Good day, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Nanobiotix license agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, one of Janssen pharmaceutical companies of J&J, for the co-development and commercialization of NBTXR3 conference call. A slide presentation accompanying this call can be found on the investor section of the company's website at www.nanobiotix.com. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. At this point, I'll turn the call over to Craig West, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations of Nanobiotix.
Thank you, Melissa. Good afternoon, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Nanobiotix conference call to discuss our worldwide agreement with Janssen for the co-development and commercialization of our potentially first-in-class radioenhancer, NBTXR3. By Janssen, we mean Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, one of the Janssen pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson. Slides for today's call can be found on the investor section of Nanobiotix's website. Joining me on the call today are Laurent Levy, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, and Bart Van Rhijn, Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, today's call is being webcast and will be available on our website for re-replay. I would like to remind you that this call will include forward-looking statements, which may include statements regarding the progress, success, and timing of our ongoing and planned clinical trials, collaborations, regulatory filings, dates of presentation, and future research and development efforts, amongst other things.
These forward-looking statements are based on current information, assumptions, and expectations that are subject to change. They are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Please review the full description of risk factors that can be found in the documents we file with the AMF in France and the SEC in the United States, including the URD and 20-F, both of which are available on the investor relations section of our website, along with the press release issued this morning. Any forward-looking statements represent our views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views of any subsequent date.
While we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Nanobiotix undertakes no obligation to update them to reflect subsequent events or future circumstances. With that said, I'd like to turn the call over to Laurent. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Craig, and thank you everyone for joining this call. We are very happy to welcome you here to share this very good news with you and tell you why we are so excited about this deal. This is an important step for Nanobiotix, as it does fulfill several of our goals, starting with the possibility to develop our product and to develop it in a way that it could benefit multiple patient populations across multiple indications. What was important for us also in it is to make sure that we could leverage strengths of both parties, not only the strength of Janssen, but also the strength of Nanobiotix, and that Nanobiotix could continue to play an important role in the development of this product and the value creation.
Talking about value, we think we've been able, through this deal, to preserve terms and the ability to generate long-term value for shareholders. For a more short-term, near-term, we think that the financial present in this deal will put Nanobiotix in a much better situation from a financial perspective and cash visibility. Next slide, please. Let's go into some detail of this deal and what it is about. Nanobiotix and Janssen will collaborate on advancing NBTXR3 across oncology indication. We're going to start with our head and neck program, where you know we have an ongoing global phase III, and Janssen will start developing in lung cancer and potentially later we will deploy this product into other indication. Broadly, this agreement and this collaboration is designed to broaden the potential of NBTXR3 and to bring it as fast as possible to patients.
We look at the force strength of each organization, we'll see that Nanobiotix will contribute, being focused on the development, the manufacturing, and will serve as an innovation engine. Janssen will contribute with substantial development support, regulatory, and commercial capability. Looking at the overall metrics of this deal, you may notice that we have a $1.8+ billion in term of a milestone payment that include development, regulatory, and sales milestone. There is also a short cash linked to this deal, we'll come back to that in the financial presentation. Beyond the milestone, Nanobiotix will be eligible for tier double-digit sales royalty. Next slide, please. Before moving forward in giving more details about this deal, I would like to remind to the people that are new on this call, what is NBTXR3?
This product has been designed to potentially fulfill needs shared by millions of patients, which are the patients that get radiation therapy. As you know, more than 60% of all cancer patients will receive radiation therapy during their treatment. We have developed one single solution that is a treatment that you inject directly into the tumor. It is done as a single treatment and easily integrated in the medical practice, and so far, have been shown well tolerated, with consistent activity across a broad number of applications. We're talking here about NBTXR3, which is a first-in-class radioenhancer, with a mode of action that is physics-based. Physics-based, meaning that as this mode of action does not depend on some molecular biology target, that's something that could be broadly applicable across a wide range of solid tumor.
We've been showing, and we continue to show, potential synergy with IO, chemo, and other kind of drugs. Interestingly, we already have been demonstrating human proof of concept in the, with this product in soft tissue sarcoma randomized phase III, where we have shown by the addition of our product, superiority versus standard of care. Our priority indication as Nanobiotix is going forward with head and neck cancer treatment. As you know, we've been a fast track for that, and potential accelerated approval that we expect, assuming the data are positive, to be led by the next key milestone, we wait for the head and neck study, which is the interim efficacy readout that we expect in H2 2024. Assuming that those data are positive, we may be eligible for an accelerated approval for FDA.
