BioMarin Pharmaceutical Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
April 26, 2023

Key Takeaways

  • BioMarine delivered 15% year-over-year revenue growth with Q1 total revenues of ~$596 million and GAAP net income of $51 million, reaffirming full-year profitability targets.
  • VoxSOGO treated roughly 1,500 patients in 35 markets, driving the company to raise 2023 VoxSOGO revenue guidance by $50 million to $380–$430 million and setting it on a path toward blockbuster status.
  • Octavian’s European rollout shifts away from new outcome-based agreements in Germany toward negotiating a final federal reimbursement price with GKV, which may slow initial patient uptake.
  • In the US, Octavian’s PDUFA date is June 30, 2023, and BioMarine has a ready commercial infrastructure—single warranty model, ICER value support and focused hemophilia treatment center partnerships—to drive rapid launch.
  • The R&D pipeline advances with potential label expansions for VoxSOGO in additional growth disorders and progress toward clinical milestones for BMN255, BMN331 and BMN349 later this year.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Q1 2023
00:00 / 00:00

There are 12 speakers on the call.

Operator

Welcome to the BioMarine Pharmaceuticals First Quarter Investor Update Call. Hosting the conference call today from BioMarine is Tracy McCarty, Group Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Traci.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Ross, and thank you all for joining us today. To remind you, this non confidential presentation contains Forward looking statements about the business prospects of BioMarine Pharmaceuticals, including expectations regarding BioMarine's financial performance, commercial products and potential future products in different areas of therapeutic research and development. Results may differ materially depending on the progress BioMarine's product programs, actions of regulatory authority, availability of capital, future actions in the pharmaceutical market and developments by competitors and those factors detailed in BioMarine's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission such as 10 Q, 10 ks and 8 ks report. On the call today from BioMarine's management team are J. J.

Speaker 1

Bienaime, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Acher, Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer and Fuchs, President, Worldwide Research and Development Greg Guyer, Executive Vice President, Chief Technical Officer and Brian Mueller, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, J. J. Bienaime. J.

Speaker 1

Bienaime:]

Speaker 2

Thank you, Tracy, and good afternoon, Thank you for joining us today. So we are very pleased with BioMarine's progress in the Q1 As more families gain access to BoxSogo as well as our other essential medicines. Our financial performance in the quarter was strong, especially in light of ongoing macroeconomic challenges across the globe. 15% growth of the top line and 15% non GAAP income growth on the bottom line With BioMarine firmly on track to achieving our 2023 financial goals. These results include $88,000,000 in Voxogo revenue And strong Q1 profitability of $51,000,000 on a GAAP basis and all is from our Fully owned portfolio of commercial products.

Speaker 2

With Q1 total revenues coming in at just under $600,000,000 we are on the path To achieving our 2023 objectives of double digit revenue growth and significant operating leverage, driving Approximately 30% growth in bottom line profitability in 2023 as communicated in February. We are very pleased with the continued cadence of VoxSOGO uptake worldwide. VoxSOGO is now Being using around 1500 patients in 35 different geographies and we have seen significant growth of OXXO2 in Japan Since approval there and as a result we are raising again our 2023 full year guidance midpoint by $50,000,000 at the midpoint level based on Increasing expectations for the brand. Based on the still very limited market penetration, we believe Voxel is on its way to become a blockbuster. Turning to Octavian in Europe today, we have begun working directly with the Diebold National German Insurance Fund for GKV on a final federal German flight and therefore we will not pursue any additional outcome based agreement With sub insurance, which are the Chairman of most of the regional SIG funds at this time.

Speaker 2

We believe that the highly innovative profile of Rotavion offers an attractive treatment option for those people with severe hemophilia interested in anti cations alternative to product therapy. We believe that working directly with the primary health insurance provider in Germany, which we expect will cover Octavian treatment with a one time payment and without an outcome based component We'll facilitate access. We also believe the German healthcare system will recognize our dividend value based on the transformational efficacy observed in a majority of participants across our extensive development program with Rockavian. Our initial interactions with the GKV have been positive and we anticipate A final German reimbursement price that will be representative of the full value Proximity is delivering to patients, especially based on our recent 3 year update of our Phase 3 trial. Over the long term, we don't expect today's update to impact our expectations for Octavian As we continue to hear feedback from German hematologists that they are ready to treat despite some of the challenges BioMarine has experience with German regional fixed funds reimbursement in the very short term.

Speaker 2

We are pleased to share that other markets in Europe And outside of Europe are actively pursuing access to Rockavian, which Jeff will review in a moment. With the U. S. PDUFA action date only 2 months away, we are optimistic, Cautiously, of course, for what lies ahead in the second half of the year. The commercial team is working hard to prepare for another successful product launch.

Speaker 2

And as we communicated during our Q4 conference call a couple of months ago, in the United States roughly 300 patients from the bleeding disorders community I've engaged with BioMarine directly to learn more about Rotavian, which is a very positive sign. We believe 2023 It is a year of Rockalian and we are looking forward to continued progress ahead in both Europe, the U. S. And the rest of

Speaker 3

the world. So, in summary,

Speaker 2

we are very pleased with BioMarine's performance in the Q1 and our outlook for the remainder of the year. The momentum behind Barktogra continues driving record financial results. We are making good progress on the European launch of Rockalian and we look forward to the outcome of the June 30 PDUFA milestone in U. S, we are ready. Importantly, we have made the transition to an earnings growth story, a unique accomplishment in our industry and we thank you for your continued support.

