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Earnings Call: Q1 2022

May 10, 2022

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Exelixis Q1 2022 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a Listen-Only Mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one on your telephone.

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Ms. Susan Hubbard, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Susan Hubbard
EVP of Public Affairs and Investor Relations, Exelixis

Thank you, Shari, and thank you all for joining us for the Exelixis first 1/4 2022 financial results conference call. Joining me on today's call are Mike Morrissey, our President and CEO, Chris Senner, our Chief Financial Officer, P.J. Haley, our Executive Vice President of Commercial, Vicki Goodman, our Chief Medical Officer, and Peter Lamb, our Chief Scientific Officer, who will together review our progress for the first 1/4 2022 ended March 31, 2022.

During the call today, we will refer to financial measures not calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles. Please refer to today's press release, which is posted on our website, for an explanation of our reasons for using such Non-GAAP measures, as well as tables deriving these measures from our GAAP results.

During the course of this presentation, we will be making Forward-Looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of the company. This includes statements about possible developments regarding discovery, product development, regulatory, commercial, financial, and strategic matters.

Actual events or results could, of course, differ materially. We refer you to the documents we file from time to time with the SEC, which under the heading Risk Factors, identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed by the company verbally and in writing today,

including without limitation, risks and uncertainties related to product commercial success, market competition, regulatory review and approval processes, conducting clinical trials, compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, our dependence on collaboration partners, and the level of costs associated with discovery, product development, business development, and commercialization activities. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Mike.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

All right. Thank you, Susan, and thanks to everyone for joining us on the call today. Exelixis had a strong first 1/4 2022 across all components of our business. We continued to grow the cabozantinib franchise and advance a diversified pipeline of clinical and discovery programs while focusing on important upcoming milestones, including top-line results for ongoing pivotal trials, ASCO preparation, and the Cabo ANDA trial starting on May 6teenth.

We'll keep our prepared remarks short today so we can address your important questions. Key highlights from Q1 include, first, the cabozantinib business continues to grow and generate the funds to advance our portfolio of next generation therapies for oncology. CABOMETYX maintained its status as the leading TKI for RCC. The Cabo franchise grew 37% year-over-year compared to first 1/4 2021, marking its 6th consecutive 1/4 of growth.

Second, our emerging biocoastal development team is focused on expanding potential Cabo indications with numerous expected top-line results for important COSMIC and CONTACT pivotal trials and advancing our growing pipeline of clinical compounds, including XL092, XB002, XL102, and XL114, including the upcoming initiation of the pivotal trial program for XL092.

Third, and finally, our drug discovery network of internal and collaborative efforts, along with extensive business development activities across both small molecule and biologic platforms, continues to advance at a rapid pace with the selection of up to 5 new development candidates expected in 2022. With that, please see our press release issued an hour ago for our first 1/4 financial results and an extensive list of key corporate milestones achieved in the 1/4. I'll now turn the call over to Chris.

Chris Senner
EVP and CFO, Exelixis

Thanks, Mike. For the first 1/4 2022, the company reported total revenues of approximately $356 million, which included cabozantinib franchise net product revenues of $310.3 million. CABOMETYX net product revenues were $302.8 million, which included approximately $9 million in clinical trial sales.

Gross to net for the cabozantinib franchise in the first 1/4 2022 was 30.8%, which is significantly higher than the gross to net of 24.5% we experienced in Q4 2021. This increase in gross to net deductions in the first 1/4 2022 translates to an approximate $28 million impact when compared to the 4th 1/4 of 2021.

This increase in gross to net was primarily driven by higher 340B utilization, higher Medicare Part D, and higher Co-Pay assistance, primarily associated with patients in high-deductible medical insurance plans. Historically, we have experienced higher Medicare Part D and Co-Pay assistance expenses in the first 1/4 of the year, due to many Part D patients moving through the donut hole and commercial patients satisfying their deductibles during the start of the year.

Our 340B utilization in the first 1/4 was at historically high level. Our trade inventory weeks on hand remained relatively flat when compared to the 4th 1/4 of 2021. Total revenues also included approximately $46 million in collaboration revenues earned primarily from Ipsen, Takeda, and Genentech.

Our total operating expenses for the first 1/4 of 2022 were approximately $273 million compared to $334 million in the 4th 1/4 of 2021. R&D expense was the primary driver of the decrease in total operating expenses, which was primarily related to lower licensing expenses. Provision for income taxes for the first 1/4 of 2022 was approximately $17 million, compared to approximately $23 million in the 4th 1/4 of 2021.

The company reported GAAP net income of approximately $69 million or $0.21 per share on a fully diluted basis for the first 1/4 of 2022. The company also reported Non-GAAP net income of approximately $84 million or $0.26 per share on a fully diluted basis.