Next slide, please. As I was mentioning, this product is a physics-based mode of action, and therefore is something that is tumor-agnostic and potentially combination agnostic. You see here in this simple picture, the different cancer or different clinical trial we've been running or are ongoing. You can start seeing why this product could have such a broad applicability. When you look at the data we've been generating so far on all those indications, they all have been showing positive outcome. That's why we think this collaboration could help to reach a good number of patients in different indications in the near and long-term future. Next slide, please. What do the partner bring into this collaboration?
From a Nanobiotix perspective, we've been pioneering for the past 20 years, nanophysics for healthcare. We bring this unique expertise not only in radioenhancer, but also in all understanding on how you bring nanotechnology into the biological world to provide treatment for patients. We have a product with potential near-term commercial. We have also shown the key element of the drug with some specific thing around the IT injection and have been starting implementing supply strategy for this product. What we've been working on for the past 20 years also brought us some expertise in innovative development, or to combine this specific product in a broad number of indication, including IO combination. To finish, and which is not the less important thing, is all the know-how we've been developing around the manufacturing of such a product.
As you know, manufacturing is often complex in the biotech world, for nanotechnology and crystalline inorganic nanoparticles, we have been able to develop such a very specific manufacturing process that allow us today to manufacture products for clinical and hopefully soon for first market in head and neck and beyond. As Janssen is concerned, we all know that it is one of the leader in oncology, they have a global reach, which is very important to us, both from a development but also from a commercial perspective. Those two big things, clinical regulatory expertise, commercial scale and capabilities, will be critical in this collaboration and critical for the success of NBTXR3. It is also one of the rare company in this world that can combine pharmaceutical and medical technology at the same time.
All the things from our perspective, make us think that this is a perfect partner for Nanobiotix and for NBTXR3. Next slide, please. There's no precise how this collaboration is going to start and what will be the respective roles of the partner. As I did mention, Nanobiotix will continue the execution of the ongoing phase III in head and neck cancer, named NANORAY-312, and we also continue to execute the 1100 trial, which is our IO combination trial with radiation, nano, and checkpoint inhibitor. We'll continue working with MD Anderson, where, as you know, they have been starting a number of clinical studies, including pancreatic cancer, esophageal cancer, non-small cell, and head and neck cancer. As I mentioned during one of the previous calls, MD Anderson is starting to planning for more trials.
There will be also a potential for pursuing additional development and indication, this will be discussed, obviously, at the Joint Steering Committee during this collaboration. Nanobiotix will be also responsible for manufacturing NBTXR3 for neutral clinical and commercial supply. Of course, our partnership with LianBio for China and few other countries around will continue to exist and will continue to amplify, and now we'll have the three to develop this product across the world. Next slide, please. On the Janssen side, they gonna initiate a late-stage lung cancer development, starting with the establishment and a phase II trial, with the idea to establish a proof of concept in lung cancer patients Stage III. Similarly, a population that we could imagine being close to the PACIFIC trial population.
Assuming that this trial is positive, they may start two pivotal trials in the lung cancer arena. There will be, of course, potential for other indications, but that's something we will discuss or disclose at a later stage. Obviously, they will play a seminal role in all the regulatory and commercialization, development, regulatory capability, and soon a global commercialization, as they will have the responsibility for the global commercialization of this product outside the LianBio territory. Next slide, please. This slide is summarizing the multiple potential value inflection points that we expect in the 12-24 months. Knowing that this image just represents what has been shown to the market prior this deal, so exclude additional development that this collaboration will bring on the table.
For now, as you know, our NANORAY-312 clinical trial, the global phase II in head and neck, is moving in the right direction. We expect to get to futility analysis H1, second part of the year, the interim analysis. We should be able to present soon before the end of the year, obviously, all the final data coming from the Study 1100. From our perspective, the Study 1100 will be very important in the final data to start looking at how the phase III could look like. We will pay particular attention when this data are available, to disclose them to the market and to make sure that everyone understand what is at stake here.
As you know, we also have our other program in head and neck, which is a combination of radiation, nano, and anti-PD-1 molecule. Here, we're moving well right now in the, in the expansion part of the trial, and we expect to start presenting data either before the end of the year or H1 next year. As far as MD Anderson is concerned, we're waiting to get the RP2D in the non-small cell lung cancer trial. We expect to show the first data in pancreatic cancer trial during one of the conference that is coming in the coming months, and for next year, to start showing data in esophageal cancer. As I mentioned at the beginning of this slide, this is the Nanobiotix current program, and that exclude what Janssen will add in the development.
