-up on Trangorza launch in FCS. Thanks for all the commentary on early launch experience so far. I'm curious, based on early launch experience, what insurance company are you seeing are requiring in terms of documentation for reimbursement consideration?

Speaker 11

We've sometimes done some doc tests and one thing that we have heard is that genetic confirmation is the most straightforward documentation to get insurance company on board. Somewhat a bit of a gray area when it comes to clinical diagnosis. Part of it is the lack of consensus diagnosis criteria. Some of it is what insurance company accept as clinical diagnosis criteria. Can you talk about that?

Speaker 11

And when you talk about several hundred patients currently identified and become formally diagnosis formally diagnosed, how many of those are getting genetically confirmed? How many of those are getting clinically diagnosed? And if you can talk about that mix within that three thousand patients U. S. Prevalence that you have estimate, that will be great as well.

Speaker 11

Thanks so much.

Speaker 3

Yes. Thanks, Chi. First, let me just touch on the insurance process. The first three to six months as is typical is going to go through a medical exception process. So, you know, there are really there are very few plans so far that have established formal criteria, to say this is what's absolutely required.

Speaker 3

So then the question becomes, what is the history of the patient? What steps has the physician gone through to actually substantiate or validate that this truly is an FCS patient, so that they can get the coverage by the plan and ultimately get the drug approved? The most straightforward is a genetic confirmation. I think that's the easiest one. However, we have seen both clinically and genetically diagnosed patients work through the medical exception process very efficiently with about patient triglyceride levels, the history of the patient, age of diagnosis, symptomatology, right, abdominal pain, acute pancreatitis potentially in their history.

Speaker 3

So there are a lot of other things to unpack in terms of the patient presentation that ultimately will justify or qualify that patient for an approval from the health plan. And as I mentioned as well, we're seeing this through both the commercial and Medicare segments of the business. So, you know, what we're most optimistic about is that physicians are doing this the right way. They're identifying FCS patients, they're justifying it through one of those two means and supporting that patient through the process very quickly. I don't have a number that I can share with you in terms of how many have been clinically versus genetically confirmed at this point that have gone through our process.

Speaker 3

But obviously both are being approved in terms of getting that approval. The lack of consensus we have not heard yet. Using the NAFCS scoring tool that Doctor. Hegley published at the end of last year seems to be a pretty straightforward tool for them to be able to use and substantiate and validate for these patients is what we're seeing based on the fact that it has been published. You know, not to break out the mix, but other than that, I'm very encouraged here early on at the coverage.

Speaker 3

There's more to learn in terms of coverage and then payers will be establishing criteria throughout the first six months or so and we're working directly with the payers in order to make sure that there's a reasonable path forward for these patients to be able to have access to Tringolza.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Kyle. Thanks very much.

Speaker 1

Two points that I'll just add to that, Chi. We're very pleased with the speed to genetic diagnosis that we're experiencing so far in one to two weeks for the genetic diagnosis when we go that route. And I also think it's reasonable to assume that any aspect of diagnosis that physicians are unfamiliar with today, they will become more familiar with as time goes on. And we're driving a lot of that work, especially utilizing the North American FCS diagnosis criteria to build that familiarity of physicians. So expect that to improve as we go forward.

Speaker 11

Great. Thanks so much.

Operator

The next question comes from David Lebowitz with Citi. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Hi, this is Ike Lee on for David Lebowitz. Thanks for taking the question. I also have one on the SHTG readout. It's regarding the twelve month time point in the trials on the primary. So we know that these SHTG patients, they're going to be coming in lower with much lower tg levels than in FCS and likely different rates of APs at baseline as well.

Speaker 3

And so I'm wondering if there's no clinical consensus on how much tg lowering is actually beneficial as you said. Just wondering what the reasoning was behind the selection of that twelve month timeline and just overall what is our understanding in this population so far as to what they need? Thanks.

Speaker 1

So, thank you for the question. And Richard, follow-up with anything that you want to touch on after my comments. So the primary endpoint on is triglyceride lowering at six months. The full study readout is at twelve months. So the primary endpoint is at six months on TGs.

Speaker 1

We have a very rapid response on APOC3 reductions, substantial lowering of APOC3, substantial and rapid lowering of triglycerides based on our previous clinical data for Tringolza as well as our balanced FCS data. So we're out we strongly believe we're very well powered on the primary endpoint. Regarding acute pancreatitis, as I mentioned earlier, although the rate of AP in SHDG patients is not well documented in the literature, it will be after our Phase three outcome. We believe that we have we're in a good position based on our FCS read data as a read through to show clinically meaningful reductions in acute pancreatitis in this study. And that's based on what we saw in balance.