Speaker 2

I will now I'll turn the call over to Jeff to discuss the commercial business update. Jeff?

Speaker 4

Thank you, JJ. I'm very pleased with our record breaking performance in the Q1, resulting in $596,000,000 in total revenues and representing 15% growth year over year including KUVAN 19% growth excluding KUVANT. Solid contributions from our enzyme products resulted in year over year growth of Approximately 5%, which is in line given anticipated seasonality and ordering patterns for certain brands. Overall, the Ensign product revenue base is tracking as expected, and we anticipate it will provide meaningful contributions to BioMarine's Full year total revenues this year. Turning to Botsogo, as underscored by our guidance increase today, we are very pleased with the continued acceleration Today, we raised full year Boxogo revenue guidance to between $380,000,000 $430,000,000 A $50,000,000 increase at the midpoint and representing 140% growth over 2022.

Speaker 4

At the end of the Q1, approximately 1500 children with achondroplasia in 35 different markets We're being treated with BOXHOGO within the currently approved age ranges. Uptake to date represents 9% penetration I've indicated patients in BioMarine's commercial footprint, highlighting the significant growth potential that remains. This includes Europe for children 2 years old and older, the United States for children 5 years old and older and in Japan Where BotsoGo is approved with no age restrictions. Japan was a key driver of growth due in part to the availability of BotsoGo treatment We also saw significant contributions in the quarter from Europe, United States And certain markets in the Latin American region. Looking ahead for the remainder of 2023, we expect growth across markets With continued uptake in existing markets and expansion into new markets.

Speaker 4

We do look forward to learning in the coming months If European and U. S. Health authorities are supportive of extending access to Voxogo to younger children, which would make it available to more than 1,000 additional children in those markets. Taken together, we continue to believe that FOXO go has the potential to be our first $1,000,000,000 brand. Turning now to RockTavian.

Speaker 4

To remind you, upon European approval of RockTavian late last year, Our plan was to quickly facilitate access for patients in Germany through the use of outcomes based agreements. At the time of approval, the free pricing window in Germany was 12 months, but was changed to 6 months in January. With a 12 month free pricing window at the time of launch, it made sense to pursue OBAs with the goal of facilitating access to Rytaviant Prior to final federal reimbursement. Now that we are already working with GKV on a final federal price for Rockabian, We will not pursue additional OVAs as JJ shared. A reminder, GKB is the umbrella entity that is responsible for health insurance To approximately 90% of the German population and we believe this path will facilitate the broadest access.

Speaker 4

While we work to finalize the German price with GKV, reimbursement for people treated with Rockhaven is possible under named patient authorizations through individual insurers. Those sales would be subject to the final price once it has been established. Patients treated under executed OVAs will benefit from the terms of that OVA at least until the German price is finalized. As JJ shared, we expect the GKV negotiations to yield the price for RockTavian that incorporates durability and other benefits that would be paid in a one time upfront payment and without bespoke outcomes based agreements. Turning to CDx testing in Germany, we are pleased to see a significant pipeline of patients building as more tests are in motion.

Speaker 4

As of the most recent data, 18 people had been screened for AAV5 seropositivity, An important eligibility criteria for treatment with ROCKETI. We expect that our first treated patient in Germany will be sourced from this pool in the second quarter. And while not all patients tested will be eligible and choose treatment with Rockavian, We are encouraged by the level of interest from patients in Germany. Beyond Germany, our applications seeking price and reimbursement approvals As well as other launch preparation activities are making progress in both France and Italy where we expect negotiations to conclude by Q4 of this year. In Italy, we were pleased that Rockavian was recently awarded conditional innovation designation, a positive signal that should facilitate pricing and reimbursement.

Speaker 4

We are also encouraged by early interest in RockTavian and other markets, including Argentina and Saudi Arabia, where we have the potential to provide access to Roxavian through named patient authorizations. We are aware of 11 completed CDx tests in Argentina and a recent prescription for Roxavian urea. Taken together, we are pleased with the progress we are seeing outside of the United States, especially noting some key differences and reimbursement and launch dynamics Between the U. S. And other markets, touching briefly on some of the differences that we believe will positively impact our Octavian U.

Speaker 4

S. Launch Potential approval in June. 1st, we intend to implement a single warranty, which will allow us to offer a uniform agreement To all purchasers in the U. S. Avoiding the need to negotiate bespoke contracts.

Speaker 4

Next, We plan to leverage the value based assessment from the Institute For Clinical and Economic Review or ICER, which noted that roctavian was a dominant treatment with substantial cost savings along with projected gains and quality adjusted life years At $2,500,000 per one time treatment, ISER's conclusion of value is consistent with results from payer research Conducted recently in the U. S. As in prior launches, we believe it will be possible to navigate reimbursement approvals Following approval for individual patients on the basis of medical exception until coverage policies are issued. Finally, in Europe, we are not promoted to promote we are not permitted to promote RockTavian directly to patients. So many people with severe hemophilia A only learn of it during their annual or semi annual check ins with their hematologists.

Speaker 4

In the U. S, In contrast, we intend to use all channels available to raise awareness of Octavian. That is a good segue to our update on U. S. Commercial preparedness.

Speaker 4

Our teams have worked with treatment centers to ensure site readiness, conducted discussions with payers, Work through a refinement of our warranty and our promotional campaign is ready. The supply of our Octavian to meet demand has been manufactured. We stand ready to go upon a potential approval. We have identified and are focused on a relatively Small number of the largest and most capable hemophilia treatment centers to be ready to treat with RockTavian in the U. S.

