Vertex Pharmaceuticals Q4 2022 Earnings Report

Vertex Pharmaceuticals EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $3.76
• Consensus EPS: $3.11
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.65
• One Year Ago EPS: $3.18

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $2.30 billion
• Expected Revenue: $2.30 billion
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$1.99 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +11.10%

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q4 2022
• Date: 2/7/2023
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, February 7, 2023
• Conference Call Time: 4:30PM ET

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Inc. is a Boston-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies for serious diseases. Founded in 1989, Vertex built its reputation on research-driven drug development and is best known for its work in cystic fibrosis (CF), where its portfolio of small-molecule CFTR modulators transformed standards of care for many people with the disease. The company operates research and development, manufacturing and commercial organizations and serves patients and healthcare systems in multiple international markets.

Vertex’s marketed products center on CFTR modulators that target the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis rather than just treating symptoms. Its approved therapies include potentiators and corrector combinations that have expanded treatment options for people with different CFTR mutations. These drugs, introduced progressively since the early 2010s, are the cornerstone of Vertex’s commercial business and have enabled broad access programs and partnerships to reach CF patients globally.

Beyond cystic fibrosis, Vertex has invested heavily in next‑generation technologies and new therapeutic areas. The company is advancing programs in gene editing and cell therapy, including a collaboration with CRISPR Therapeutics to develop gene‑editing treatments for hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell disease and beta‑thalassemia, and it has pursued stem cell–derived approaches for type 1 diabetes following its acquisition of Semma Therapeutics. Vertex’s pipeline also includes earlier‑stage research across other serious diseases where precision genetic or cell‑based approaches may offer durable benefit.

Vertex maintains a commercial presence in North America, Europe and other international markets while sustaining a large R&D footprint to support discovery and clinical development. The company is led by Chief Executive Officer Reshma Kewalramani and a management team with deep experience in both clinical development and commercial operations. Vertex emphasizes patient access, long‑term innovation and collaboration with academic and industry partners as it seeks to expand its impact beyond cystic fibrosis into additional rare and serious diseases.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Full-year 2022 CF revenue rose 18% to $8.93 B and 2023 CF product revenue is guided to $9.55–$9.7 B, implying 7–9% year-on-year growth inclusive of FX headwinds.
• Vertex’s R&D pipeline spans 8 disease areas with a goal to launch 5 new transformative therapies in the next 5 years (“5 and 5”), extending its modality-agnostic approach beyond CF.
• Vansacaftor triple combo completed Phase III enrollment in Q4 and may offer superior efficacy to Trikafta, once-daily dosing and lower royalty burdens, with data expected by year-end.
• The ExaCel CRISPR gene-editing program for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia has MAA submissions validated in EU/UK and a rolling U.S. BLA due by Q1, positioning it as a potential first-in-class therapy.
• VX-548, a selective NaV1.8 inhibitor for acute and neuropathic pain, is in pivotal Phase III and Phase II studies, holds fast-track and breakthrough designations, and could fill a large non-opioid analgesic gap.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good day, welcome to the Vertex Pharmaceuticals fourth quarter and full year 2022 conference call. All participants will be in a listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Miss Susie Lisa. Please go ahead.

[Susie Lisa, SVP of Investor Relations at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Good evening, everyone. My name is Susie Lisa, as the Senior Vice President of Investor Relations for Vertex, it is my pleasure to welcome you to our fourth quarter and full year 2022 financial results conference call. On tonight's call, making prepared remarks, we have Dr. Reshma Kewalramani, Vertex's CEO and President, Stuart Arbuckle, Chief Operating Officer, and Charlie Wagner, Chief Financial Officer. We recommend that you access the webcast slides as you listen to this call. The call is being recorded and a replay will be available on our website. We will make forward-looking statements on this call that are subject to the risks and uncertainties discussed in detail in today's press release and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

[Susie Lisa, SVP of Investor Relations at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

These statements, including without limitation those regarding Vertex's marketed cystic fibrosis medicines, our pipeline, and Vertex's future financial performance, are based on management's current assumptions. Actual outcomes and events could differ materially. I would also note that select financial results and guidance that we will review on the call this evening are presented on a non-GAAP basis. In addition, the impact of the foreign exchange is presented inclusive of our foreign exchange risk management program. I'll now turn the call over to Reshma.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Thanks, Suzy. Good evening, all, and thank you for joining us on the call today. We are pleased to have closed out a strong 2022 with full year global CF product revenue up 18% versus 2021. Our full year 2023 product revenue guidance is $9.55 billion-$9.7 billion, representing 7%-9% growth year-on-year inclusive of FX headwind of approximately 1.5%. We have more than 20,000 patients still to reach with CFTR modulators, and we continue to work with focus and urgency to reach all patients with CF around the globe who may benefit from our therapies. It is an exciting time for Vertex. Our medicines have transformed CF and the growth of our CF business has transformed Vertex.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Our differentiated R&D approach led to our multiple life-changing therapies in cystic fibrosis and is designed to deliver transformative medicines for serious diseases at high rates of success, agnostic to modality. It is delivering just that. In aggregate, our mid and late-stage clinical pipeline holds the promise to deliver potentially transformative benefit for patients across eight disease areas, as detailed on slide five.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Each program holds the potential to be best in class and transform the disease, each represents a multibillion-dollar market opportunity. Furthermore, we see the opportunity to launch new products into five of these disease areas within the next five years or our five in five goal. We're not done. The next wave of innovation is also making progress and advancing through preclinical development, including programs in Duchenne muscular dystrophy and myotonic dystrophy type one.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