I'm sure we'll have time and many occasions to talk to you about what will be the other level and other milestone important that will be part of this collaboration. I will suggest that we move to the financial part of this deal, and for that, I will give the mic to Bart.
Thank you, Laurent. Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. As we move on to the next slide, I'm pleased to describe how this agreement provides Nanobiotix with substantial near long-term value. In the near term, the company will receive $30 million in cash and is eligible to receive up to $30 million in in-kind support for our pivotal NANORAY-312 study in head and neck cancer. There is up to $30 million in equity as well. I'll describe that in subsequent slides. Thus, the near term support plus equity total up to $90 million. The next and largest element of value shown here is the development and regulatory milestones related to work around the two nearest term indications, those of head and neck and lung cancers, as well as sales milestones, which are, of course, not indication specific.
In total, the success-based payments account for up to $1.8 billion, indicating the very substantial level of return that Nanobiotix will enjoy if all these events occur. The next two elements of return to Nanobiotix are payments for the achievement of development and regulatory milestones by Janssen in its additional indications, and those resulting from indications that Nanobiotix can pursue development of with approval from the Joint Strategy Committee. The Janssen lead indications may result in up to $650 million in total for regulatory and development milestone payments to Nanobiotix. As noted here, the $220 million is on a per indication basis for Nanobiotix lead indications it develops. The final element of value that can accrue to Nanobiotix is the royalties that a company will enjoy on all net sales of NBTXR3.
The level of these royalties is tiered, and the percentages range from the low 10s to the low 20s. Next slide, please. I want to drill down on the near-term support to show how the agreement has a substantial beneficial impact on our near-term finances. As noted above, this starts with the $30 million in cash Nanobiotix will receive upon the agreement becoming effective post HSR clearance. The agreement provides for the purchase of equity by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, or JJDC, in two tranches. The first is in process and may occur subject to the satisfaction of HSR clearance and acceptance by the general assembly. The second tranche is expected to occur in the future at a time of Nanobiotix' election. I'll talk more about this in a moment.
The third element of near-term support is the in-kind support that Janssen can elect to provide to aid in execution of the NANORAY-312 pivotal study in head and neck cancer. The timeline for this element of support could begin in 2023 and extend beyond 2024. Finally, there are certain unspecified milestones that we believe we will be able to achieve in the near term that will also add to this list of events that we believe will provide Nanobiotix with improved financial visibility. The press release notes that while specifying the cash runway of Q1 2024, this expectation excludes any near-term development milestones, potential use of our equity line, and the proceeds from the second equity tranche, which I'll discuss more on the next slide, while it takes into account adherence to the EIB cash covenant. Next slide.
JJDC, or Johnson & Johnson Innovation, is to become a strategic investor of Nanobiotix. Of the total expected investment of up to $30 million, the initial tranche was set in motion by the signing of the agreement and is subject to the conditions I just noted. This will result in a purchase of up to $5 million of newly created ADS shares, sold at a price to be determined according to the terms of the agreement and subject to shareholder agreements. As illustrated in this morning's press release, the dilutive impact from these new shares would be 0.97% if issued at a price of $5.21 per ADS, the 20-day VWAP. After the transaction, JJDC would own 2.65% of the company's outstanding shares.
The second tranche is expected to be an investment of up to $25 million from JJDC, that will have to be paired with investments from other parties, such that the minimum size of the total raise will be at least $50 million. The other parties are expected to be investors, such as healthcare or biotech-focused investors. The second tranche is subject to certain conditions is expected to be initiated by Nanobiotix at a time in the future, at the then prevailing price. We will, of course, have more to say about this at the appropriate time. I'd now like to turn the call back to Laurent. Laurent?
Thank you, Bart. Let's move to the next slide, please. Before opening the session of question, I just want to remind how happy we are and also welcome our new partner, Janssen, in this big development of NBTXR3, with the goal to try to help as many patients as we can, which is the global goal for Nanobiotix since many years. We think also to this deal, we will bring our potential excellent value for our stakeholder. The Nano team will continue to be involved in the value creation and in the development of NBTXR3. Altogether, we think that's a very good deal for Nano and for every stakeholder of Nanobiotix, and think with that, it will be easier and faster to reach our goal that keeps increasing over time.