Speaker 4

At or shortly after launch. We understand the value of and are committed to hemophilia treatment centers being the site of treatment for Octavian for the reasons of appropriate patient selection, post treatment follow-up and monitoring and more generally due to the complexity of hemophilia management. In conclusion, we are off to a strong start in 2023, delivering record breaking results in the Q1 Underscores demand for our essential medicines based on the challenges faced securing additional OBAs in the quarter To facilitate patient access to ROCKTIVIAN and the updated U. S. PDUFA action date for March to June, We have lowered full year 2023 ROCVIA guidance to between $50,000,000 $150,000,000 Thank you for your attention.

Speaker 4

And I will now turn the call over to Hank to provide an R and D update. Hank?

Speaker 5

Thanks, Jeff, and thank you all for joining us today. BioMarine's worldwide R and D organization is gratified to see the enthusiasm for families interested in benefiting from Bauxho Go treatment for their children with achondroplasia. In the coming months, we look forward to learning the outcome of our request to potentially expand the label both in Europe and in the United States to offer the possibility of treatment to children of all ages where VOXXO is currently available. Also later in 2023 with VOXXOVO, we look forward to results from the investigator sponsored trial evaluating VOXXOVO's to treat other genetic forms of short stature, including for example, hypochondriplasia, mutations in the NPR2 gene and Noonan syndrome, just to name a few. We are also engaged in active discussions with authorities concerning the opportunity to leverage Vibesogo, a natural regulator of bone growth and these other conditions characterized by impaired bone growth.

Speaker 5

Moving to Octavian. As we announced in March, the United States Food and Drug Administration extended their review of the biologics license application for Octavian. As anticipated, the FDA determined that the submission of the 3 year data analysis from the ongoing Phase 3 GENERATE-one study as requested by the agency constituted a major amendment due to the substantial amount of additional data and set a new PDUFA target action date of June 30, 2023. We continue to engage with the agency and look forward to our June 30 PDUFA action date. Briefly on the earlier stage pipeline, we shared a few incremental updates in our press release today on BMN255 for hyperoxaluria in chronic liver disease, BMN331 gene therapy for hereditary angioedema and the MN349 for alpha-one antitrypsin deficiency.

Speaker 5

We look forward to providing updates across our advancing development pipeline at our R and D Day in New York on September 12. Starting with BMN255, we have concluded the multi ascending dose in the healthy volunteer study. In January, we shared early data that demonstrated rapid and potent increase In plasma glycolate following treatment with BMN255, oral daily dosing at all tested levels for 14 days Was safe and showed sustained elevations in plasma glycolate, which is predicted to have a profound reduction in oxalate excretion in patients. Based on these early signals, we now plan to initiate and enroll an expanded study in patients with chronic liver disease and hyperoxaluria later in 2023. We believe the availability of a potent orally bioavailable small molecule like BMN255 may be able to significantly reduce disease and treatment burden and patients with in a patient population with significant unmet need.

Speaker 5

Turning to our next gene therapy BMN331 for atterioangioedema, which is like hemophilia in the sense that it poses a chronic lifelong burden of therapy due to the risk of breakthrough attacks that are extremely burdensome and potentially life threatening. The disease is due to genetically determined loss of a key protein regulating the inflammatory cascade responsible for these attacks. The available therapies on the market have confirmed the effectiveness of replacement, much less in the case of replacement factor VIII therapy in hemophilia. We've shown in 3 studies with BMN331 gene therapy that in mutant mice and in non human primates that a similar dose to that employed in clinical studies of Rockavian Can provide ample and constant expression of C1 inhibitor within the therapeutic range in patients. We expect to continuously express levels of protein We'll provide improvements in the disease course of hereditary angioedema over existing therapies.

Speaker 5

In March, the second sentinel patient was dosed safely at And encouraging response from the first participant who demonstrated an early increase in C1S series inhibitor that may ultimately be therapeutically relevant. This is exciting. With BMN-three forty nine for alpha-one antitrypsin deficiency, preclinical studies have demonstrated oral bioavailability In a small molecule that potentially sequesters the mutant protein preventing polymerization in the liver cells that drive progressive liver disease, The liver disease form of the illness. In preclinical studies BMN-three forty nine is titratable to effect with rapid onset and high potency. Preclinical results have strong implications for potential improvement of our current management, particularly for severe liver disease requiring rapid action.

Speaker 5

IND enabling studies are underway and BioMarine's goal is to submit an IND for BMN349 in the second half of the year. Stay tuned for updates on these as well as 351 for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and BMN-three thousand two hundred and ninety three for myosin binding You can see 3 hypertrophic cardiomyopathy at R&D Day in New York in September. Thank you all for your continued support. And I will now turn the call over to Brian to update financial results in the quarter. Brian?

Speaker 3

Thank you, Hank. Please refer to today's press release summarizing our financial results for full detail on Q1 of 2023. Since JJ and Jeff spoke to our revenue performance for the quarter and future revenue outlook, I will primarily focus on the remainder of our P and L and other key financial updates this quarter. As usual, all results will be available in our upcoming Form 10 Q, which We refer to last year as a transformational year for BioMarine with the growing base business of enzyme products Plus the successful launch of Boxilgo together with operating expense control driving meaningful GAAP net income and a foundation for our financial growth strategy into the future. We are pleased that the strong start of the business in the Q1 of 2023 In supportive of our 2023 and long term objectives of substantial revenue growth, margin expansion and increasing earnings.