This breadth of pipeline success, accelerated pace of clinical trial progress, and build out of commercial capabilities for upcoming product launches warrant continued investments in 2023. As such, we are strategically investing and focusing on execution to drive forward this significant opportunity. With a uniquely strong and durable CF franchise, a deep, broad and advancing R&D pipeline with multiple potentially near-term commercial opportunities, a strong balance sheet, and a deeply talented and committed team, Vertex is well-positioned to deliver for patients and shareholders for years to come. With that overview, I'll turn to the details of recent R&D progress, starting with CF. We continue our journey in cystic fibrosis as we serially innovate to bring highly efficacious therapies to all CF patients.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Our next in class vanzacaftor triple combination completed enrollment in its two phase III clinical trials, SKYLINE 102 and SKYLINE 103 in patients ages 12 years and older in Q4 of 2022. While TRIKAFTA sets a very high bar, our enthusiasm for this vanzacaftor program is also high. This program could deliver even greater benefits to patients given, one, our highly predictive in vitro human bronchial epithelial or HBE cell assays showed the vanza triple was superior to TRIKAFTA in improving chloride transport, a direct measure of CFTR function. Two, our phase II clinical data also suggests the potential for greater efficacy for vanzacaftor versus TRIKAFTA. Three, the vanzacaftor triple also has the benefit of once-daily oral dosing and a substantially reduced royalty burden relative to TRIKAFTA.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

The phase III trials are currently in the 52-week dosing period. We anticipate their completion towards the end of this year. Another important program is the VX-522 program, our CFTR mRNA approach that we are developing in partnership with Moderna for CF patients who cannot benefit from our CFTR modulators. In December of 2022, the FDA cleared the IND for VX-522. The single ascending dose study in CF patients was initiated last year.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

A major milestone for Vertex and the field. We have high expectations given over five years of research that led to the discovery of VX-522 with the following properties. One, delivery of mRNA at high efficiency into HBE cells. Two, expression of CFTR protein leading to high levels of chloride transport. Three, in both rodents and non-human primates, expression of CFTR protein in the desired cells.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Lastly, a preclinical safety profile that supported advancement into human clinical trials. We are excited with the progress of VX-522 which brings hope to the more than 5,000 CF patients who are still waiting for a treatment that targets the underlying cause of their disease. Turning now to exa-cel, our gene editing program for severe sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia. This is our most advanced program outside of CF, and we expect exa-cel to be our next commercial launch. In late Q4, we completed our regulatory submissions for exa-cel for both sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia in the EU and UK. Both the EMA and the MHRA have recently validated the MAA submissions, and in the U.S., we remain on track to complete our rolling BLA submission by the end of this quarter.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

The remarkable clinical benefits are evident in the data we've shared to date. Exa-cel holds the promise to be the first CRISPR-based gene editing treatment to be approved and represents a near-term and significant market opportunity which Stuart will detail. Turning next to VX-548 and our pain program. VX-548 is our novel selective NaV1.8 inhibitor that holds the promise of highly effective pain relief without the side effects or addictive potential of opioids. If approved, VX-548 would represent the first new class of pain medicine in decades, with the potential to address the staggeringly high unmet need in acute pain. VX-548 acts on the peripheral nerves to block the pain signal and thus may be able to provide effective pain relief without the abuse potential, which is a central nervous system phenomenon.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

We have high expectations for this program because NaV1.8 is a genetically and pharmacologically validated target. Second, we have multiple positive proof-of-concept results with VX-150, a predecessor molecule to VX-548, and proof of concept with VX-548 itself. Lastly, our phase III program in acute pain is substantially similar to the positive phase II trials we have already conducted. VX-548 has been granted Fast Track and Breakthrough Therapy Designation in the U.S. We initiated pivotal development last year, and we are enrolling patients across three phase III studies with the goal of seeking a broad, moderate to severe acute pain label. We anticipate completing the phase III pivotal program towards the end of this year or the beginning of next, creating another potentially significant and near-term commercial opportunity which Stuart will also discuss.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

In addition to validation of NaV1.8 as a target in acute pain, it has also been validated as a target in neuropathic pain. I am pleased to share that in late Q4, we initiated a 12-week phase II dose ranging proof-of-concept study for VX-548 in peripheral neuropathic pain. We look forward to updating you as this phase II program progresses and to sharing more on the market opportunity on future calls. Transitioning now to inaxaplin or VX-147, the first potential medicine to target the underlying cause of APOL1-mediated kidney disease or AMKD. Post the positive phase II proof-of-concept study, inaxaplin is now being studied in a single adaptive phase II/3 pivotal trial. This study has a preplanned interim analysis at 48 weeks of treatment, which, if positive, could serve as the basis to seek accelerated approval in the U.S.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Our goal is to complete the phase II dose ranging portion of the phase II/3 pivotal study this year, select a dose, and then continue on to the phase III portion. We are also working to increase awareness, screening, and diagnosis through multiple initiatives given the high unmet need and the approximately 100,000 patients in the U.S. and Europe alone. With inaxaplin, we see the potential of bringing a first-in-class treatment to patients with AMKD and unlocking a multibillion-dollar market opportunity. Moving to type 1 diabetes where our goal is to deliver a transformative, if not curative therapy for the more than 2.5 million patients with type 1 diabetes in North America and Europe. We are advancing multiple programs. First, VX-880 is our stem cell-derived, fully differentiated insulin-producing islet cells which use standard immunosuppressants to protect the cells from the immune system.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

These cells are also foundational for the other two T1D programs. For VX-880, we achieved proof of concept last year with the first two patients treated in Part A of the VX-880 study. We have now fully enrolled Part B, where patients will receive the target dose on a staggered basis. The next phase is Part C, expected to initiate later this year, in which patients will be treated concurrently with the target dose. We look forward to sharing VX-880 data from more patients and with longer duration of follow-up at medical congresses this year. Second, VX-264 or the cells plus device program, which encapsulates the same fully differentiated insulin-producing islet cells in a proprietary device that shields the cells from the body's immune system, and hence, there is no requirement for immunosuppressants.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