The key messages we would like you to retain is, this will help us really to advance the development of NBTXR3 across oncology indications, starting with head and neck development and lung cancer. The metrics of this deal makes this deal a good deal with the $1.8 billion and the additional potential payment of $650 million and $220 million per indication run by Nanobiotix. Not only will bring potentially a good value for shareholders, but will bring near-term and medium-term financial visibility for Nanobiotix. In this deal, we will really leverage the strength of each organization, and we think we found a perfect match in that result. To finish with.
With the addition of new development in lung cancer and potentially beyond, we'll have multiple potential value inflection point within the next 12-24 months, and we think that will be just at the beginning of a new story for Nanobiotix. Thank you for having listened to this presentation, and now we'll be happy to take questions. Operator?
Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Our first question comes from the line of Suzanne van Voorthuizen with Van Lanschot Kempen. Please proceed with your question.
Hi, team. Congrats on this awesome deal with Janssen. Thanks for taking my questions. I have a couple, so let me just start off with the first one and then go on to the others. Maybe first of all, on the process, can you give some more context on how competitive it was? Especially, what can you tell us about the last two months since your previous disclosure of the non-binding term sheets? How did it all go about?
Thank you, Suzanne. We can't say more about the process. Those are not public information. I can tell you how we moved forward in that and what have been the key points in order to select our partner. As I did mention at the beginning of the presentation, there were some prerequisites or things we wanted to guarantee, including the possibility for Nanobiotix to continue to play a role in the value creation. Two, to find a partner that will have the global reach necessary and the muscles and the brain necessary to help us to develop this product across the oncology indication. Point number three was about making sure that we keep a good metrics, a good part of the value of what will be generated with NBT-XR3 for shareholder.
Finally, that this deal could cover our medium-term financial needs. Those were the prerequisites we had in mind, when we started looking at a partner. To find a partner that we think, have a shared culture with us and could really, make a good fit with our company. For the last two months, since we have announced that the agreement on the non-binding term sheet, I can tell you, we've been working heavily to make sure that we can conclude this deal as fast as possible. There has been an intense negotiation, but a fair negotiation, and we are really happy about the outcome. If you have some specific question about that, I may be able to answer if it's not too sensitive.
Got it. No, that's already very helpful. Maybe, then regarding the deal terms, especially the $1.8 billion in milestones, that's a big number. Can you give a sense on how it's spread between development, regulatory, and sales, or perhaps, how much it relates to head and neck versus lung cancer?
Well, it's hard to go into detail. That's not something we're willing to give at the moment. What we can say is on the top of the $1.8 billion, that include all those milestones, meaning development, regulatory, and commercial milestones. That's for the initial program. For the $650 million, which could be achievable for other indication, this will be exclusively regulatory and development milestone. We are not intent to give detail on, in the $1.8 million, billion so far.
Got it. All right. No, that's already helpful for the $650 million. Maybe, two last one, two small last ones on my side. First of all, on the lung cancer opportunity, maybe it's implied by the target population, but will the proof concept study be testing NBTXR3 in combination with immune checkpoint inhibition or not? How do you look at the size of that opportunity in comparison to head and neck? Lastly is on the initial phase III plans for the combination therapy in head and neck cancer. What are your plans now? What should we expect, basically on that front? Thank you.
Thank you, Suzanne. For the lung cancer, I think in due time, we'll disclose the detail of this clinical trial. As far as the opportunity is concerned, we all know that lung cancer is a much broader population that locally advanced frail elderly patient in head and neck, but we will not disclose more at this stage. I'm sure that our partner, when starting this trial, will start explaining how we're gonna move forward in this specific indication.
For the IO trial, based on the 1100 ongoing clinical trial, just to remind to the audience here, we're talking here about many patients that have received a PD-1, a neck cancer patient being metastatic, but have received a PD-1 and that are resistant to PD-1, and that's the cohort 1 of our phase I trial, which is ongoing. Here we try to reverse or overcome the resistance to PD-1 for this patient. There is a second cohort in this trial. We take the same patient population, be naive to PD-1 treatment. The third cohort of that is about patient having either lung met or liver met coming from any primary tumor, which is more an exploratory course.