Speaker 3

BioMarine's $596,000,000 of total revenue in the Q1 of 2023 is an increase of 15% compared to the Q1 of 2022. Regarding our revenue outlook for the rest of 2023, Jeff commented on the increase to our 2023 VOXOGO revenue guidance and decrease to our 2023 VOXAVIAN revenue guidance, which offset each other in aggregate, resulting in no change to our total revenue guidance for 2023, which is annual growth of 16% at the midpoint. Across the rest of the P and L, Q1 2023 gross margin was 78.8%, which is an improvement of 1.3% as compared Q1 of 2022. R and D expense in 2023 started at a moderate rate in the Q1, which was expected given the planned increase an R and D investment in our early stage pipeline and the lifecycle management development efforts for Rockavian and Voxogo that we expect to ramp up over the course of this year. SG and A expense in the Q1 of 2023 of $223,000,000 increased as compared to $195,000,000 in Q1 of 2022, which is in line with expectations as we continue to invest in the global VOXOGO commercialization, The EU RockTavian launch and the commercial launch preparations for RockTavian in the U.

Speaker 3

S. Back to the bottom line, we delivered on our commitment to profitability with $51,000,000 of GAAP net income in Q1 2023 and $116,000,000 of non GAAP income, which sets up BioMarine well to achieve our full year 2023 profitability objective. GAAP net income decreased in Q1 year over year. However, it is important to note that GAAP net income in the Q1 of last year included the gain on the sale of the Priority review voucher received in connection with the U. S.

Speaker 3

Approval of Voxogo, which was approximately $89,000,000 after income tax. Today, we reaffirmed our 2023 GAAP and non GAAP income guidance of $155,000,000 to $205,000,000 and $360,000,000 to $410,000,000 respectively. Total cash and investments in the Q1 of 2023 was Close to $1,500,000,000 which decreased during the quarter due to some milestone payments, the timing of accounts receivable collection and known seasonality of operating accrual net pay down. As we believe these cash flow timing events were front loaded to the beginning of the year, We expect to resume positive cash flows over the course of 2023. In closing, we are pleased to observe the solid start 2023 and are keenly focused on maximizing the potential of the global Voxogo and European Rockavian commercial launches, Measured operating expense investments and the resulting leveraged profitability growth that we anticipate for the full year and beyond.

Speaker 3

Thank you all for your attention.

Speaker 2

We will now open up

Speaker 3

the call for your questions. Operator?

Operator

In the interest of time, we request that you limit yourself to one question, so that everyone in the queue is able to ask your question. And our first question comes from Salveen Richter from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead, Salveen.

Speaker 6

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Can you provide more detail here on how the GKV facilitates Discussions on the final price and any impact on this price given that additional OBAs will not be pursued? And then in the interim, do you expect patients to actually be treated through either named patient authorizations or the one finalized OBE or is it really just GKV here.

Speaker 4

Hi, Pavi, and I'll be happy to take that one on. So the GKV process We've described here that takes essentially 12 months to get to a final Reimbursement price and broad reimbursement access, this is normal. So this is The same process that we've gone through for all of our previous brands.

Speaker 2

I think 12 months from approval, not 12 months from today.

Speaker 4

Yes, 12 months from our price listing, which was September 15th last year. So we're very familiar with that process And we are pretty deep into that process by now. So we submit a full price and reimbursement dossier. We did in the fall of last year. That takes a while to get processed by the TKB.

Speaker 4

We've had our first meeting to review that. There's usually a series of 4 meetings and Reviews before we get to a final answer. We think that that first meeting was set up a very favorable tone including Testimony from key physicians in Germany on behalf of RockTavian. So that's kind of the process. What's different with Rocktavian than our other brands is our other brands have all entered into a situation where there is no existing standard of care.

Speaker 4

In the case of hemophilia, we knew that we were launching into a situation where there was an existing indeed an evolving standard of care. And so our strategy was to contract with subnational insurer Umbrella Organizations, what we're calling sub insurers here, to put outcomes based agreements in place, Get agreement on preliminary price to facilitate rapid uptake of RockTavion. When we launched, we believe that the pre pricing period in Germany as it has been for years years would be 12 months. So what changed? The first thing that changed is late last year, there was new legislation that changed the 12 month to 6 month free pricing period And that's new.

Speaker 4

While some people saw that coming as we did, what's new about that is nobody really knows how the parties will behave At the end of the 6 month repricing period and before we have final price and reimbursement Approval from GKV. The second thing that changed according to our plan was we saw more reticence We were expecting from the sub insurer groups to engage in finding a path forward and defining OVAs which are new for RockTadius. So now that we are in Well into discussions on a final price and reimbursement arrangement that covers essentially all of Germany. We think it just does not make sense any longer to pursue additional outcomes based agreements with those so called sub National Insurers. Instead, we think we've got some patients covered under an existing outcomes based agreement, Covers a part of the population, and we know that, patients can be submitted through their health insurer for essentially a one off or an inpatient approval, While we work to get the final price of reimbursement, Nelbo, sorry for all the detail, but you did ask for it.

Operator

And our next question comes from Geoff Meacham from Bank of America. Please go ahead, Geoff.

Speaker 5

Afternoon, guys. Thanks for the question. Just had 2 quick ones on Octavian. So I guess to follow-up on Germany. So You have to go back to square 1 and communication of kind of cost benefits to GKB and I guess was the 6 months of OBA negotiation, A total waste here.

Speaker 5

And then secondly, in the U. S, just commercially, what's left to help streamline access and reimbursement, Obviously, aside from formal FDA approval. Thank you.