In late Q4, we simultaneously filed a CTA in Canada as well as the IND in the US. As we shared last month, the CTA has cleared, and we look forward to initiating enrollment and dosing of patients in Canada in the coming months. In the U.S., the IND has not cleared. We have received and responded to the FDA's questions. We look forward to working with the agency with urgency so that we can initiate the study in the U.S. as soon as possible. Third, in our hypoimmune program, we are editing the same fully differentiated insulin-producing islets to cloak them from the immune system, another path to obviating the need for immunosuppressants. This program continues to progress in preclinical development.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Let me close the T1D section with an update on the ViaCyte acquisition through which we gained intellectual property, tools and capabilities that hold the potential to accelerate our goal of developing transformative treatments for this disease. We have now completed our data and portfolio review and are very pleased with the progress to date. We have begun executing our integration plans. On the clinical side, a phase I/2 study of VCTX211, a hypoimmune cell program that originated with ViaCyte and that Vertex is now developing in partnership with CRISPR Therapeutics, has been initiated and is ongoing. All other ViaCyte clinical trials have completed enrollment and dosing and are in the follow-up stage. I'll finish up with the alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency or AATD program.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Both a phase I study of VX-634, the first in a series of next-wave AAT correctors, and a 48-week phase II study of VX-864, our first generation AAT corrector, are ongoing. We look forward to updating you as these programs advance. I'll now ask Stuart to review our commercial progress.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Thanks, Reshma. Today, I will review our continued strong performance and outlook in CF, as well as potential near-term commercial launches in new disease areas with exa-cel and VX-548. Starting with CF, where we continue to bring our transformative medicines to many more patients globally. Last month, we raised our estimate for the number of patients with cystic fibrosis in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Canada to 88,000, up from our previous estimate of 83,000. The growth in the CF population can be attributed to more patients coming forward to receive treatment, better data capture in patient registries, and perhaps most importantly, people with CF are living longer due to improvements in patient care and the availability of truly effective therapies. For a baby born with CF in 2021, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation predicts the median age of survival is now 65 years.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

In the U.S., our focus remains on maintaining the very high persistence and compliance rates we have seen with our therapies and extending the benefits into younger age groups. Outside the U.S., uptake of KAFTRIO/TRIKAFTA in countries with recent reimbursement agreements continues to drive growth, as has the rollout of KAFTRIO in children ages six to 11 years in countries where this indication has recently received reimbursed access, such as France and Spain. There are still more than 20,000 CF patients who could benefit from, but are not on, CFTR modulator treatment. These patients fall primarily into two categories. One, patients in countries where we are early on the launch curve.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Two, younger patients for whom we continue to pursue additional label and reimbursement extensions, such as the recent U.S. approval of ORKAMBI for ages one to two years and recent regulatory submissions for KALYDECO in children ages one to four months and for TRIKAFTA in ages two to five years, which has received priority review and a PDUFA date of April 28th in the U.S. We are confident that we will reach the vast majority of these patients over time, which will continue to drive revenue growth in the near and long term. We also see exciting growth potential for our vanzacaftor triple combo, given the anticipated clinical profile, more convenient once-daily dosing, and the potential to offer a new option for patients who have discontinued prior CFTR modulator therapy.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Finally, in CF, as Reshma mentioned, our CFTR mRNA program, VX-522, is being developed for the more than 5,000 CF patients worldwide who currently do not have any therapies that treat the underlying cause of their disease. I will now detail our commercial readiness efforts and the market opportunity for two potential product launches outside of CF, exa-cel and VX-548. Exa-cel holds curative potential for patients with sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia, and we are making significant progress with launch preparation activities. Our initial launch of exa-cel will focus on the approximately 32,000 individuals in the US and Europe for whom these diseases are most severe, presenting a significant clinical, humanistic, and economic burden. The estimated 25,000 severe sickle cell disease patients have multiple hospitalizations annually for vaso-occlusive crises, while the estimated 7,000 TDT patients undergo near-monthly transfusions.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

There is also a considerable financial burden both for these patients and to the healthcare system. In the U.S., economic models project the lifetime treatment costs for severe sickle cell disease patients to be between $4 million and $6 million. Recent market research indicates that physicians have a strong preference and interest in gene editing over other potentially curative approaches, and that patients with sickle cell disease are increasingly optimistic about the potential role for curative therapies in the treatment of their disease. In addition, payers view the emerging clinical data for exa-cel as highly impactful, most notably the reductions in vaso-occlusive crises and hospitalizations. Importantly for our specialty commercial model, these 32,000 severe patients are concentrated geographically and we believe can be served effectively with a network of approximately 50 authorized treatment centers, or ATCs, in the U.S. and approximately 25 in Europe.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

We have established the needed supply chain and manufacturing infrastructure to support the launch, including validated chain of identity and chain of custody systems, global shipping infrastructure, and the needed manufacturing capacity to support uptake following approval. Finally, we continue to work with key commercial and government payers and policymakers in the U.S. and Europe to ensure they understand the significant burden of these diseases and that broad patient access and reimbursement are in place if and when exa-cel is approved. To date, we have engaged with all U.S. state Medicaid agencies, some 150 unique U.S. commercial payers, as well as multiple health technology assessment bodies in Europe, including NICE and G-BA, to share important information about exa-cel and our commitment to working collaboratively to provide access to this therapy.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Shifting now to VX-548, which we believe has the potential to play an important role across the pain spectrum, including acute pain and chronic pain conditions. I'll focus my comments on acute pain, which is a near-term commercial opportunity. There are four aspects critical to framing the acute pain opportunity for Vertex Pharmaceuticals. One, there is a significant unmet need due to the limitations and drawbacks of currently available treatments. Two, the market is large today, even with 90% generic prescribing. Three, prescribing is concentrated in the hospital setting and thus addressable with a specialty commercial infrastructure. Four, there is broad stakeholder recognition of the need for new therapies, which also helps provide a clear path to future patient access and reimbursement. Firstly, millions in the U.S. suffer from acute pain each year, yet it is often difficult to manage effectively given the limitations of existing therapies.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

The current standards of care are NSAIDs and acetaminophen at one end of the spectrum, which are non-addicting but offer limited pain relief and can pose GI and liver toxicity concerns. At the other end of the spectrum are opioids, which provide effective pain relief but have many undesirable side effects, including nausea and somnolence, and have significant abuse potential. Many large hospital systems and all 50 states have adopted restrictions for the use of opioids. This leaves a vast gap in the treatment landscape for a medicine like VX-548, with strong efficacy, a desirable benefit-risk profile, and without abuse potential given it is peripherally acting. Second, the acute pain market is very large, valued in the US at $4 billion, despite 90% of prescriptions being generic. Third, this highly concentrated market can be served with a specialty commercial model.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Of the 1.5 billion treatment days for acute pain annually, some two-thirds, or 1 billion, are driven by hospital prescribing following inpatient or outpatient procedures such as surgeries or emergency room visits. Furthermore, these hospital-driven prescriptions are concentrated among approximately 1,700 hospitals that aggregate to roughly 220 integrated delivery networks. Thus, we believe we can reach a large proportion of this market with a specialty sales and marketing infrastructure and have begun to hire for key positions. Fourth, finally, given the wide stakeholder recognition of the limitations of current treatments and the unmet need, we see both high demand and a clear path to access and reimbursement for a medicine with a profile like VX-548.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