Those data will continue to inform our pathway forward, to see how we could move into further development and some pivotal trial. We're not going to give detail about how this is going to move forward, knowing that the next step for this will be to give an update on this trial. I did mention, the expansion part of the trial is moving well, so we intend to give more info, to the market and, with our new partner, we will see if and when, we can move forward in this kind of application in combination with PD-1.
Got it. Maybe just a last follow-up from my side, and then I'll hop back in the queue. For this combination setting, is that already currently in the scope of the agreement, or would that count as a new indication?
The scope of the agreement is NBTXR3 for all indication, both from co-development and commercialization perspective, excluding the Lian Bio territory. Combination in IO or in other, with other molecule, is part of this agreement. The population we are targeting with the 1100 is obviously different from the one we are targeting in stage three lung cancer. Over time, we will give you more details about the program and how they are going to move forward.
All right. Thanks a lot, guys, and again, congrats on the deal.
Thank you, Suzanne.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of RK with H.C. Wainwright. Please proceed with your question.
Thank you. Good afternoon, folks. Congratulations, Laurent. I know you worked hard to get to this point. There are a few questions that I have. The first one, starting off from where you left off in the last question. On the IO combination study, the data that we're expecting before the end of this year, is there a milestone payment associated with that, which is part of that $1.8 billion?
Thank you, RK, and thank you for asking, but that's not something I can answer.
All right. Okay, let's try the next one.
Okay. Let's try next one.
I also read that you will be supporting manufacturing for the commercialization of the drug. So again, going back to the $1.8 billion, does that include the manufacturing cost, or is that a separate revenue stream?
We cannot give that many details in the press release about manufacturing. Just for you to know, if you look at our previous disclosure, the current manufacturing line that Nanobiotix have would be okay to deliver for clinical trial and for early markets. It will be too small at some point to go beyond head and neck and maybe a few other indications. At some point, assuming things are going in the right direction and we continue to develop in many indications, there will be a need for building something bigger in parallel to existing facility. At the time, the manufacturing is not our principal source of revenue.
When we look at the sales milestone or the royalties, these are purely based on development, regulatory, and sales milestone, or the royalties we will get when the product on the market.
Perfect. Then, with, you know, obviously, NBTXR3 kind of spoken for, with this deal with J&J, on Janssen. Do you, yeah, should we expect you, trying to expand the pipeline beyond, the current molecule?
You mean beyond NBTXR3?
Yes.
Well, I did mention at the beginning of the presentation that we've been developing for the past two decades, NBTXR3, but also building a strong know-how in nanophysics and nanomedicine. If you look at our patent portfolio, you will see that we have two other platform. One for the CNS disorder broadly, and another one that could help us to bring drug in a different stage, at a different level, when injected into the body. Certainly, those two platform will play a key role in the future of Nanobiotix. I think first, we need to make sure that this collaboration is a success, and that we push as fast and as strong as we can, and the success of NBTXR3. For sure, we will start informing the market over time about our future plan for the next platform.
Perfect. One last question from me. With the equity line that you currently have with EIB, what amount is still available for you?
Bart, do you want to take that one?
Yeah, happy to. Hi, RK. Thank you for the question. The equity line is with Kepler Cheuvreux runs until May of 2024, and there is boundaries around the monthly volume that can be entertained. We will not go into detail, but certainly that can be leveraged. That said, we're very pleased with the second tranche that JJDC included, that can be leveraged for, you know, a future qualified financing event.
Perfect. Thank you, Bart, and thank you for taking my questions.
Thank you, RK. To your point, just one precision. Far, we did not touch the equity line.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Colin Bristow with UBS. Please proceed with your question.
Hi, guys. This is Yihan from Colin. Thanks for taking our question, and congrats on the view. I guess my first question is, could you please elaborate a little bit more on your strategy of the cash allocation, and what will be your focus in terms of the pipeline development, for example, the NANORAY-312 trial? Also we noticed, like, the current cash runway based on the upfront and the first tranche of the actual investment is expected to the first period, 2024. Just wondering, because your NANORAY-312 trial will have futility data in the first half of next year and I think the I nterim in the second half.
Just wondering what are your thoughts here, how confident that you think, you know, from the financial-wise, it is definitely sufficient to cover all of this important readout? The next, my last question is also about NANORAY-312 trial. Just wondering what is the progress of the protocol amendment and the patient recruitment and just like some thoughts on that? Thank you so much.