Speaker 4

Yes. So thanks for the question, Jeff. To reiterate, Right after we submitted our price and got that listed in September 15th last year, shortly after that we Submitted as we always do for our brands to GKB, a full price and reimbursement dossier. And as I noted in the last question, It takes 4, 5, 6 months for GKB to get to the point where they're ready to enter negotiations with us because it is An intensive dossier to review. The work that we did with the so called subnational insurers Was not a complete waste of time.

Speaker 4

Indeed, we achieved proof of principle with getting 1 major insurer signed up. So patients under that insurance group have the benefit of that outcomes based agreement. And so I think that's As I described also in the previous question, that's where we're at. We're more than 6 months in. We're well underway with Getting to a final federal reimbursement price and that price when it's set We'll be retroactive to any patients that are treated for March 15 on when the pre pricing period ended.

Speaker 4

U. S. Is a completely different situation. So as we've disclosed, we have a warranty agreement that does not require to be negotiated One payer by one payer, it's a uniform agreement that we intend to offer to all purchasers of Rockavian. So that cuts down on the time associated with doing bespoke agreements.

Speaker 4

That's the first piece. And then the second piece is similar to our other launches in the United States, we know that it is possible to navigate Individual payer approvals for patients that are submitted As a part of a medical exception process and while coverage policies are in process of And you know because you follow other launches that coverage policies can take anywhere from 1 to 9 or 12 months to get issued variable by payer. So that's how we plan to navigate that process Immediately following launch.

Operator

And our next question comes from Chris Raymond from Piper Sandler. Please go ahead, Chris.

Speaker 7

Hey, thanks. If I can ask another RockTavian question. So just Curious, you guys highlighted 18 patients have undergone antibody testing. I think last quarter that number was 10. So it doesn't seem like you're seeing necessarily in Germany anyway an inflection higher or Sort of an acceleration, maybe just talk about that dynamic.

Speaker 7

Is that also subject to any reimbursement Barriers that you didn't anticipate. And then maybe on the guidance change, changing cutting top and bottom by $50,000,000 Yes, I know you weren't expecting $50,000,000 in Q1 and I know your original plan didn't hinge on a March U. S. Approval, but maybe can

Speaker 5

you talk about how much

Speaker 7

of this Reduction is driven by the sort of the resistance you're seeing in Germany versus maybe a reassessment of the U. S. Opportunity? Thanks.

Speaker 4

So let me start out and I'll ask Brian or JJ to round out anything I missed, Chris. First with respect to the CDx test completed, you're right, it was 2 months ago actually that we reported We had 10 patients that have been submitted for CDx testing. So, you could look at that and say over the past 2 months, We've seen an additional 8. And I can tell you because I review the situation with the team every week, already have additional patients So what I'm seeing is the development of a patient pipeline And it was slow to get started. It was for sure impacted by patient awareness or the lack of patient awareness Immediately following approval and our ability to influence patient awareness in Germany, The cadence of when patients come in to see their hematologist for hemophilia guidance, which is Anywhere from every 3 months to every 12 months and that cadence of patient visits to hemophilia treatment centers Didn't change just because Rock Fabian was approved.

Speaker 4

So I would say that building of the patient funnel And all the things that are happening underneath the top of that funnel are really encouraging to me. I'm seeing movement Literally every week now and that movement every week that I'm seeing is picking up pace. So I'm pretty encouraged by that. In terms of guidance, guidance was impacted for Roxavian by The pace and timing of getting first patient treated, which is different than we were expecting at the beginning of the year and the change of the PDUFA date in the United States from the end of March to end of June.

Speaker 3

That's right. This is Brian. Thanks, Chris. Just to supplement that, we noted that the high end of the Previous range accounted for the current March PDUFA. And so just a reminder with what was Mark Spiedtuffe at the time.

Speaker 3

Just a reminder that while that's a 3 month shift with a product like Rockavian that we expect to ramp up in terms of revenue over time, That 3 month shift from a revenue standpoint actually causes us to lose what would have been the last quarter of revenue in 2023, so and likely And then on the bottom end, you're right, there is a combining effect of the challenges in Germany. So we've been trying to Account for all scenarios in the revised guidance.

Operator

And our next question comes from Phil Nadeau from TD Cowen. Please go ahead, Phil.

Speaker 8

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking our questions. One more question on Germany. I guess it's still unclear to us why those patients who have gone through CDx testing have Not going on therapy. I think you've been very clear about the price or the reimbursement negotiation process, but you've also suggested that there are patients who are covered through OBA 1 OBA So for those patients who have gone through CDx testing, why have they not been treated yet?

Speaker 8

What's the bottleneck there? Is it a Concerned about time to reimbursement, do the physicians have some other concern, kind of what's preventing that treatment? And then secondarily, I think think you said in your prepared remarks, you do expect the first patient to be treated in Q2. What gives you confidence in that, given that no one was treated in Q1? Thanks.

Speaker 4

Hi, Phil. I'll start with that one and see if JJ wants to round out any comments. So what's going on between CDx testing and treatment. The first thing is CDx testing is one of a couple of eligibility criteria. So it's an important one and it's probably the biggest piece to get done.

Speaker 4

There's also liver health Testing that's in eligibility criteria. It is possible, it's likely, Highly likely that anybody that's going through the process of CDx testing is interested in Potential treatment with RockTavian. As has been described to me by some of the German physicians, The cadence of decision making may not just hinge on a positive or a negative CDx test possible. But as described to me, patients go back, they confer with their family. Sometimes they have additional questions for They're treating physician.