A key example of the path to reimbursement and access is the recently passed NOPAIN, or Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation Act, signed into law last December. Through the NOPAIN Act, Congress has directed CMS to make a separate add-on payment to hospitals in the outpatient and ambulatory surgery center setting for non-opioids for the treatment of pain. We believe this new law is an important sign of the growing movement to remove barriers for hospitals, providers, and patients to utilize non-opioid treatment options. In closing, we are excited about the opportunity to extend the benefits of our CF medicines to more patients around the globe and the near-term potential to commercialize transformative treatments for patients with sickle cell disease, beta thalassemia, and acute pain. I will now turn the call to Charlie to review the financials.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Thanks, Stuart.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Vertex's fourth quarter and full year 2022 results represent another year of strong execution and exceptional financial performance. Fourth quarter 2022 revenue increased 11% year-over-year to $2.3 billion. Growth was led by a 24% year-over-year increase outside the U.S. on continued strong uptake of Trikafta/Kaftrio in markets with recently achieved reimbursement, as well as label extensions into younger age groups. U.S. CF revenue grew 5% year-over-year with ongoing consistent performance. Full year 2022 revenue of $8.93 billion represents 18% growth versus 2021, marking Vertex's eighth consecutive year of at least double-digit revenue growth. Full year 2022 international revenue of $3.23 billion increased 41% and full year U.S. revenue of $5.7 billion increased 8% compared to 2021.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

For the full year 2022, we estimate the changes in foreign exchange negatively impacted our global revenue growth rate by approximately 1.5 percentage points, inclusive of our foreign exchange risk management program. Fourth quarter 2022 combined non-GAAP, R&D, acquired IPR&D, and SG&A expenses were $872 million, an increase of 5% compared to the Fourth quarter of 2021. Full year 2022 combined non-GAAP, R&D, acquired IPR&D, and SG&A expenses were $3.07 billion, a decrease of 11% versus the prior year. Recall that 2021 results were impacted by $1.1 billion of acquired IPR&D charges, including the one-time $900 million payment to CRISPR, compared to $116 million of such charges in 2022.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Acquired IPR&D aside, throughout 2022, we continued to invest in research and our advancing pipeline, which includes mid and late-stage clinical assets across eight different disease areas. The year-over-year increase in spending reflects stepped-up investments in programs where we made notable clinical progress, particularly in pain, the new vanza triple, as well as type one diabetes. We also continued to invest in the pre-commercial build-out activities for exa-cel and preparation for other potential near-term launches. Given these programs' potentially transformative benefit to patients and multibillion-dollar market opportunities, we will continue to invest accordingly. Fourth quarter 2022 non-GAAP operating margin was 50%, and we generated non-GAAP operating income of $1.15 billion in the quarter, an increase of 15% versus the prior year period.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Full year 2022 non-GAAP operating margin was 54% and full year non-GAAP operating income was $4.79 billion, up 48% versus 2021. We ended the quarter with $10.8 billion in cash and investments as our cash flow generation and balance sheet remained very strong. On the business development front in Q4, we announced a global collaboration with Entrada Therapeutics focused on therapeutics for DM1. The HSR period expired last night, and the transaction is expected to close within days. As a result, our Q1 2023 results are anticipated to include an approximate $224 million upfront payment recorded in our income statement and an approximate $26 million equity investment recorded on the balance sheet. Now switching to guidance.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

We are establishing 2023 product revenue guidance of $9.55 billion-$9.7 billion, representing 7%-9% year-over-year growth at current exchange rates. Note that this guidance includes an expected approximate 1.5 percentage point headwind to our revenue growth, inclusive of our foreign exchange risk management program. Also note that 2023 product revenue guidance reflects revenue from cystic fibrosis products only. exa-cel is not included in guidance as potential approval and launch dates in the EU, U.K., and U.S. are still to be determined. For our CF franchise in 2023, we see continued strong performance of TRIKAFTA/KAFTRIO in all major markets, further uptake in markets with recent reimbursement agreements, and expansion into younger patient populations.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Of note, with four years of TRIKAFTA experience, the majority of international reimbursement agreements secured, and recent revisions in epidemiology, we have strong visibility to our 2023 revenue guidance range and another year of attractive growth for our CF product portfolio. We are also providing 2023 guidance for combined non-GAAP, R&D, acquired IPR&D, and SG&A expenses in a range of $3.9 billion-$4 billion, which includes approximately $300 million of upfronts and milestones from known collaborations, including the expected upfront payment in Q1 2023 for Entrada. This targeted investment increase is consistent with the significant continued progress of our multiple mid and late-stage clinical development programs and the expansion of our commercial and manufacturing capabilities in anticipation of the multibillion-dollar market opportunities represented by our programs with near-term launch potential.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Our guidance for projected full year 2023 non-GAAP effective tax rate is a range of 21%-22%. Lastly, we announced today a new $3 billion multi-year share repurchase authorization. In closing, Vertex performed exceptionally well in 2022. We grew revenue double digits for the eighth consecutive year, maintained our strong balance sheet, invested internally and externally, accelerated programs across our diverse pipeline. In 2023, we look forward to further important milestones as highlighted on this slide to mark our continued progress in multiple disease areas. We look forward to updating you on future calls, I'll ask Susie to begin the Q&A period.