Maybe I can start by the end, and Bart, I can give you the mic for the capital allocation and how we're going to manage the near-term and medium-term financial for the company. The NANORAY- 312 is progressing, is progressing well. We maintain the guidance we gave to market in term of interim readout, which is planned for second half of next year. I think what will be critical, as I did mention, is to look at the final data that's going to be communicated more from the phase I/II , and this final data will be communicated during one of the next coming medical conferences. This will help us to understand what we should expect from the 312.
It's not a direct readout, at least could give us some hint and give us also some hints about how we should expect the timing for this interim readout. For the capital allocation, we continue to finance a priority program, nothing more at the moment. I'll leave Bart answering the details about how we're going to manage the cash need over the next 12, 24 months.
Yes. Thank you, Laurent. Yeah, we cannot provide more specificity on the milestones and the timing thereof, but we feel very confident that we will be removing the financing overhang in the not-too-distant future. As indicated, the second tranche is not included in that outlook, and we have the EIB financing covenant that doesn't allow us to provide financial visibility beyond Q1. Based on what we have in the pipeline, we are confident that that will be resolved in the not-too-distant future. We will not go into detail how exactly, whether that is milestones, leveraging JJDC as an anchor investor in the second tranche or combination thereof.
Okay. That's very helpful. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to join the question queue, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from the line of Lucy Codrington with Jefferies. Please proceed with your question.
Hi, there. Thanks for taking my questions. Just a few left. Just firstly, how will you go about deciding the indications that you will develop versus those that J&J will develop? I guess, was it J&J's choice that lung cancer should be their priority to develop over potentially some of the other indications where we've seen some potentially exciting possibilities? Just on that then, I guess, I this was already tried to ask beforehand, but just trying to get an idea of J&J's enthusiasm for the IO combination. They don't, as far as I'm aware, have a PD-1 on the market, so is this something that is a priority for them?
It seems, and maybe I'm reading too much into it, you're maybe backing away from the potentially pivotal IO combination trials, starting with the or getting a clarity on that in the third quarter with the arrival of your new CMO. Am I reading too much into that? I guess is the question. Finally, just on the cash runway, just to make sure, and I apologies if I missed this, but does that 1Q 2024 runway exclude the discretionary $30 million to support the NANORAY-312 trial that's included in part of this deal? Thank you.
Thank you, Lucy. Yes, it does exclude this $30 million in-kind contribution. For the different question you asked before. We're not backing up from the IO program. I can't talk for our partner about their plan in IO and their other molecule. I think right now we are continuing the development of the 1100 , and based on what would be the readout, we will see how we move forward in the IO combination at a later stage. Now if we go back to the lung cancer, I think as you know, lung cancer, there's many unmet medical needs here.
When you look at the metastatic patient, refractory to PD-1, which is just a topic we've been talking about, they're here a big unmet medical need. There's still also a big unmet medical need in the locally advanced lung cancer patients, like stage three cancer patients that are inoperable. When you look at some of the data that have been generated in the past, for example, in the PACIFIC trial, and you look at the rate of local control they get after the radio/chemo, or the local control they get after the radio/chemo plus the anti-PD-1 , you see that it's not big. It's not really big. It does provide benefit to patients, but not all the patients, far from it.
We may think here that having a stronger local control, as it is the primary aim of our product, could play a significant role here. It does not exclude, in the near future, to also potentially move into some IO combination and with or without a molecule that our partner may have, which will be their decision at some point. That's something we will develop and discuss in the, in the near future. I think the choice beyond lung is obviously that radiation is a big tool to treat lung cancer patients, and basically lung cancer patients, not all lung cancer patients get benefit out of it. There's plenty of room to play from local to systemic in general, in lung cancer when we think about radiation therapy and NBTXR3.
I did mention in the course of the presentation that there will be a Joint Strategy Committee or Steering Committee, where decision will be taken. When moving into potential new indication, that will go through this organ, and then we will decide if and when we go to a new indication, and who should be responsible for such development, such indication.
Great. Thank you.
You're welcome.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question and answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Dr. Levy for any final comments.
Thank you. Again, everyone, very happy to share this very good news with you, and happy to see you so numerous in this call. On that note, I'm gonna thank everyone, and we'll make sure we have many occasion before the end of the year to come back to you and to discuss not only further development about this collaboration, but obviously, some of the new data that will be generated with our lead product, NBTX103. Again, I would like to welcome our new partner, Janssen, in this big adventure. Thank you all for your support and let's stay tuned, and we'll be in touch very soon. Thank you very much.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.