Non-GAAP net income excludes the impact of approximately $15 million of Stock-Based compensation expense net of the related income tax effect. Cash and investments for the 1/4 ended March 31, 2022 was approximately $2 billion. Finally, we are reiterating our full year 2022 financial guidance, which is detailed on slide 13 of our earnings presentation. With that, I'll turn the call over to P.J.

P.J. Haley
EVP of Commercial, Exelixis

Thank you, Chris. The first 1/4 of 2022 was a strong 1/4 for the cabozantinib franchise as we built on the significant momentum of 2021 and the milestone of surpassing $1 billion of US net product revenue. The team continues to execute at a high level, which has resulted in CABOMETYX continuing to be the number 1 prescribed TKI in RCC.

Furthermore, CABOMETYX total prescriptions or TRX have now grown for 6 consecutive quarters. Demand growth is being driven primarily by the long duration of therapy for patients on CABOMETYX in combination with nivolumab in the First-Line setting. Prescription trends remained strong in Q1 2022. Year-over-year TRX growth in Q1 2022 was 37% relative to Q1 2021.

Given the clinical data from the CheckMate 9ER study, we anticipate these First-Line combination patients to receive therapy for approximately a year and a half on average, thus driving a significantly longer treatment duration for CABOMETYX. We are encouraged by the fact that in our data we see a near doubling of the amount of new patient starts at the 40 milligram dose in Q1 2022 since the CheckMate 9ER launch in January 2021.

This is further indication that the combination uptake in the first line setting is robust. Turning to the TKI market basket of CABOMETYX, INLYTA, SUTENT, VOTRIENT, and LENVIMA, CABOMETYX TRX market share has increased every 1/4 since Q1 2021, and the share in Q1 2022 was 36%.

As we had discussed previously, the First-Line RCC market is very competitive, and we are pleased with the performance of CABOMETYX in combination with nivolumab in this setting. Furthermore, we're still not seeing any significant competitive impact on our market share. Uptake in the first line is broad across clinical risk groups and practice settings, and prescriber experience to date has been very positive.

We believe that all of this taken together with the momentum in the business positions CABOMETYX for continued growth throughout 2022. Turning to other settings, we are pleased that the CABOMETYX second line RCC business remains strong and was stable in Q1, while growth continued in the first line setting. In HCC, our business was stable in Q1, and CABOMETYX continues to be the most prescribed TKI in the second line setting for patients treated with immunotherapy-containing regimens in the first line.

With regards to Second-Line DTC, we are pleased with the launch, and in Q1, we continue to see strength in new patient starts and demand in this indication. Looking beyond the 6 current U.S. indications for cabozantinib, we are planning for numerous life cycle expansion opportunities as they begin to have top-line data readouts in 2022.

We look forward to having the opportunity, pending data and approval, to bring CABOMETYX to many more patients in need of additional treatment options. Our team remains highly focused and motivated to compete every day to bring the benefit of CABOMETYX to all eligible patients as we continue to build the franchise and serve patients. With that, I'll turn the call over to Vicki.

Vicki Goodman
EVP of Product Development and Medical Affairs, and CMO, Exelixis

Thank you, P.J. Good afternoon. Today, I will cover our progress towards our organizational expansion to the East Coast, Exelixis East, as well as progress on our pipeline and highlights of cabozantinib data to be presented at the upcoming ASCO meeting in June. As we announced early this year, we are developing a presence in Greater Philadelphia as we seek to access talent on both coasts to support our expanding development organization.

We have made progress since the last quarterly update, including signing a lease for intermediate-term space in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, which we expect to occupy by July of this year and which can hold approximately 140 office-based employees.

We have also identified a potential Long-Term build-to-suit site of approximately 200,000 sq ft in close proximity to our intermediate-term space in King of Prussia, and we have begun hiring to open roles within the development organization in King of Prussia, supported by an ongoing recruitment campaign to raise awareness of our presence in the Philadelphia area.

I'm excited by the opportunity to create a bi-coastal presence across 2 biotechnology hubs operating as one team focused on the singular mission of developing medicines to improve the lives of patients with cancer. Turning now to an update on our pipeline, beginning with our cabozantinib registrational trials. We remain on track for 3 phase 3 readouts this year. For COSMIC-313, evaluating cabozantinib in combination with nivolumab and ipilimumab in intermediate and poor risk renal cell carcinoma, we expect to release top- line results in July.

An interim readout for the primary endpoint of overall survival for CONTACT-01 and readout of the progression-free survival endpoint for CONTACT-03 in combination with atezolizumab in PD-1 experienced Non-small cell lung cancer and renal cell carcinoma respectively are expected in the second half of 2022. CONTACT-02, our phase 3 study in combination with atezolizumab in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, is expected to complete enrollment this year.