[Operator]

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touchtone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. At this time, we'll pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question will come from Salveen Richter with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

[Salveen Richter, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs]

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Can you frame what we're gonna see from the VX-880 program this year and when? Also on the second program, the cells and device program, how you overcome challenges here and your confidence level that you'll be able to kind of get to the bars that you wanna see.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Yeah. Hey, thanks for the question, Salveen Richter. With regard to the VX-880 program, remember, this is the program that is, let's call it the naked cell program that requires off-the-shelf immunosuppressants. This is the program that we demonstrated proof of concept with the half dose patients last year. Where we are now is we've fully enrolled as Part B. That's where patients receive the target dose, but in a staggered manner. The real importance here is, and our excitement is to get to Part C because then we can dose patients concurrently. You should expect data this year at Congresses, and there are a couple of important diabetes congresses that occur each year that will have longer duration of follow-up and more patients worth of data.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

The dimensions on which you can expect us to share information are what we've already done with the first two patients. That's to say, C-peptide levels, decreases in exogenous insulin, improvements in hemoglobin A1c. With regard to the cells and device program, you know, historically in the field, the challenge with devices has been fibrosis, lack of oxygen getting to the cells inside these devices, as well as the inability for nutrients to go in and for insulin in this instance to be secreted out. We have worked long and hard to develop a proprietary, what we call a channel array device. This device has particular features in terms of geometry, materials, and proximity of blood and oxygen to our cells to overcome these historic barriers.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

What I'll say, to just give you a little bit more on this point is, in small animal models and large, with our proprietary device, we have seen no evidence of fibrosis. Last thing to point out, of course, the same 880 cells that we've already shown proof of concept with, those are the same cells in the cells plus device presentation as well as in our hypoimmune presentation. Yeah.

[Operator]

The next question will come from Geoff Meacham with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

[Geoff Meacham, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Bank of America]

Hey, everyone. Afternoon, thanks for the question. Just have two. For VX-548, is the communication strategy here to have all the phase III data in acute pain and neuropathic pain and then disclose everything before filing? I wasn't sure what the plan was there. Stuart, given the hospital setting, what role do you think that, you know, treatment algorithms and cost benefit studies will play commercially? This is obviously a pretty different market than you guys are typically used to. For VX-522, I don't have a doubt that you guys can express CFTR, but obviously it has to be in the right tissues. Can you talk maybe about the technical challenges here with an mRNA strategy and your development plans just at a high level?

[Geoff Meacham, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Bank of America]

Thank you.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Yeah, sure thing, Geoff. Let me start with the VX-522 question, which is the mRNA program that we are developing in collaboration with Moderna. Then we'll switch to the VX-548 program in pain. With regard to VX-522 and the mRNA program, the biggest challenge we and others have faced through the development of this approach for those last 5,000 patients who cannot benefit from CFTR modulators 'cause they simply don't make any protein, it's been delivery. That is really what we have been working on for years. It was only about 12, 18 months ago that we really had a big breakthrough in that area.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

The reason for our excitement for this program is that we can now deliver with our LNPs into our HBE cells using those same assays that are not only qualitatively translated to what we see in the clinic, but quantitatively so. We also can show that the protein expression levels with that mRNA delivery is high, with high chloride transport.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

That's the direct readout for CFTR function. Lastly, we have taken this mRNA LNP construct and administered it to small animals and large, and we can deliver it to the right cells. That's a really important part of doing this in patients. That's the technical challenges we've overcome, and it's really been all about delivery. With regard to VX-548, yes, you're right. The plan is to complete the studies, all three phase III studies.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

The two RCTs, which are very similar to what we've already done in phase II, and the one single arm study, let's call it an all-comer study. We get different pain types. We are projecting that we're gonna complete those trials towards the end of this year, beginning of next, and we'll share all the data at the same time. Stuart, over to you for commercial potential.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Yeah. Geoff, as we've described before, this is a very big market opportunity with $1.5 billion treatment days of acute pain therapy prescribed per year. Just to dimensionalize that, I talked in my prepared remarks about two-thirds of those prescriptions are either written and dispensed in a hospital or institution or ambulatory care center, or they are written in the institutional setting, but given to a patient on discharge and therefore filled in the retail setting. The combination of those two accounts for about two-thirds of the $1.5 billion treatment days. When we've talked to stakeholders across the board, they are well aware of the unmet need for new therapies in the acute pain space.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Because all institutions and all states have put in place restrictions on the use of opioids, it's created this gap in the market for products like VX-548 that have a really positive benefit risk profile. I do think we are beginning to see a sea change in terms of policies which have been focused on limiting utilization of opioids to actually policies which are looking to remove barriers that might be created by cost sensitivity. I'll point you to the NOPAIN Act, which I referred to in my prepared remarks. That directs CMS to develop a system of add-on payments for non-opioid pain medicines in addition to the bundle payment that they give to hospitals for the outpatient and the ASC setting.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

I see that as a really important sea change and recognition that, you know, these are cost-sensitive segments, but this is a way of creating barriers or reducing barriers or creating incentives to do the right thing and prescribe non-opioid pain management when they're available.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Hey, Geoff, this is Reshma again. Just to close out on pain, others may ask questions later, I just wanted to make sure I also mentioned the peripheral neuropathic pain with VX-548. That phase II study also began last year, those results, we aren't calling yet when they would be available, I wanted to make sure that you know that study is also ongoing.

[Geoff Meacham, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Bank of America]

Great. Thank you.

[Operator]

The next question will come from Phil Nadeau with Cowen. Please go ahead.

[Phil Nadeau, Managing Director at TD Cowen]

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking our question. Congrats on the progress. Question on the expense side from us. It does seem like the guidance for costs for 2023 is a bit heavier than we had anticipated. Even excluding the Entrada upfront, it does seem like costs are growing a bit faster than revenue. Curious, what are the push-pulls in the guidance? What elements are you including in the guidance? Is there investment for pre-launch, more heavy investment in R&D? Just kinda looking for a little bit more color on what is causing the expenses to rise so much. Thank you.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Phil, I'm gonna ask Charlie to take that one.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Yeah, Phil, thanks for the question. Just so you get an overall sense of where we're thinking about things. Given the strong and predictable performance in CF and the recent success of the advancing pipeline with a number of first-in-class and best-in-class assets, including programs with significant near-term potential commercially, we see this as absolutely the right time to be investing in the business. If you look at 2023 specifically, over 70% of the planned increase in R&D and SG&A is expected in programs which are past POC and therefore meaningfully de-risked. Specifically, we've got trials for Vanza in pain and AMKD in type 1 diabetes. You've got the full year cost of the investments in commercial readiness for sickle cell and betathal, and we're making commercial investments for pain as well.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Importantly, all of these programs are advancing rapidly and represent multi-billion-dollar market opportunities. You know, from our perspective, it's the right time to invest, and the good news is that with our differentiated business model, we can deliver industry-leading profitability while we're investing for innovation and growth.