Speaker 1

I think that's driving a lot of it. I thought you, Richard?

Speaker 4

Yes. And I would also say that we see events being adjudicated by our independent adjudication committee and the events are accruing over the course of this study and it's looking very good. The other thing I would say about triglycerides and clinically meaningful, that has been determined by the regulatory agencies. Certainly, the FDA has said significant risk occurs above 500 and it increases as the triglyceride levels increase. So by decreasing triglyceride levels by whatever the amount is, you're decreasing the risk for these patients having an acute pancreatitis.

Speaker 4

So I think that's the primary goal of the study obviously is to reduce their triglyceride and risk for acute pancreatitis. And we'll be able to monitor that and see the results very soon.

Speaker 3

Yes. And let me add to that from a commercial viewpoint. Currently patients with severely elevated triglycerides are on fibrates and fish oils and other things, statins to try to reduce their triglycerides. And cardiologists and endocrinologists are not getting these patients low enough. They need a better, more effective triglyceride lowering treatment in order to meet the established guidelines that are already in place.

Speaker 3

So the guidelines are there already. Let's say you need to be below 500 in order to get out of risk as Richard was talking about from a regulatory standpoint. But most importantly from a commercial standpoint, we know that physicians are trying to get there and they're treating hundreds of thousands of patients already and they're just unfortunately not able to do so because they don't have a therapy that's sufficient in order to accomplish that. And that's what we hope to be able to bring to the market here shortly with an approval in SHTG with olezarsen. I

Speaker 1

think it's also important to emphasize that this SHTG is not an asymptomatic disease. It's a very serious symptomatic disease that in addition to acute pancreatitis, these patients suffer from serious cognitive often serious cognitive impairment, serious body pains, nausea and so forth and often land in a hospital even without an AP event because they are in such fear of having an AP event because of the body pain. And we think that that will go a long way in the success commercial success of Trongosa in SHTG.

Operator

The next question is from Gary Nachman with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Hi, thanks and my congrats as well on the So as you prepare for new launches for Donnie and HAE and olezarsen and SHTG, just talk about how you're scaling the commercial organization following the FCS launch. What's in place versus what you need to add specifically in terms of reps for those other programs? And then just for the Angelman program, just what's your expectations for enrollment timing given the competitive dynamics there? Thank you.

Speaker 3

Yes, Gary, thanks for the question. I'll start. This is Kyle. Fortunately, with the co commercialization on WAYNEUWA, then we were able to build towards our FCS readiness internally. So we've got teams around commercial operations and our market access group.

Speaker 3

We have our capability with our Ionis Every Step patient support program. Those are kind of the core fundamental foundational components to the commercial team that we've got in place and they're ready to go that allow us to scale accordingly whenever we add on new commercial therapies into the mix, such as, dinety de luresan later this year and SHTG to follow. Where we're at right now, for example, with Donnie DeLoorsen is we've hired the Vice President of Sales. We will build out our regional director team and ultimately our customer facing field teams from there. And that is in time and in sequence with what we're doing for the regulatory process for the anticipated approval on August 21.

Speaker 3

So I mean, I think right now as we build, it's been a sequential build over time and it's been a purposeful build and it's been an intentional build as well to make sure that we're building the right capabilities at the right time and also investing the right amount within those respective functions. When we get to SHTG, it will grow exponentially as you would expect based on the size of the market that we'll be entering into. But we'll be able to add our customer facing and field teams at the right time. And I'm just excited about the talent and the tremendous accomplishments that we have already had with our teams that are in place and the good product that we have within the commercial group overall.

Speaker 1

And Gary, on the Angelman's enrollment, so we are still well on track to initiate our Phase three study in the first half of this year. Things are going well. We've also established internal metrics to achieve with respect to enrollment this year by our team. That sets us up for completing enrollment in 2026, next year. We do not believe that this trial will be difficult to enroll.

Speaker 1

There's pent up demand. We're really encouraged by the enthusiasm by the community, inquiring about our program, when they will be able to enlist, enroll in the study. And this is a relatively large patient population with tremendous unmet needs. So that's our expectations for enrollment.

Speaker 8

Great. Thank you.

Operator

The next question comes from Yaron Werber with TD Cowen. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Yes. Hey, thanks for taking my question. I have a quick question also. If you think about how do you power the Angelman Phase three study, I know you haven't announced the full cell design yet, but on expressive communications. And then maybe just for Beth, as you think about revenue, as you mentioned, it's more second half weighted.

Speaker 7

Are there particular milestones we need to keep in mind that are driving that? Thank you.

Speaker 1

Eugene, would you comment on the powering of course, Richard jump into?