We continue to make progress on our pipeline molecules. XL092, our next generation MET, AXL, MER, and VEGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is being explored in combination with several checkpoint inhibitors and IO combinations and is progressing towards registrational studies. We recently initiated dosing on a Nivolumab-Based Immuno-Oncology combination study in genitourinary malignancies, and we are amending that protocol to remove the triplet combination of bempeg with XL092 and nivolumab and replace it with an alternative triplet combination.

We also continue to explore additional potential combination approaches with novel agents and have made progress with several partners to bring novel combinations into the clinic. Our first planned phase 3 for XL092, STELLAR-303 in third-line Non-MSI-high colorectal cancer, will be initiated in the second 1/4 of this year.

As a reminder, data supporting this study comes from 2 studies of cabozantinib in colorectal cancer, which were presented at ASCO GI in January and demonstrated promising activity in comparison to historical controls of regorafenib, the current standard of care. XB002, our first Antibody-Drug conjugate, which targets tissue factor without interfering with the coagulation pathway in preclinical models, continues in dose escalation.

Thus far, it has been well-tolerated with no bleeding events observed. We are now also initiating dose finding for combinations, beginning with an XB002 dose level, which has cleared safety evaluation in the monotherapy cohort.

A phase 1 study of XL102, our oral CDK7 inhibitor, is expected to move into both single agent and combination expansion cohorts after completion of ongoing dose escalation and determination of a phase 2 dose. The XL114 phase 1 trial is now open for enrollment. We expect to provide phase 1 clinical updates for XL092, XB002, and XL102 in the second half of this year. We are pleased that 5 cabozantinib abstracts have been accepted for oral presentations at the upcoming ASCO meeting, and I'd like to highlight 3 of these.

These include 2 presentations based on COSMIC-021, our multi-tumor signal finding study, the first in 3 distinct populations of bladder cancer patients, and the other from 2 cohorts of Non-small cell lung cancer patients previously treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors and platinum-based chemotherapy who received either cabozantinib plus atezolizumab or cabozantinib alone.

Additionally, an Investigator-Sponsored phase 2 study evaluating the addition of cabozantinib to pembrolizumab in PD-L1 positive squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck will be presented. With that, I'll turn it over to Peter.

Peter Lamb
Chief Scientific Officer, Exelixis

Thank you, Vicky. I am pleased to provide a quick overview of the Exelixis preclinical pipeline. We have a broadening pipeline derived from both internal and collaboration efforts with over 10 programs in progress, giving us the possibility of advancing up to 5 compounds into preclinical development in 2022. As you can see in the pipeline slide, the preclinical pipeline is a balanced mix of small molecules and biotherapeutics, which is reflective of how we see the clinical pipeline evolving in the future.

We're continuing to accelerate the expansion of our pipeline, both through internal growth and through business development activities. Last year, our internal small molecule discovery group occupied new laboratories on our Alameda campus, and we have further embarked on expansion of our lab space in Alameda to accommodate future growth.

In addition, we've located a site in Pennsylvania for an East Coast laboratory expansion, which will allow us to tap into the locally available talent pool and will complement our newly opened development offices in the same area. We also have significant ongoing efforts on the business development front aimed at providing us access to novel targets, capabilities, and technologies that would complement and accelerate our ongoing biotherapeutics and small molecule strategies.

In addition, we're assessing late preclinical and early clinical assets with the aim of identifying multiple opportunities to invest in. We're looking broadly at both small molecule and biotherapeutics opportunities that have the potential to address significant solid tumor populations where we have conviction in the science and visibility into a development strategy. We look forward to providing additional updates on these BD discussions as they come to fruition. I'll now turn the call back over to Mike.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

All right. Thanks, Peter. As you heard on the call today, the Exelixis team has executed across all components of our business in Q1 with significant progress across our pipeline, clinical development, and commercial activities. We're excited about the potential for the multiple growth drivers ahead of us to move the business forward, and most importantly, put Exelixis in a position to help many more cancer patients.

I'll close here by thanking the Exelixis team for their individual and collective efforts to support our many drug discovery, development, and commercial activities. We have the vision, determination, and resources to become a multi-product enterprise and expand our reach to serve cancer patients across the globe. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the future. Thank you for your continued support and interest in Exelixis, and we're happy to now open the call for questions.

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one on your telephone. To withdraw your question, press the pound key. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question will come from Asthika Goonewardene with Truist. Please go ahead.