[Phil Nadeau, Managing Director at TD Cowen]

Maybe one follow-up. Is there a long-term goal for either operating margins or R&D and SG&A as a % of sales?

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

No, we have not established a long-term goal.

[Phil Nadeau, Managing Director at TD Cowen]

Great. Thanks for taking our questions.

[Operator]

The next question will come from Liisa Bayko with Evercore ISI. Please go ahead.

[Liisa Bayko, Senior Research Analyst at Evercore ISI]

Hi there. Could you just tell us a little bit more about VCTX210 versus VCTX211? I noticed before, you were a little bit more focused on VCTX210. Now we're talking about VCTX211 and when, you know, what's the right form for data for there, what and what should we be expecting to see?

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Yeah, sure. Lisa, this is Reshma. VCTX211, a bit of a mouthful, is the study that a Vertex is now running in collaboration with CRISPR Therapeutics. It's a hypoimmune program for type 1 diabetes, where we're going to be assessing safety and efficacy. VCTX210 was a safety study. In terms of when you should expect data readouts and such, this study is just getting going. We haven't called when we will be sharing results, but it is just getting going.

[Liisa Bayko, Senior Research Analyst at Evercore ISI]

Okay, great. Just a quick question, two quick questions actually on, regarding the CF, franchise. Can you, talk about the new 88,000 patients? Is that, you know, kinda equally distributed amongst the key world regions? Are you seeing that more in certain areas than others? As for the long-term patents, how should we be thinking about exclusivity for vanzacaftor? I noticed you even have a next gen after vanzacaftor and maybe you could enlighten us about market exclusivity there. Thank you.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Yeah, sure. Liisa, let me tackle the IP questions, and then I'll turn it over to Stuart to talk about the CF epidemiology. The patent for TRIKAFTA goes out to at least 2037. The reason, if you're wondering, "Gosh, how is it so long from when we launched?" It's because of the rapid pace from when we had synthesized this molecule in the lab to when we got approval, starting with the U.S., which is about three years, eight months or so. The vanzacaftor triple, we haven't given a specific date, but it's longer than the TRIKAFTA compound. We have indeed identified potentiators and correctors behind vanzacaftor towards our goal of getting CF patients to sweat chloride levels in the carrier range, and those would be even longer than vanzacaftor.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Let me turn it over to Stuart for CF epi.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Yeah. Liisa, as you said, we updated our estimate for the number of people living with CF to 88,000 for North America, Europe, and Australia. That's an increase from our previous estimate from a couple of years ago of 83,000. It's really driven by three things. More patients coming forward for treatment, better data capture and more complete data capture in registries around the world. Perhaps most importantly, patients with cystic fibrosis are living longer due to improvements in the quality of care over the years and also the availability of truly effective medicines. We see those trends occurring kind of across the globe in all of the regions that I mentioned. It's not just in one part of the world.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Those trends are consistent, and I have to say, we anticipate those trends will continue into the future.

[Liisa Bayko, Senior Research Analyst at Evercore ISI]

Great. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

The next question will come from David Risinger with SVB. Please go ahead.

[David Risinger, Senior Managing Director at SVB]

Yes, thanks very much. My question is on VX-548. I guess first, could you talk about publication plans for detailed phase II results in 2023? If you are planning publications, what incremental points should we be expecting to focus on? With respect to the commercialization scenarios, there's one in which VX-548 is non-inferior to active control, and then another in which it's superior to active control. It would be helpful to just understand the commercial opportunities in those two different scenarios. One final tidbit for Charlie. Non-GAAP IPR&D was $116 million in 2022. What is the figure that's incorporated in your guidance for 2023, please? Thank you.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

All right. Dave, you have, you've given us three different questions here. Let me save the two related to 548, and let me ask Charlie to talk about, the IPR&D.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

David, the guidance includes an estimate of $300 million for IPR&D. That's inclusive of the upfront for Entrada.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Let me now move to VX-548. Dave, I'm gonna tell you a little bit more about the publication strategy and the study design. I'm gonna ask Stuart to tell you about the commercial potential and how we see it depending on the two scenarios that you laid out. VX-548 and this target, in particular, NaV1.8, has been the holy grail, NaV1.7 and NaV1.8, in the pain field for many, many years. For that reason, because we are the first company to come forward with a highly specific and effective treatment that has shown effectiveness in phase II across multiple pain models, not only with VX-548, but its predecessor molecule.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

The interest level in the community is very high, and our intent is to publish the full phase II data, abdominoplasty and bunionectomy, in a high-profile journal this year. With regard to what additional information you will be able to look at. Honestly, the key information we've already revealed in our press release. That is to say, highly efficacious, statistically significant, clinically meaningful results versus placebo. We've also already shared the numerical results for the opioid control arm. You can, while the context arm, while that reference arm wasn't there for statistical comparisons, you can clearly look and see what the context is there. You'll have the full safety. The safety profile for VX-548 is really looking very good.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

You might remember there were no related SAEs in the phase II study. In fact, there were no SAEs at all in bunionectomy. With regard to the study design, the way we've set it up is that it is a study versus placebo, superiority versus placebo. Obviously, that's there to demonstrate the efficaciousness as well as the safety profile. We have the opportunity to also assess versus opioids. If you ask me what are we looking for? If we recapitulate the results in phase II, that is a home run. Stuart?

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Yeah. As Reshma said, about the design of the study, the primary endpoint is the comparison to placebo, and then we can compare it to the reference arm. I think in either scenario that you described, Dave, what we've got here is a very significant commercial opportunity. If you are, in addition to being superior to placebo, as good as opioids from an efficacy point of view without all of their associated liabilities, which include addictive potential but aren't restricted to just addictive potential, then that is something that's gonna be highly valued by the treating community. Obviously, if we're superior, that's even better. Something which is as good as opioids from an efficacy point of view, but without all the liabilities, would be a very high-value medicine.

[David Risinger, Senior Managing Director at SVB]

Thank you.

[Operator]

The next question will come from Robyn Karnauskas with Truist. Please go ahead.