Speaker 4

Sometimes they come back for additional appointments to discuss and be canceled on Rockavian as a treatment option. So I think it's an important but not the only part in the process of what I might term the purchase decision Of a patient for Rock Kavian. And then the second question, what gives us confidence in first patient tested in Q2? So in the previous questions, I was describing that we've got a patient funnel now that is 18 and growing. And if you said, well, Emergence of a patient at the top of the funnel is defined by Sending sample in for CDx testing and then I just described maybe some of the other steps along the way, additional liver testing, Confirming with family, thinking a big decision over, maybe coming back into the clinic for further counseling.

Speaker 4

Those patients are working down the funnel that leads to the purchase decision. And as I said in the previous question, Every week I see updates and movement in Germany and the pace of those movement is picking up all the time. So that's what gives me confidence that we'll have shortly a first or more than one patient coming out of the bottom of that funnel for treatment.

Speaker 2

Maybe I want to add to what Jeff said. I mean, first of all, taking about a year to get your anniversary in Germany in competitive markets is the norm. So there is nothing that surprising here. Again, we thought with an OVA we would be able to get a usage a little faster, but obviously it's Difficult. So we did sign an NDA agreement mainly with 1 payer that only represent about 10% of the German Live, covered lives.

Speaker 2

So 10% of 18 patients would be like 1.8 patients. So it's not that surprising because the other patients basically are not covered by It's an existing OBS. So for the other patients who are dependent about a different insurance company, In Germany, physicians are personally liable financially for prescribing a treatment or a procedure They don't have coverage from their sick pumps. And obviously here we're talking about $1,000,000 or so So, therapy, so obviously you understand why physicians want to double and triple check that they are The health insurance company of the patients will cover the procedure before they move forward. I think all this is being debugged and And it's going to be happening, this is right now based on the growing pipeline of patients that we believe we're going to get a patient treated at least In the Q2 of this year in Germany and then there are patients potentially we can talk about in the rest of the world.

Speaker 2

And then the other thing that Jeff forgot to mention is Regarding what happened in the past 2 months since we gave the previous update about 10 patients that have been screened for AD5. In Germany, I understand it takes Easter holidays during Tuesday. So for 2 weeks in early April, There wasn't much activity going on anywhere in the medical field in Germany, but I also explained, but it looks like since we passed Easter, it Things are picking up again in terms of AV test screening, so which is very positive.

Operator

And our next question comes from Jessica Fye from JPMorgan. Please go ahead, Jessica.

Speaker 9

Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions.

Speaker 1

I

Speaker 9

One more on Roxavian and then another on Voxogo. So I think you mentioned you expect the 1st German patient to get RockTavian in the Q2. But maybe more broadly, can you just help us understand your expectations for Rockavian uptake in Germany between now September when you get that final reimbursement. I guess like apart from a patient here and there, does this update about not pursuing OBAs mean that we should expect Very modest uptake in Germany until the fall. And then separately on Voxogo, Can you share your latest thinking about the most likely path to approval for setting flake hypochondriplasia?

Speaker 9

Thank you.

Speaker 4

I'll take the first part of that Jessica. So relative to the subject of uptake, I started out by saying our plan was to facilitate early and more rapid update for Rock Fabian with these outcomes based agreements. We tried that and I think it was a good plan, but Things didn't work out according to that plan. So I think we're resetting expectations about the pace of uptake. Certainly, the timing of first uptake, which I think is likely in Q2 of this year.

Speaker 4

And as JJ noted in the script, the fact that we're deemphasizing or deprioritizing Those outcomes based agreements in favor of the full federal process It probably means that we'll have slower uptake until we get that price finalized. It doesn't mean that we won't have any uptake Because we've got one agreement in place and there is a process for physicians to submit Patients that they want to treat to their insurer for individual review. So that's kind of Our qualitative expectation there. I'll turn it over to Hank for the VoxSOGO question.

Speaker 5

To Achondroplasia, other new indications for Voxogo, pretty exciting question in time because of Voxogo's tremendous activities on natural regulator bone growth And because the unmet need of individuals who have severe impairments in bone growth, resulting health outcomes, poor health outcomes. And the path includes both generating some additional pilot data, which we've shared a little bit of, but we're generating more of that data to increase our and Your confidence in the potential for Roxagov to add value deficiencies with the skeletal impairments and also dialogue with health authorities around requirements for registration. As far as our next steps within with Stakeholders, probably the next real meaningful update you'll get from us about the back and forth that we're having with health authorities is going to be when we finalize And we can tell you what the trial is going to look like, when it's going to start, how many patients are going to be involved, What the endpoints are going to be, what if any are comparators or concavant medications in the trial. So pretty exciting time and stay tuned. We're well underway.

Operator

And our next question comes from Akash Tewari from Jefferies. Please go ahead, Akash.

Speaker 10

Yes. Just on the upcoming Dauber readout, is there a potential the FDA may require you to run a trial head to head versus growth hormone? And kind of what's your confidence that vosoritide efficacy won't drop off as we go to 1 year and beyond? Obviously, that didn't occur with achondroplasia, but with these new growth type disorders, that's a question that does come up. And then I also noticed you had 11 patients in Argentina screened for AB5 antibodies, can you walk us through a reasonable launch timeframe and price expectations for markets outside of the U.