Speaker 9

Yes, sure. So as you know, our primary endpoint is expressive communication as assessed by Bayley-four. There is quite a bit of natural history data available utilizing slightly older version of VAILI, but nonetheless, as we are able to see and kind of make estimates on how the patients are expected to progress with regard to their ability to communicate, which is unfortunately kind of a known primary deficiency in this population. They have little to no expressive communication. So that combined with our Phase II, very encouraging Phase II data really allowed us to make some assumptions on the treatment effect size that we're expecting to see in a placebo controlled setting for Phase III.

Speaker 9

As you know, we're also testing two dose levels. So again, it's a two:one randomization, but essentially that end of knowledge of natural history trajectory in this patient population is what we use in our assumptions.

Speaker 7

Are they both are both doses powered against placebo? Thank you.

Speaker 9

Yes. So our right, our goal is to see an effectiveness of both doses.

Speaker 1

So the two doses are the same two doses that we studied in the Phase two HALO study, both of which showed really, really encouraging evidence of efficacy across all domains that we examined using all instruments, whether it be daily for Vineland, SAS CGI, etcetera, ORCA. And as a reminder, expressive communication uniformly demonstrated the best outcome in our Phase II HALO study, which that combined with the fact that this endpoint, this part of the Angelman's phenotype is the most burdensome on families. That coupled with that's where we saw the greatest magnitude is why we settled on the expressive communication in our Phase III study. And that certainly was very important along with the natural history data that Eugene mentioned and the power and our powering assumptions for our study, which is nearly 300 patients, the three cohorts in the Phase three study design does randomized one to one to one or two to one when you look at on treatment versus placebo? Beth, you had a there's also a question from Yaron.

Operator

Yes. So on

Speaker 5

our revenue guidance for this year, I think just to sort of reemphasize, really anticipate a shift to commercial revenue this year with SPINRAZA, WAYNEUWA continuing to grow year quarter over quarter, the addition of Trangolza revenues and in the back half of the year, the DYORCEN revenues assuming approval. As we think about R and D revenues, as you know, we have lots of different partnerships and lots of medicines in development under those partnerships. No one particular medicine has a very significant milestone. So there's no sort of large milestones that I could point to that are going to really be the cornerstone for our R and D revenue this year. A big piece of it will be the continued R and D funding we get from AstraZeneca as we conduct the Cardio Transform Phase three study.

Speaker 5

We get 55% of those all in costs reimbursed to us from AstraZeneca and that we book as revenue. And then there's a whole host of partnered programs, particularly with Biogen and others with AstraZeneca, that as they advance, we would anticipate seeing milestones over the course of the year, with as I said, much of that being back end loaded.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Beth. Thank you, Ron. We have time for one more question.

Operator

Today's last question will come from Myles Minter with William Blair. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Hi, this is Jake on for Myles. Thank you so much for taking my question. A couple for you. The first is on SHTG. We were wondering if we could get some color on your plans for potential ex U.

Speaker 6

S. Launch and whether you would be sort of comfortable going in alone or whether you're looking to find a partner in that as you did for Donald Delorsen? And then second, we wanted any updates you have on the next generation Lpula targeting asset with Novartis and whether clinical development or clinical entry is contingent on a positive readout from the Horizon study? Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Jake. So

Speaker 4

before we get into

Speaker 1

ex US SHDG, let me start with FCS. For both FCS and then subsequently SHTG, we're planning to secure a OUS commercial partner like we did for Don and Varsen. Discussions are progressing very nicely and it's consistent with our commercial strategy that we laid out five years ago that initially we will focus on The U. S. Market and secure OUS commercial partners for programs we bring to the market ourselves.

Speaker 1

And that will evolve and that will change in due time. And we're working on that now where we will emerge from The U. S. Market. But today we will secure an OUS partner to commercialize TRYOGLSA for FCS and SHTT outside The U.

Speaker 1

S. I really do not have much to offer with respect to whether or not Novartis will wait for the pelacarcin readout before initiating clinical testing for our follow on molecule that we provided to them and they licensed last year. It's a great looking molecule as is pelacarcin, but the follow on really does look like a best in class molecule with respect as compared to everything that's been publicly disclosed to date. I don't think it matters much on the timing because pelicarcin isn't that far away first half of next year. And the follow on molecule for LPaCVD that we provided is starting IND supporting toxicology studies now.

Speaker 1

So that has to run its course through there and then preparing for clinical testing. So that's really the questions more specifically that's best suited for Novartis. But thank you for the questions and thanks to everybody who joined us today and participated in our call. We're really looking forward to an outstanding year ahead and sharing our progress along the way with you. But until then, thanks again and everybody have a great day.

Operator

Goodbye. The conference is now concluded. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.

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Earnings Conference Call
Ionis Pharmaceuticals Q4 2024
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