[Robyn Karnauskas, Managing Director and Senior Biotech Analyst at Truist Securities]

Hi. Thank you so much. All right, I'll go quickly. We get a lot of questions on Vertex growth, even despite you have a robust pipeline. Maybe talk about your thoughts around this 8% and if you would think that would continue to slow, or how you're thinking about it? Then with regard to next generation, despite like more robust efficacy, it still took some time to switch people over to the next generation product. Maybe some color on what the bar might be to speed up switching? Then my last question was on chronic pain. I mean, you've got a lot of acute pain data in-house, more to come. I was just curious, is chronic pain partnership still on the table and what you think partners are really looking for in order to take that forward?

[Robyn Karnauskas, Managing Director and Senior Biotech Analyst at Truist Securities]

Thank you.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Robyn, let me ask Stuart to go first with CF and talk about how we see vanzacaftor and the place for that in the marketplace.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Robyn, on vanzacaftor, as you know, based on our in vitro data but also our phase II data, we have good reasons to believe that the vanzacaftor triple combination could provide incremental clinical benefit even over TRIKAFTA, which, as you know, sets a very high bar, and that's the way the study is designed to be able to compare vanzacaftor to TRIKAFTA. I think there's really two patient populations for whom that would be an attractive proposition if it delivers that profile. One is patients who are currently being treated with a CFTR modulator who may be interested in switching to something which offers greater clinical benefit.

[Stuart Arbuckle, COO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

In addition, we haven't really talked about this, part of the population for a while, but there are some patients who've discontinued CFTR modulators for a variety of reasons over time. Our persistence rates with our CFTR modulators are, let me just reemphasize, as high as I've ever seen for any chronic oral medication. We do have patients who have discontinued over time. I think those patients who want to be on a CFTR modulator but have had to discontinue one of our previous generations may be interested in the vanzacaftor triple combination when a new treatment option is available. I do think there is likely to be a significant interest from physicians and patients if the vanzacaftor triple combination delivers incremental benefit.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Robyn, let me take the question about chronic pain next, and we'll end with growth. We see pain as three distinct categories. Acute pain, that's what we've been talking about with VX-548 and this very near-term commercial opportunity, given we are well underway with our phase III program, and it is only 48 hours of dosing. The second we see is neuropathic pain. Obviously, that's a version of chronic pain, but we distinguish that from musculoskeletal pain. For neuropathic pain, I see that as equally a Vertexian opportunity as is acute pain. There are a discrete number of prescribers. It can be serviced with a specialty sales force, and we have already shown that this target NaV1.8 with our predecessor molecule, VX-150, is effective for neuropathic pain.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

When Lyrica was a branded medicine, just to give you a sense of the market size, it was approximately a $5 billion market for Lyrica in this chronic neuropathic pain. There's the third kind of pain, which is musculoskeletal pain. It turns out that we've already studied that as well with our predecessor molecule, and it's effective in that kind of pain setting as well, which is actually quite unusual. There aren't very many medicines that work in acute neuropathic and musculoskeletal pain. I don't see the musculoskeletal pain as a Vertex sales and marketing specialty opportunity, but we're absolutely gonna serve all patients, and we would partner that.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Our focus is on the two Vertexian opportunities right in front of us, acute pain, very near term, and the neuropathic pain that's already in phase II, and the predecessor molecule was successful there. With regard to growth, let me ask Charlie to comment on the growth profile for the company.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Yeah, just a reminder on the guidance we gave, $9.55 billion-$9.7 billion, 7%-9% growth over 2022, and that's after a one and a half percentage point headwind from FX. Stating it differently, it's a $700 million increment on our 2022 revenue of $9 billion, a significant increase in 2023. I think your question really was about where does growth come from? Importantly, as has been mentioned, you know, we've recently increased our estimate of epidemiology. From several years ago, we used to say 75,000, then it was 83, now it's 88, the patient population is growing. Within that patient population, there are 20,000 patients or more who would benefit from a CFTR modulator who are not on medicine today.

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

We intend to bring as many of those as possible on to medicine as we go with continued uptake across eligible patient groups in countries where we already have reimbursement or approvals, as we expand to younger age groups and to a lesser extent, as we add additional new reimbursements. We have high visibility into our guidance for 2023, and with those drivers, we see growth beyond 2023 as well. Of course, we have the emerging opportunity from the vanza triple and the mRNA therapy in coming years. Overall, we're in great position for continued growth in 2023, and we see lots of opportunity for growth beyond 2023.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Robyn, I'll just add, you know, we've been talking about long-term growth, our 5 and 5 goal. This is 5 new medicines launching in the next 5 years. If you think about what qualifies in there, the very near-term opportunities are exa-cel in sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, vanzacaftor in CF, and VX-548 in pain. Those are just right in front of us. We have AMKD that's in phase II/3 with VX-147, the type 1 diabetes program that we spoke about, the neuropathic pain program that we spoke about, and there's also the mRNA program and the AATD program, which is also in phase II.

[Operator]

The next question will come from Mohit Bansal with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

[Mohit Bansal, Managing Director at Wells Fargo]

Great. thank you very much for taking my question. maybe, can you talk a little bit about the capital allocation priorities? I know you announced the buyback program today. your 2022 year-end cash is almost 14% of your market capitalization at this point. Do you think, outside of internal R&D, you could think about some mid-size acquisition at this point, given the cash position and the market at this point? Thank you.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Charlie?

[Charlie Wagner, CFO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Yeah. Mohit, thanks for the question. on capital allocation, probably sound like a broken record, but our priorities are the same. Investing in innovation, both internal and external, is the top priority. We clearly see that as the best way to create value for patients and for shareholders. We have, for the last five years now, maintained a share buyback program where we focus on offsetting dilution from employee share programs and for some opportunistic buying. We have this new larger authorization at $3 billion, but it's simply a reflection of the growing strength of our balance sheet and cash flow.

[Mohit Bansal, Managing Director at Wells Fargo]

Thank you.