Asthika Goonewardene
Managing Director and Senior Biotech Analyst, Truist Securities

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Just wanted to check on the gross to net a little bit here for Q1. It's a little higher than what I was used to with CABO. Just wanted to check and see if there was anything unusual about this 1/4 and or if this is the right seasonal inflection to assume going forward for future first quarters. Then I have a Follow-Up for Vicki, please.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Okay.

Chris Senner
EVP and CFO, Exelixis

Hi, Asthika, it's Chris. I guess just starting off, I mean, as P.J. talked about, we had strong growth, and we've had growth over the last 6 quarters, so that's an important element to this. There was the seasonality aspects of it around Medicare Part D, where you have patients going through the donut hole and also the Co-Pay assistance for commercial patients and those patients, you know, going through their deductibles, and usually in the beginning part of a year.

On top of that, the 340B was at a higher level or, as I said, the highest level we've seen, and we've seen that segment of our gross to net grow over the last several years, and it's, I think it's growing from an industry perspective also.

Those are the 3 primary drivers of what we saw in gross to net in Q1.

Asthika Goonewardene
Managing Director and Senior Biotech Analyst, Truist Securities

Okay. Would it be right to kind of assume the similar kind of rate for Q1 2023 as well?

Chris Senner
EVP and CFO, Exelixis

I wouldn't project that out for next year. You know, those seasonality items are those items that I've mentioned that have a seasonality effect, will be there next year too, just based on what we've seen over the last several years.

Asthika Goonewardene
Managing Director and Senior Biotech Analyst, Truist Securities

Got it. Okay. Vicki, I think I heard you say that there'll be data for 092 in the second half. Can you give us any sort of details as to which studies will be presented and what we'll be looking for from the data?

Vicki Goodman
EVP of Product Development and Medical Affairs, and CMO, Exelixis

Yes. It will be the first in humans for 092, so that's STELLAR-001. What you can expect to see is data from expansion cohorts this year.

Asthika Goonewardene
Managing Director and Senior Biotech Analyst, Truist Securities

Wonderful. Thanks so much.

Vicki Goodman
EVP of Product Development and Medical Affairs, and CMO, Exelixis

Thank you, Asthika.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question will come from Michael Schmidt with Guggenheim. Please go ahead.

Michael Schmidt
Senior Managing Director and Senior Biotech Analyst, Guggenheim Securities

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Obviously, there's a lot of focus on the ANDA trial next week with MSN Laboratories, as you mentioned. There's obviously also a second set of patents that have been asserted with a trial that's been scheduled for next year. Mike, without speculating on the outcome of the near-term trial, how should investors think about the relationship between those 2 sets of patents, and how should we think about read-through from a potential ruling in this first trial with respect to the second next year? Then I had a Follow-Up.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Yeah, Michael, thanks for the question. Yeah, look, I think we've been pretty careful to not get ahead of ourselves in the context of this whole topic, so I'm certainly not going to do that today. You're correct. We've been very, I think, and appropriately aggressive in protecting our IP. That's what we do here relative to, you know, making the investments in the discovery and development and broad development of CABO and compounds in the future.

So, it shouldn't be surprising that the IP estate is growing over time. But in terms of the actual details and the nuances there, I just don't wanna get into that right now for all the obvious reasons. So great question. Stay tuned for what happens next week, and we'll go from there.

Michael Schmidt
Senior Managing Director and Senior Biotech Analyst, Guggenheim Securities

All right, great. Then a question on the ASCO presentation from COSMIC-021 in lung cancer in particular. I guess will this be just a longer Follow-Up from the data that we've seen before, or will there be additional patients that have been treated in the study? Could you remind us how the lung cancer patient characteristics from 021 compare with those in the phase 3 CONTACT-01 study?

Vicki Goodman
EVP of Product Development and Medical Affairs, and CMO, Exelixis

Yeah, sure. The data that are gonna be presented are from 2 cohorts, as I mentioned, of COSMIC-021, cohort 7 and cohort 20. One is cabozantinib in combination with atezolizumab, and the other is cabozantinib alone.

The patients have previously been treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors as well as platinum-based chemotherapy, and the population is similar to CONTACT-01. We'll be presenting roughly 2 years of Follow-Up for these patients, presenting response, other efficacy outcomes, as well as safety data for those patients.

Michael Schmidt
Senior Managing Director and Senior Biotech Analyst, Guggenheim Securities

Okay, great. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question will come from Andy Hsieh with William Blair. Please go ahead.

Andy Hsieh
Partner and Biotechnology Analyst, William Blair

Oh, great. Thanks for taking my questions and, congratulations on the very robust quarter-over-quarter growth. I just wanna follow up on Michael's question, actually, just the last one. I think, you know, I don't wanna put words in his mouth. I think he's asking whether we're gonna see the 80 patients. I remember that cohort 7 actually expanded from 30 patients to 50 patients. I'm also curious whether we're gonna see the totality of data from the entirety of that cohort. I have a question for P.J.

In terms of slide 18, you know, one of the interesting dynamic that we observed from the 5 quarters that you illustrated is that if you add up the market share of LENVIMA and INLYTA, they actually stay pretty constant. Is it fair to say that, you know, LENVIMA's introduction kind of took away shares exclusively from INLYTA?

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Why don't we start with the P.J. question first, and then I'll loop back and just give a quick kind of high-level summary on ASCO.

P.J. Haley
EVP of Commercial, Exelixis

Great. Yeah. Thanks, Andy. With regards to the market share, you know, as I mentioned, we're certainly pleased with the progress. You know, as you pointed out, we've been growing and, you know, as one does look at the prescription data for INLYTA and pembro, that does seem to be, relatively speaking, a zero-sum game. You know, they both have the pembrolizumab backbone, so I think it's not entirely surprising that that one is cannibalizing the other.

The other point I would make, with regards to the lenvatinib data is that these data do include other tumor types. If you look at a different data source, from Brand Impact, it would point out, for example, that approximately 40% of the lenvatinib data or prescriptions, or usage I should say, is from endometrial.

That's another sort of piece of context there, as that indication, you know, launched approximately a year ago. I think you know, to sum it up, I think you're right. What we see generally across data sources is, as I mentioned, we're not seeing impact on our share. We're seeing strength both in share and demand growth. We're very pleased with that, and it does seem to be that, you know, the competitors are sort of potentially cannibalizing each other.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

That's great. Thanks, P.J. Andy, in terms of ASCO, again, don't wanna get into the, you know, the weeds on the abstract before it's published. I think you can expect a pretty fulsome update.

Andy Hsieh
Partner and Biotechnology Analyst, William Blair

Got it. Okay. One more scientific question if you don't mind. If you look at the oncofetal protein 5T4, it's been a known cancer target for a while, you know, pretty popular as a cancer vaccine target back in the day. Recently there's been one business development activity going on. I'm just curious if there's any sort of paper or study that catalyzed a recent interest. Obviously, you know, you guys are advancing XB010 going forward. Any sort of pitfalls or learnings that you wish to kinda incorporate as you advance that asset going forward?

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Thank you. Peter, take that one.

Peter Lamb
Chief Scientific Officer, Exelixis

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Andy. Yes, you are obviously correct. I mean, 5T4's, you know, been a target of interest for various biotherapeutic and vaccine approaches, as you indicate, you know, for some time. It's a known public domain target. I think it. That's for good reason. I think it's, you know, its expression pattern is compelling, whereby it's overexpressed in a variety of solid tumors at pretty decent levels and has minimal expression in most normal tissues.

You know, obviously, that still stands. I think for us, it really falls into the category of targets that I sort of spoke to before, which are good targets, which I think would really benefit from the kind of next generation approaches to ADCs that we're taking.

In a way, it falls into the same bucket as XB002. Our aim here is to develop a next gen, you know, ADC. As we discussed, we have antibodies from Invenra, which we've characterized extensively, transferred to our partners at Catalent, and we're using their, you know, very contemporary site-specific conjugation technology to make a, you know, a well-constructed ADC with a highly defined DAR, that has, you know, at this point, compelling preclinical efficacy and safety data.

Yeah, we're excited to be moving XB010 forward. As you say, we're not alone in finding this to be a good target in a variety of approaches, so we'll see how each one plays out.

Andy Hsieh
Partner and Biotechnology Analyst, William Blair

Great. Thanks for answering all my questions.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

You bet, Andy. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question will come from Yaron Werber with Cowen. Please go ahead.

Yaron Werber
Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst, Cowen

Great. Thanks for taking my question. I have a couple of questions. Maybe the first one, Mike, the CONTACT-03 data that the cabo TECENTRIQ, right, versus cabo in Second-Line RCC interim data second half, do you expect we'll have more of. It's a PFS OS endpoint. Do you expect to have more PFS data, or do we have a little bit OS? And also, can you put it in context for us just a little bit? You're already dominating second line. So, commercially, what does CONTACT-03 mean for you? And then I have a quick Follow-Up.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Yeah. I'll let Vicki opine on the first part of your question. Second part of your question, commercially, you know, obviously, any good data we can generate in any line that raises the bar for standard of care, we wanna pursue, and we have pursued with first line with the triplet 3 thirteen and second line with CONTACT-03.

You know, we're in the business of improving outcomes for patients, and that's just a matter of getting the data in the appropriate trial with the appropriate population. I think, again, if that looks good, we can potentially move the needle even further for those patients. Vicki, you wanna opine on the first part of the question?

Vicki Goodman
EVP of Product Development and Medical Affairs, and CMO, Exelixis

Sure. For CONTACT-03, right, it is a primary readout for the progression-free survival endpoint, and obviously, PFS matures at an earlier time than overall survival. It's expected to be primarily a readout of PFS at this point.

Yaron Werber
Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst, Cowen

Okay, great. Then secondly, I apologize if I'm reading too much into it, but CONTACT-03 is obviously called out fairly prominently in the press release under the CABO highlights. CONTACT-01, which also has data on the second half, is not discussed quite as much. Maybe just give us a little bit of a sense. Or COSMIC-313 for that matter, just give us maybe a little bit of a sense kinda how did you think about what to include in the press release? Thank you.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Yaron, it's Mike. Yeah, I think you're probably overinterpreting that, so I wouldn't read into that in any shape, manner or form. They're all important trials for us. We're pushing those all really hard. If successful, they could all move the needle. Stay tuned for data.

Yaron Werber
Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst, Cowen

Okay, thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question will come from Jay Olson with Oppenheimer. Please go ahead.

Jay Olson
Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Thank you for the update, and thank you for taking the questions. Can you comment on how you expect the HCC competitive landscape to evolve over time and maybe some of the key learnings from COSMIC-312 in First-Line HCC that you plan to apply to your next study? Also, maybe if you could comment on the unmet needs in First-Line HCC with the potential for VEGF TKI regimens on the horizon?

P.J. Haley
EVP of Commercial, Exelixis

Yeah. Hi, Jay. This is PJ. I'll just maybe briefly comment. You know, certainly HCC was for a long time an area of significant unmet need for patients really across all lines. There's been you know, rapid sort of evolution of the field with you know, doublets in the first line and many therapies in the second line.

As I mentioned with regards to CABOMETYX and our current second line indication, we're very pleased with the business there. We're the leading TKI at this point in patients who have received an immunotherapy or checkpoint containing regimen in the first line. We're pleased with that and certainly looking to build upon that.

I think, you know, beyond that, you know, while there has been a lot of great developments for patients in HCC, there's certainly much more that can be done for them. We're certainly excited, you know, at a high level to continue to do that, particularly as we look forward to XL092 and you know, other programs.

Jay Olson
Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Okay, great. Thank you. Maybe if I could sneak in one more. You have a very strong cash position and an increasingly broad clinical and preclinical portfolio. How are you prioritizing the various development options you have in front of you?

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Yeah, Jay, it's Mike. I would say we are very focused on generating data, using that data to help us understand where we can differentiate and how that can then again raise the bar for patients from the standpoint of standard of care. We have a very strong conduit between development and commercial and discovery that helps us take data and move that and move compounds forward aggressively based upon that data once we have conviction, as we generate conviction, where we can take that in terms of novel combinations across multiple different indications.

You're right, we're in a very good position, especially in today's somewhat tenuous market, you know, on a macro level, to be able to have the cash flows that we've got and certainly the balance sheet that we've got to be able to make those investments both internally as well as considering external options. We're all about building the team, building the portfolio, driving top-line growth, helping more patients.

Jay Olson
Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Super helpful. Thank you for taking the question.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

You bet.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question will come from Akash Tewari with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Akash Tewari
Managing Director and Global Head of Biopharmaceutical Research, Jefferies

Hey, guys. A few, if I may. I just wanna hit on the gross net point again. It looks like you had a 5% jump sequentially in Q1 2021 as well. We are seeing gross net kind of go from the 23% range to now over 30%. Could we see Long-Term gross net levels approach something at a kinda 35%-40% run rate?

That would be very helpful. On the IP case, are there any circumstances where you would agree to a settlement of around 2028 or 2029 with MSN Laboratories? Then finally, do you have any additional color on what the average duration on drug that you've seen with CABO in first line RCC in the real world setting?

Yaron Werber
Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst, Cowen

Is it tracking roughly to what we've seen in your clinical trial? Thank you.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Yeah, Akash Tewari, it's Mike Morrissey. I'll attempt to answer all 3 in rapid succession. On the gross to net issue, certainly don't wanna speculate what's gonna happen in the future. The numbers that we saw in Q1 versus Q4, that's the data, so take it for what it's worth.

I think this is a trend. If you've been tracking other either biotech and/or pharma earnings calls over the last few weeks, you'll see this is actually a very general trend across oral oncolytics. So, we're not overly surprised to see that others are being impacted as we were in Q1 versus Q4. So that's the data. But what happens in the future, I'm not gonna speculate or predict. It's just not proper here or anywhere.

In terms of IP, like I said with Michael's question, don't want to get into the details there. Thanks for the question, but really can't answer that. Then finally on duration, you know, it's been a year plus relative to the launch of 9ER. It's still early in the context of duration of treatment commercially versus what we've seen in terms of PFS and duration of treatment in 9ER. As time goes on, we'll be able to get a better picture of that by using a variety of different methods, and we'll be happy to report that when that's more mature.

Akash Tewari
Managing Director and Global Head of Biopharmaceutical Research, Jefferies

Thanks so much.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

You bet.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question will come from Do Kim with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Speaker 16

Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for taking my question. This is EK on for Do. Just a couple. First is pipeline related for XL114. Given that there's gonna be some competitor data with J&J's MALT1 inhibitor in the second half, I'm curious to understand what are you guys' thoughts around molecule differentiation given that if I'm not mistaken, you have a covalent inhibitor versus their allosteric inhibitor.

In addition to that, what type of plans do you have in terms of potentially combining your MALT1 inhibitor with, you know, like a venetoclax or BTK? I did not see that in the ClinicalTrials.gov post. That's my first question.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Okay, Peter, want to take a shot at that one?

Peter Lamb
Chief Scientific Officer, Exelixis

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, kinda obviously, looking forward to seeing what the J&J data show. I just would point out that the J&J compound is a direct inhibitor of the MALT1 paracaspase activity, so binds directly to the protein. XL114 actually has a different mechanism of action. It does not bind directly to MALT1. It does, however, inhibit activation of the MALT1 complex.

So mechanistically, it's somewhat differentiated from the J&J approach. You know, speaking more broadly about the potential for the compound, certainly it has potential in a variety of B and T cell lymphomas. Particularly obviously one area of interest is in patients who've failed on BTK inhibitors since the point of action for XL114 is downstream of BTK.

You know, there's also some data that MALT1 activation and inhibition of it may also have a role in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors. That's something that we're exploring preclinically right now, so we'll see how those data play out. Maybe I'll just leave it there. Like I say, XL114 has a differentiated mechanism of action, so you know, ultimately how the clinical data compare will obviously be of great interest.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Thanks, Peter.

Speaker 16

Okay. Appreciate it. Call, just the last 2 questions. One quick one, if you can talk about any type of impact COVID may have had on CABOMETYX sales this past 1/4 despite the obvious increased demand and strength that we're seeing.

Lastly, with the COSMIC-313 data expected in July, if you can briefly just discuss how you guys are envisioning physicians utilizing it in practice and how it might, you know, have a higher standard given the potential safety profile that might be borne out. Just some color around that would also be helpful for us. Thank you for taking the questions.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Great. P.J., go ahead.

P.J. Haley
EVP of Commercial, Exelixis

Yeah, thanks for the question, EK. With regards to the COVID impact, I would say, you know, broadly, we're kinda largely beyond a significant impact to the business, as you pointed out, with demand growth not only for CABOMETYX, but also the TKI market itself grew 7% 1/4-over-quarter. You know, I think largely that's in the rearview mirror, but I will say there's certainly still limited access in many accounts, and that's varied across the country versus community or academia, et cetera.

You know, what we view that as, we're excited about the opportunities these accounts are starting to open up so we can have, you know, just a greater chance to share our data with them, and hopefully continue to drive CABOMETYX and nivolumab for appropriate patients. You know, with regards to COSMIC-313 and the triplet at a very high level, you know, I think we're certainly excited to see the data. I know, you know, the KOLs broadly are certainly excited to see the readout there as well because it is the first triplet in the space. So I think that in and of itself is great. It is looking at comparing to nivolumab and ipi in the poor and intermediate risk groups.

I just point out that nivo/ipi, you know, you look across data sources, has a 20%-25% market share in the first line setting. I think, you know, that could potentially be some low-hanging fruit given positive data and approval, et cetera, that might be a good opportunity for the addition of cabo in that setting. Also, I think one possibility there is they do have, I think about a 20%, if I'm recalling correctly, primary progression rate in the CheckMate 214 trial. You know, given the totality of the data with cabo, we think that's certainly, you know, an opportunity to improve upon that as well.

You know, I think it's gonna be important to really look at the totality of the data in this data readout, whether it's you know, all the radiographic data, obviously the primary endpoint of PFS.

As well as, you know, what we see in survival at that point, as well as safety. I think it'll be really exciting to see and sort of dive into the data, so we're looking forward to that.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Yeah.

Speaker 16

All right. Thank you.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question will come from Peter Lawson with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Peter Lawson
Managing Director and US Biotech Equity Analyst, Barclays

Thank you. Thanks for taking the questions. Question for Mike or PJ. Just on the gross to net, kind of is there anything you can point to what drove the gross to net? If there was one element or multiple drivers, and then any kind of guidance you can provide around the gross to net going forward.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Thanks, Peter. Yeah. Again, we won't comment on gross to net going forward in terms of future years. Chris can provide some updates again at a high level on what you said previously about what drove the gross to net.

Chris Senner
EVP and CFO, Exelixis

Thanks, Mike. Peter, I mean, what we talked about earlier was, you know, there's a seasonality effect of Medicare Part D, patients going through the donut hole, those on Co-Pay assistance, the commercial patients using our Co-Pay assistance programs. You know, as they go through their deductibles at the beginning of a calendar year is another driver, and those have happened in prior years also.

This year we saw a higher 340B utilization in Q1 when we compare it to the second half of last year, where it was relatively flat. For this year, you know, I think, you know, we're looking right now at a 29% gross to net percentage.

Obviously that's an estimate right now and, you know, that can change based on different utilization patterns of, you know, 340B or Co-Pay assistance or, you know, Medicare or Medicaid and so on, so. That's our current estimate as we're thinking about it.

Peter Lawson
Managing Director and US Biotech Equity Analyst, Barclays

Good and Thank you. That's captured in the guidance. Then I guess kind of a Follow-Up question really about demand trend. What was that like during the 1/4, and was that in any way different from last year that we should be thinking about?

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Peter, you broke up there. Could you say that again slowly, please?

Peter Lawson
Managing Director and US Biotech Equity Analyst, Barclays

Yeah. Around the demand trends and month by month, was there anything different there from last 1/4?

P.J. Haley
EVP of Commercial, Exelixis

You know, Peter, it's P.J. I would just say, you know, we continue to see, as I mentioned, 6 quarters of growth and strength in the demand trends. I think nothing out of the ordinary in terms of what we see generally speaking. It's just, you know, we're pleased it's being driven by, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, you know, primarily longer duration of therapy on the First-Line patients, benefiting from the combination of Cabometyx and nivolumab.

Peter Lawson
Managing Director and US Biotech Equity Analyst, Barclays

Okay. I know a number of companies mentioned January and February being weak. Did you see that kind of trend?

P.J. Haley
EVP of Commercial, Exelixis

You know, as I mentioned, I think overall we're just seeing you know, steady progression of the business and strength.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Yeah. Maybe you could reiterate for Peter what the TRX growth was for the 1/4.

P.J. Haley
EVP of Commercial, Exelixis

Yeah. Thanks. Happy to, Mike. The TRX growth 1/4-over-quarter was 11%, which is, you know, as I mentioned, also for the market, that growth was 7%. We also grew above the market. And like I said, you know, no significant differences between months. We've just seen steady growth, as I mentioned, with really being driven by the combination patients.

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Thanks, P.J.

Thanks, Peter.

Peter Lawson
Managing Director and US Biotech Equity Analyst, Barclays

Great. Thanks so much.

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone. Our next question comes from Chris Shibutani with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Chris Shibutani
Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Good afternoon. Thanks for the questions. Just 2, making sure that I understand. With COSMIC-313, the 10-Q has the timing from July. I think this is a slight revision versus the first half of 2022. If any color in terms of what caused the readout to shift the timeline there. The second would be on STELLAR-002, the study involving XL092. I believe there were some treatment arms, including bempeg. Can you just maybe provide any additional insight into any recent updates given the Nektar's bempeg program?

Mike Morrissey
President and CEO, Exelixis

Vicki, go ahead.

Vicki Goodman
EVP of Product Development and Medical Affairs, and CMO, Exelixis

Yes. I'll cover COSMIC-313 first. Just to be clear on that, we've reached the number of events that we need for our primary analysis of PFS. Data cleaning in advance of the top-line results is ongoing, and based on our assessment of where that stands currently, we now expect to deliver it into July. You're correct, that timeline has moved a little bit, but we have a pretty clear picture of when that data will be now coming in.

With respect to XL092, I want to make sure I understood your question correctly. STELLAR-002 had 3 arms, a combination with nivolumab, a combination with nivo and ipi, and then a combination of nivo and bempeg, all with XL092 in genitourinary tumors.

As I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we are removing the bempeg arm, you know, following the recent phase 3 readouts for that molecule and the discontinuation of the program. We are looking at a what I believe to be a promising replacement with another triplet. You know, stay tuned for further details on that.

Chris Shibutani
Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Great. Thank you for that.

Operator

I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Ms. Susan Hubbard for any closing remarks.

Susan Hubbard
EVP of Public Affairs and Investor Relations, Exelixis

Yeah. Thank you, Shari, and thank you all for joining us today. We certainly welcome your Follow-Up questions and anything that you also would like to answer. Please feel free to give either myself or Veronica a call.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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