Speaker 10

S. And EU5? Thanks.

Speaker 5

I'll start Akash. Your one question about I said we had about 5 subparts, I may not get them all. But one is what will be expected of us in regard to durability demonstration And another part of your question is, will the agency require comparators, For example, a growth firm. And I think the answers to both of those questions are a little bit TBD in the sense that we are in discussions With the agency and as I said, we'll tell you what sort of the resolution of all that is in regard to more specifically the answers to your question By specific type of indication, but I think you also put your finger on the head of the finger on the actual pulse of what The issues to address are and I think one of the really exciting things about OXOBO as a natural regulator bone growth is that even in a severe skeletal Like achondroplasia, we were actually able to demonstrate sufficient durability to satisfy the agency that the FDA that at least The changes that we saw in AGV were in fact reasonably likely to predict a long term accumulation of a clinically meaningful high benefit.

Speaker 5

So I think that is a good platform you referenced it. I also think the issue about growth hormone is that outside of growth hormone deficiencies, There isn't great evidence about accumulated benefit of growth hormone as regard well, there is actually let me qualify that. There is a lot of evidence about the accumulated height benefit of growth hormone in non growth hormone deficiency syndromes. It's not very compelling evidence. That is to say There isn't much of a height gain in regard to what growth hormone can do for children who don't have growth hormone deficiency.

Speaker 5

So I think you take all that together and these are going to be the kinds of discussions We have with the agency to chart the path forward for new indications for VOXXOGO. It's not without complications, but I think the settler for all of this is a Medication like Oxo Go that has the property of being a natural regulator of bound growth.

Speaker 4

Your second question, Akash, about what's the significance or what do we read into those 11 CDX tests in Argentina. Tina, I would say in the general sense, name patient sales in the absence of or even prior just prior to Our registration is an important part of our commercial picture overall. Witness, for example, the rapid uptake across our commercial footprint with FOXHOGO, some of which, but not all of which is in Markets where we have

Speaker 2

registrations, we

Speaker 4

don't tend to talk about those markets It's a lot in detail because they tend to be smaller and kind of at a slower pace than for example the major markets in Europe, Japan or the United States, but they're important overall. And I think Argentina and with early signals of patient movement, A first prescription is a good representation of what we might expect also in other markets, Where we get going one patient at a time on a named patient basis. We also mentioned that Saudi Arabia, which is also usually an early mover like Argentina on the patient sales basis is We also are underway and there's interest in Rock Fabian in that market. So what we're trying to do here is highlight the fact that Beyond where we have very specific plans like in Germany, France and Italy that I've mentioned, there is movement in those other Important inpatient sales markets.

Operator

And our next question comes from Joseph Schwartz from SVB Securities. Please go ahead, Joseph.

Speaker 1

Yes. Hi. I have a question on Rockavian. I'm Julie Dally in for Joe. How is the process with the single public insurance funds in France and Italy going?

Speaker 1

And can you provide any more color around your Expectations to secure reimbursement and access to Octavian later in 2023.

Speaker 4

Hi, Julie. So the process in each of France and Italy, which in our commercial footprint with our kind of capabilities, It is always a close follower to Germany in terms of timing and prioritization. Those markets Essentially take a year, sometimes longer to get price and reimbursement approval. And right I mentioned As soon as we got our price listed in Germany, we submitted the full price on reimbursement dossier there and got the process going last fall. Right after we did that with Germany, we were submitting in the fall of last year for France and Italy.

Speaker 4

So both of those processes are ongoing. There is no guarantee as there is in Germany that you'll conclude in 12 months, But we're on track in both of those markets and we think it's likely that we'll be at the end of that process by the fall of next year. And in the script we mentioned this year. Sorry. And we mentioned in the Chris, in Italy and this is breaking news, it just happened last week that we were granted conditionally innovative status For Rock Canyon, which doesn't confer anything specific, but is in the general sense a positive signal To how the how AIPA is looking at Rock Canyon in Italy as an example.

Operator

And our next question comes from Gena Wang from Barclays. Please go ahead, Gena.

Speaker 6

Thank you. Wanted to ask About Rocktavian, again, for the 18 patients that completed antibody testing, how many of these were eligible? Also in Europe, since now you are pursuing directly with GTV without pursuing outcome based agreements with the sub insurance, Does that mean your price will be much lower than the €1,500,000 that you previously discussed? And then lastly, very quickly regarding the U. S, can you discuss on hemophilia A patient under 340B program?

Speaker 6

And how does that mechanism impact the ROCKTIVIA initial launch?

Speaker 4

Thank you, Gina for those questions. Let me start with the 18 CDX tested in percentage that are eligible. So first thing to note is CDx testing is one eligibility test, liver health is the second. Relative to the AAV5 seropositive or negative status, The best thing that we can do to guide our expectations on that is the publication from our seroprevalence study In hemophilia A, and in that study, which was published, the overall seropositivity rate For AAV5 in Germany was 35%. So that's guiding our expectations of the percent of patients that would be Eligible based on AAB5-zero negativity.

Speaker 4

Relative to the GKB price Negotiations and what we had guided to as net price of about €1,500,000 which was last fall. We think it is likely based on what the GKV is statutorily allowed to do. We think it's likely that they will not be putting into the agreement an outcome space component or a payover time component, but nothing is certain until we get done with that process. But you're right. In that particular case, we think that the price negotiations with GKV Would incorporate all of the aspects of value of Rockavian including durability For example, so we think that the final price would model in, how GKV is looking at durability of RockTivian over time.

Speaker 4

And then relative to the 340B question in the United States, in our script remarks, we mentioned that We're committed to this HTC model of treatment and follow-up hemophilia treatment centers or HTCs in the United States Our Granite 340B eligibility, that's a way of kind of funding the work, the important work that they do to care for hemophilia patients. So we think all or substantially all of our revenue in the United States would be subject to the 340B discount.

Speaker 2

So then what's your opinion as to what that's going to do to the launch? Some respect is positive for us.

Speaker 4

Yes, we think that's very positive. So As I mentioned, the reason for being for HCCs to have access to the 340B discount is to have a source of revenue And as Rockavian would likely be eligible for those 340B discounts for All or essentially all of their patients. That's revenue that would accrue to those HDCs to fund their operation. That revenue would happen at the time of treatment versus, for example, revenue that they might be getting from supplying factor replacement products, Which they would see over time. And by the way, important point to note is the HTCs see a revenue component From factor replacement therapy only for a small proportion of their patients on average.

Speaker 4

So we think that this is actually maybe a motivating factor for treatment with Rockavian in the U. S.

Operator

And our next question comes from Tim Lugo from William Blair. Please go ahead, Tim.

Speaker 1

Thanks for taking the question. You mentioned Voxogo is on its way to becoming the 1st blockbuster for the company. Will these other nonachondroplasia indications Add to the market and kind of how much? And can you also update us, maybe I missed this on converting the accelerated approval to a full approval?

Speaker 2

Yes, I'll start and then Jeff can provide more info. I mean, I think as we made in In the prepared remarks, I think in

Speaker 4

Jeff's remarks,

Speaker 2

we only have penetrated about less than 10% of the market right now for Vauxovo achondroplasia All right. So obviously, we can get past the end. We are on the run rate already of $450,000,000 or so. So obviously, in the Aecon market alone, there's a lot of room to grow And we can easily pass $1,000,000,000 in revenue with the AECON along. So obviously, other indications are going to make it the product even larger, But that's kind of my first comment to your questions, Jeff.

Speaker 4

Nothing to add to that. Thanks, Shijay. And then there was a question of accelerated the pull up for you.

Speaker 5

Nothing new to report there. It's published post marketing requirements and The specifics of the timing for that we've kept as relatively proprietary. So stay tuned.

Operator

And our next question comes from Paul Matteis from Stifel. Please go ahead, Paul.

Speaker 11

Great. Thanks so much. Surprised it took a long time to get a question on the FDA with Rockabian, but I thought I'd Throwing in there, you should be only a handful of weeks away from labeling discussions. Just curious if

Speaker 2

you could update us on

Speaker 11

the cadence of your discussions and how everything is going? And then If you do get approval in June, do you think these reimbursement warranties could be agreed upon and in place quickly enough to generate meaningful revenues for Octavian in the U. S. In 3Q. Thanks so much.

Speaker 5

Thanks a lot for the question. I won't get into the specifics of the back and forths, But I would say that is a general matter. The things that we expect to be happening at the stage of the review appear to be happening. And I think that gives us optimism. I think We've also expressed some caution there because we don't have perfect visibility into everything going on in the agency and exactly where senior management and The people who signed the letters are, but we're optimistic.

Speaker 4

Relative to the warranty, Paul, The nature of the warranty is that it is uniform, it is non negotiable, It is available to all purchasers and essentially we don't have to negotiate. The Purchaser essentially gets that warranty with purchase. So the timing is relatively trivial.

Operator

And our next question comes from Robin Karnauskas from Truist Securities. Please go ahead, Robin.

Speaker 1

Great. Thanks for taking my question. So Just to clarify, for Octavian, since you're not doing the OBAs anymore, can you give us some sense of what price we should be using since that's been the fixation of a lot of us For Europe and how to think about that? And second for Voxogo, you're averaging now like 400 patients a quarter. You mentioned a lot of Expansion, new indications, geographic, should we think of it more consistent or choppy?

Speaker 1

Thanks.

Speaker 2

Okay.

Speaker 4

Let me start off with the price component. We've guided roughly last fall to net price expectations in Europe. How we get there from a gross to net process is different whether there's an outcomes based agreement We're no outcomes based agreement and that's figured into the value of the durability of which is figured into the value of the upfront price. But the over where we wind up should not be materially different from either path.

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean that's also and maybe that's one of the reasons why we decided to focus on the GKV and Nashville price because We assume that it's very likely there would not be an OBA with a federal their German federal government. And then So the this price might be a little lower than what we would potentially have had with an OBA, but the net price will be about the same based on the fact that there is no That we don't have to reimburse the payers based on Our patients going back to prostate therapy after 3, 4 or 5 years. So net debt we don't anticipate and based on our interaction with the GKV so far, It looks very promising and we actually don't anticipate any substantial as Jeff said a substantial difference with this approach.

Speaker 4

And then relative to your question about the cadence of Bauxogof patient uptake, it's Within kind of a band, it's actually been pretty steady, these last few quarters. Underneath that steady uptake, there's a lot of Individual market dynamics going on, but it comes on pretty smooth. I would suggest When modeling forward that you work from our revenue guidance that we've updated most recently and Yes. Acknowledging that we've had a lot of updates to those revenue guidance in a positive direction, but Yes, I'd fall back to that.

Operator

And that is all the time we have for questions today. I would like to turn the call back to BioMarine's CEO, JJ Bienaime for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

So in conclusion, we are very pleased with the BioMarine progress in the Q1 and the continued successful launch Voxelgo around the world, the importance of our medicines to the people who rely on them is clear. And while sometimes the development path forward is not always clear cut. We will continue to push that in the interest of our patients. Thank you for Your support and have a good rest of the day.

Speaker 6

The host has ended this call. Goodbye.

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