[Operator]

The next question will come from Michael Yee with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

[Michael Yee, Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Jefferies]

Hey, guys. Thanks, appreciate it. Two pipeline questions for you. One on the vanza triple. I know that you have commented that you think it could be better. I recall that in the phase II, there was, although difficult to compare cross-trial, some debate around whether it was truly better on FEV or more about sweat chloride, and you would see the effects, I think, more peripherally. Can you just comment on whether you actually think FEV actually would be better in the phase III, given the chloride transport data is so much better? I know David Altshuler has also short of commented on that. On the mRNA program 522, I think you made a nice comment earlier in this call about how, at least in animal models, it was getting into the tissue.

[Michael Yee, Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Jefferies]

Can you just reiterate what you were saying about, your view of or testing in HBE assays about whether the LNP is actually getting in and how confident you are in CF tissue that the LNP is getting in? Thank you.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Yeah, sure thing, Mike. With regard to the vanza triple, if you look at the phase II data, you're right, these are cross-study comparisons, but if you're trying to glean and get a general sense for what the data are telling you, in the phase II trials, what you can see is, on average, the vanza triple compared to what we have shown with TRIKAFTA, it's about five points better on sweat chloride. If you look closely and look at the ppFEV1 values that we've generated, there are some patients in the vanza triple where we've seen 20% improvement in ppFEV1. If you ask me, gosh, can the vanza triple be better than TRIKAFTA? Yes.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

I would say that the strongest evidence for that is the chloride transport in our HBE assays, which have proven themselves time and time again, as well as sweat chloride, because that's simply a less variable measure. If I look at ppFEV1, there are hints of that as well. I would put that lower on the scale of evidence because the variability is greater. With regard to mRNA and why we are so enthusiastic about this program, which we are running in collaboration with Moderna, it is really a combination of three things. The first is the ability to demonstrate that with these LNPs, we get the construct into the HBE cells. That's important because of how reliable the HBE cells are and how translatable they are. Second, it is about the high expression of the protein.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Third, in multiple animal models, we can show, and this has been difficult for others to show. Some have not talked about it, and it's been difficult to gather whether they have or have not. I can tell you, we have, in multiple animal models, demonstrated that the mRNA gets to the right cells in the lung.

[Michael Yee, Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Jefferies]

Perfect. Thank you, guys.

[Operator]

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

[Jessica Fye, Managing Director at JPMorgan]

Great. Thanks for taking my questions. Just a couple of quick ones maybe following up on the last. First, with the SAD trial for VX-522 completing this year, should we expect to see data from that trial this year, or might that not come until later once the MAD work is complete? Similar question on the phase II/3 kidney trial. You said you expect to complete the phase IIb dose ranging portion this year. What will we hear at that point? Will we hear anything beyond that a dose has been selected? Will you communicate what that dose is? Thank you.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Yeah. Hi, Jess. With regard to the SAD/MAD VX-522, in CF, we do expect that the SAD will complete this year. It's hard to say that we're gonna see an effect because it is a single-dose study, right? But we've been wrong before. When patients started on TRIKAFTA, for example, they tell us they felt differently with the first dose. We do expect that the SAD will finish, and we fully expect to initiate the MAD as well. I do think that we will have a good line of sight on efficacy with the MAD.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

We're not guiding yet to when the data will be available, but we do expect to finish the SAD, we expect to initiate the MAD, and yes, it's possible the data will be ready this year. On the VX-147 program in inaxaplin and the phase II/3 study, you'll remember this one is particularly exciting because it's in kidney disease where there has been unfortunately, very little advancement and there are really no products in development for APOL1-mediated kidney disease. Our phase II results showed a 47.6% reduction in proteinuria, which is unprecedented in FSGS, let alone in APOL1-mediated FSGS. We do expect that the phase II part of the study will be done this year.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

It's an ongoing study, it's an adaptive phase II/3, which means we'll roll right into the phase III once dose selection is made. I do not expect that we will be sharing results to maintain study integrity, but we will be sharing that we've completed that portion, we've selected a dose, and we've rolled into phase III.

[Susie Lisa, SVP of Investor Relations at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Thanks. Chuck, we'll take one more question.

[Operator]

The next question will come from Excuse me, Evan Seigerman with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead, sir.

[Evan Seigerman, Managing Director at BMO Capital Markets]

Hi, guys. Thank you so much for squeezing me in at the end. I wanted to ask on the IND for the cells plus device program for type 1 diabetes. Can you provide kind of any color as to what exactly the FDA wants and maybe color as to why Canada was more comfortable with moving into humans versus the FDA? Thank you.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Evan, this is about cells plus device VX-264 in type one diabetes. This is a program using the same cells as the 880 program, but encapsulated in a device so immunosuppressants are not necessary. The most important thing to tell you is we've received the FDA questions, and we've already responded. No new data needed to be generated. No new experiments needed to be run. The questions and clarifications were ready at hand. You know, Evan, if you ask why was one regulatory agency more comfortable than another, that's just a tough question to answer, and I don't know that I have a good answer for you.

[Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

What I can tell you is that it's a high-quality submission, and we are very excited to get this, up and running with patients enrolled and dosed in Canada, and we're working with urgency to get the study in the U.S. as well.

[Evan Seigerman, Managing Director at BMO Capital Markets]

Great. Thank you.

[Susie Lisa, SVP of Investor Relations at Vertex Pharmaceuticals]

Thanks, everyone. Charlie, will you please give the replay information?

[Operator]

Yes, ma'am. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. A replay of today's event will be available shortly after the call concludes by dialing 1-877-344-7529 or 1-412-317-0088. You can use the replay access code, which is 6823854. Again, that access code is 6823845. Thank you.

Participants

Executives

• Charlie Wagner, CFO
• Reshma Kewalramani, CEO and President
• Stuart Arbuckle, COO
• Susie Lisa, SVP of Investor Relations

Analysts

• David Risinger, Senior Managing Director at SVB
• Evan Seigerman, Managing Director at BMO Capital Markets
• Geoff Meacham, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Bank of America
• Jessica Fye, Managing Director at JPMorgan
• Liisa Bayko, Senior Research Analyst at Evercore ISI
• Michael Yee, Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Jefferies
• Mohit Bansal, Managing Director at Wells Fargo
• Phil Nadeau, Managing Director at TD Cowen
• Robyn Karnauskas, Managing Director and Senior Biotech Analyst at Truist Securities
• Salveen Richter, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs