Earnings Call: Q3 2022

Nov 8, 2022

Good afternoon, and welcome to Supernus Pharmaceuticals third quarter 2022 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded, and I would now like to turn the conference over to Peter Vozzo of ICR Westwicke, investor relations representative for Supernus Pharmaceuticals. Sir, you may begin. Thank you, Chris. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Supernus Pharmaceuticals third quarter 2022 financial results conference call. Today, after the close of the market, the company issued a press release announcing these results. On the call with me today are Supernus's Chief Executive Officer, Jack Khattar, and Chief Financial Officer, Tim Dec. Today's call is being made available via the investor relations section of the company's website at ir.supernus.com. During the course of this call, management may make certain forward-looking statements regarding future events and the company's future performance. These forward-looking statements reflect Supernus's current perspective on existing trends and information. Any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, including those noted in the Risk Factors section of the company's latest SEC filings. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. For the benefit of those of you who may be listening to the replay, this call is being held and recorded on November 8, 2022. Since then, the company may have made additional announcements related to the topics discussed. Please reference the company's most recent press releases and current filings with the SEC. Supernus declines any obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws. I will now turn the call over to Jack. Thank you, Peter. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for taking the time to join us as we discuss our 2022 third quarter results. During the first nine months of 2022, we continued to execute on our long-term growth strategy, focusing on successfully transitioning from our legacy and mature products to our growth products. Products acquired or launched since 2020 accounted for 42% of our total net product sales, slightly surpassing Trokendi XR's net product sales contribution in the third quarter. For the first nine months of this year, total revenues were $500 million, representing a 19% increase over the same period last year. Adjusted non-GAAP operating earnings of $91 million reflected continued significant investment in Qelbree. During the third quarter, the company increased its commercial efforts, including a direct-to-consumer campaign, to build more momentum behind the adult launch and to support the important back to school season. Qelbree's launch continues to progress well with increased momentum in prescription growth and shipments due to the launch in the adult population and the back to school season. During the third quarter of 2022, total IQVIA prescriptions for Qelbree reached 94,328, representing an increase of 50% compared to the second quarter of 2022. Prescriptions in the most recent month of September reached 34,633, the highest monthly total since the launch. Based on weekly IQVIA prescription data by age, at the end of the third quarter, adult prescriptions represented approximately 23% of total Qelbree's prescriptions. During the third quarter, which was the first full quarter after the launch in adults, adult prescriptions grew by 77% and pediatric prescriptions showed solid growth of 43%. Qelbree continues to expand its base of prescribers with over 14,265 prescribers in the third quarter of 2022, up from 9,276 prescribers in the second quarter of 2022. We continue to receive positive feedback from prescribers regarding the performance of Qelbree in patients. A recent survey among prescribers for adult patients showed a 90% overall satisfaction level with Qelbree compared to only 51% for Strattera. Regarding Gocovri, the product delivered another quarter of solid growth with net sales reaching $27.9 million in the third quarter of 2022, a 16% increase compared to the third quarter of 2021. For the first nine months of 2022, Gocovri net product sales were $75.2 million, an increase of 22% compared to net product sales reported by Adamas in the first nine months of 2021. Oxtellar XR continues to perform well with net product sales of $88 million for the first nine months of this year, representing a 7% increase compared to the same period last year. For the nine months of 2022, net product sales of Trokendi XR were $204 million, down from $232 million in the same period last year. The company has significantly reduced its in-person sales efforts in the second half of the year but continues to provide support to physicians and patients through various sales and marketing programs. Moving on to the pipeline. As we announced last month, the FDA issued a complete response letter for the SPN-830 new drug application. The CRL didn't request additional efficacy and safety clinical studies, but rather required additional information and analysis related to the infusion device and drug product. Across several areas of the NDA, including labeling, product quality and manufacturing, device performance, and risk analysis. The FDA mentioned that approval of the NDA requires inspections that could not be completed in a timely manner due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. We will continue to work closely with the FDA and our partners to address all questions and to provide clarity regarding the potential timing of a resubmission of the NDA. FDA has made an initial determination that the amendment to the company's application in response to the CRL will be subject to a Class 2 or 6-month review timeline. For SPN-820, our first-in-class orally active mTORC1 activator. The phase 2 multicenter randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study in adults with treatment-resistant depression is ongoing. The study will examine the efficacy and safety of SPN-820 over a course of 5 weeks of treatment in approximately 270 patients. Primary outcome measure is a change from baseline to end of treatment period on the Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, Total Score, a standard depression rating scale. We're on track also to initiate an open-label phase 2 clinical study with SPN-817 in the fourth quarter of this year in patients with treatment-resistant seizures. SPN-817 represents a novel mechanism of action for an anticonvulsant and utilizes synthetic form huperzine A, which is a potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitor with pharmacological activities in CNS conditions such as epilepsy. Finally, we continue to be active in corporate development, looking for strategic opportunities to further strengthen our future growth and leadership position in CNS. With that, I will now turn the call over to Tim. Thank you, Jack. Good afternoon, everyone. As I review our third quarter 2022 results, please refer to today's press release. Total revenue for the third quarter of 2022 was $177.4 million, a 19% increase compared to $148.5 million in the same quarter last year. Total revenue in the third quarter of 2022 was comprised of net product sales of $172.7 million and royalty revenue of $4.7 million. The third quarter revenue is the highest quarterly revenue in the company's history. The increase was primarily due to net product sales of Gocovri from the acquisition of Adamas in November 2021 and growth in net product sales of Qelbree and Oxtellar XR. For the third quarter of 2022, combined R&D and SG&A expenses were $131.9 million as compared to $91.7 million for the same period in 2021. This increase was primarily due to activities to support the launch of Qelbree and the investment in the Qelbree direct-to-consumer campaign. As Jack mentioned, the DTC campaign and associated expenditures were substantially complete in the third quarter of 2022. Amortization of intangible assets for the third quarter of 2022 was $20.6 million, compared to $6 million for the same period in 2021. The increase is due to the Adamas acquisition. Operating loss on a GAAP basis for the third quarter of 2022 was $1.5 million, as compared to an operating gain of $32.6 million in the same period of 2021. The decrease in GAAP operating earnings, which was expected, is primarily attributable to higher expenses to support the launch of Qelbree, the investment in the DTC campaign, and the aforementioned amortization of intangibles associated with the Adamas acquisition. Income tax for the third quarter of 2022 was a tax benefit of $2.2 million, as compared to income tax expense of $7.4 million for the same period in 2021. This benefit was primarily due to a quarter-to-date loss and a windfall benefit from stock-based awards as compared to the prior quarter-to-date expense. GAAP net earnings were $1.7 million for the third quarter of 2022 or $0.03 per diluted share, compared to $21.6 million or $0.40 per diluted share in the same period last year. On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes amortization of intangibles, share-based compensation, contingent consideration and depreciation, adjusted operating earnings were $25.4 million compared to $43.3 million in the third quarter of 2021. Total revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 was $500 million, a 19% increase compared to $420.7 million in the same period last year. Total revenue was comprised of net product sales of $485.6 million and royalty revenue of $14.3 million. The increase was primarily due to net product sales of Gocovri from the acquisition of Adamas in November 2021 and growth in net product sales of Qelbree and Oxtellar XR, offset in part by a decline in net product sales of Trokendi XR and Apokyn. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, combined R&D and SG&A expenses were $360 million as compared to $272.4 million for the same period in 2021. The increase in expenses is primarily due to activities to support the launch of Qelbree, the investment in the DTC campaign, and cost to support Gocovri. Amortization of intangible assets for the first nine months ended September 30, 2022 was $61.9 million compared to $18 million for the same period in 2021. Operating earnings on a GAAP basis for the first nine months ended September 30, 2022 was $11.8 million, as compared to $79.9 million for the same period in 2021. The decrease in GAAP operating earnings is primarily attributable to the higher expenses to support the launch of Qelbree, the DTC campaign, and the aforementioned amortization of intangibles. Other income expense for the first nine months of September 30, 2022 was $13.8 million of income, as compared to $8.8 million of expense in the first nine months of 2021. The increase is primarily due to a gain recognized on our share of a distribution from the sale of a subsidiary of Navitor, and a decrease in interest expense due to the adoption of a new accounting standard in the first quarter of 2022. Income tax for the first nine months ended September 30, 2022 was a tax benefit of $9.6 million, as compared to an income tax expense of $20.1 million for the same period in 2021. The benefit was primarily due to a corporate reorganization of the Adamas entities in the first quarter of this year. GAAP net earnings were $35.2 million for the first nine months ended September 30, 2022, or $0.62 per diluted share, compared to $51 million or $0.94 per diluted share in the same period last year. On a non-GAAP basis, which again excludes amortization of intangibles, share-based compensation, contingent consideration, and depreciation, adjusted operating earnings for the first nine months of 2022 were $91.9 million, compared to $106 million in the same period in 2021. As of September 30, 2022, the company had approximately $523.7 million in cash equivalents, and marketable securities, compared to $458.8 million as of December 31, 2021. This increase is primarily due to cash generated from operations. For the full year 2022, the company is raising the midpoint and narrowing the expected ranges of full year 2022 financial guidance for total revenue and for GAAP and non-GAAP operating earnings. As such, we expect total revenue to range from $650 million-$680 million, compared to our prior guidance of $640 million-$680 million. For the full year 2022, we expect combined R&D and SG&A expenses to range from $460 million-$475 million, compared to our prior guidance of $460 million-$490 million. Overall, we expect 2022 GAAP operating earnings to range from $35 million-$45 million, compared to our previous guidance of $20 million-$40 million. We expect our non-GAAP operating earnings to range from $135 million-$155 million, as compared to our previous guidance of $130 million-$165 million. With that, I will now turn the call back to our operator for Q&A. Operator? Thank you, sir. To ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your phone. Please stand by as we compile the Q&A roster. One moment for our first question. Our first question will come from David Amsellem of Piper Sandler. Your line is open. Hey, thanks. Just had a few. First, on Qelbree. Can you just talk about the gross to net in 3Q? Looks like it, you know, was like stable or trended down a little bit. Talk about those dynamics. Are you still sticking to your aspirational target of 50%-55% over time? Then related to that, talk about your payer slash PBM contract negotiations and where things may stand there. That's number one. Number two is on Trokendi. Might be a little bit early to talk about this, but can you give us some of your latest thoughts on what you think the erosion might look like? Asked differently, how you are thinking about generic market formation, and overall, erosion of volumes and sales, next year? That would be helpful as well. Thank you. Yeah, sure. Regarding the first question on Qelbree, the gross to net in Q3 is fairly stable, a little bit better than Q2, but that's a quarter-to-quarter type of fluctuation. So yes, it did trend down. It's more in the 60% in the third quarter. The target, yeah, absolutely is still in the 50%-55%. That would be great. You know, we're working pretty hard to get to that target as soon as we can, within reasonable contracting parameters if we can achieve those. So we will continue to have discussions with the various PBMs on hopefully reaching something that could be reasonable that will also help us on the gross to net eventually. As far as Trokendi XR and the erosion, we are, I mean, planning at this point. Obviously, we're getting very close to next year, and we'll talk more about it hopefully in February. We're gonna plan at this point, and we Ask people to look for, as we said earlier, erosion probably around 90% erosion by December. Over the 12 months, kind of 90% erosion by the end of 2023. It might be a little bit slower in the first quarter, and then it will later dip quicker. The timing is really difficult to predict on whether you have a second generic and on how many SKUs out of the 4 different SKUs or product strengths that we have. It looks like there will be a first generic that will come in, you know, January 1 as the settlements allow on 3 product strengths. There is still a very open question on 180-day exclusivity on these three product strength, as well open question on the 180-day exclusivity on the fourth product strength. There is a second generic who has approval on all four product strengths, so depending on the 180-day exclusivity status of these product strengths, it will determine then the timing of the entry of the second generic. All that is still at this point, not 100% clear or certain, but that's where we are at this point, and that's, you know, the latest information we have on that. Okay. That's helpful. Thanks. Sure. Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you'll need to press star one one on your phone. One moment please for our next question. The next question will come from Annabel Samimy of Stifel. Your line is open. Hi, this is Jack calling in for Annabel. Thanks for taking our questions. Two from us. First on Qelbree, we've seen a pretty meaningful uptick in prescriptions since the adult launch. Is this early penetration primarily from a growing desire for non-stimulant options or more due to either a rebound from the back to school season or a lack of availability from Adderall given manufacturing delays? Just wanted to know if you think this is a sustainable trend or one that you could see reversal of when stimulant supplies return. Secondly, on Gocovri, I know you've mentioned previously that your intentions with the effective relaunch were to essentially rework the narrative and focus on dyskinesia first and off episodes second to better differentiate it from competitors. Do you have any early indications on how receptive physicians have been to this new strategy and if they've begun to more meaningfully understand the advantages of the dual profile? Thanks. Yeah. Regarding the first question on Qelbree and the uptick in the prescriptions, certainly we have two dynamics on top of each other, you know, working together in growing Qelbree and accelerating its growth in the third quarter. As you well pointed out, first, the adult launch, which we launched it at the end of May. As the summer season, you know, dwindled down, so to speak, and back to school season start coming up, you had the back-to-school effect on the pediatric. As I mentioned in the remarks, as far as the adult growth was around 77% growth in the third quarter, which was fairly the first full quarter right after the launch. And we continue to see adult growing. That is still growing. At the same time, we didn't see pediatric slowing down. Pediatric continues to grow in the third quarter because of the back to school season. We're pretty pleased right now with both patient populations, you know, continue to show solid growth in both sides of the business. As I mentioned, 23% of our prescriptions, you know, per the weekly data that we get, which breaks it down by age, is showing that about 23% is in adult. We have a long way to go as far as growth potential because, if you remember, the market is split up 67% adult and the remainder pediatrics. We have a lot of potential out there that we can tap into. What really keeps us positive about all this is certainly at the end of the day, is the feedback we get from physicians about the performance of the product. So consistent with what we've seen now for almost a year and a half, almost, you know, soon will be two years in the pediatric side, we're seeing the same thing on the adult side. You know, with positive feedback from physicians about the use of the product in the adult population. As I mentioned, the overall satisfaction is 90%, which is really high, compared to what they are used to. These are the same physicians who typically prescribe Strattera or other non-stimulants. On Strattera, for example, I mentioned there's only 51% overall satisfaction. Clearly Qelbree is separating itself from other non-stimulants. It's also continued to be used for the primary reasons and the primary type of patients that physicians are putting on Qelbree. These are patients who are coming from the stimulant segment. There is still a lot of dissatisfaction in the stimulant market, despite the fact that stimulants dominate the market, about 90% of the prescriptions. There's so many patients out there that are dissatisfied and stimulants are not the right option for them. We continue to bring a lot of the patients and the primary source of our patients, at least all this, since we launched it in 2021, seems to be coming from the stimulant segment, as well as, of course, with folks who are not satisfied with the other non-stimulants in the marketplace. All in all looks like the source of the business is coming from different areas of the market, so we're not only seen as one treatment option in non-stimulant, but we're drawing in a lot of stimulant usage. We don't believe the Adderall shortage, for example, which many people have asked us about, a lot of the shortages in the immediate release product and so forth actually may be the wrong patient profile we're looking at here. We completely focus on selling our product based on the merits of our product, and we want the right patients to be on our product. Because if you have the wrong patients, they may not end up being, you know, fulfilled with the product that we have because it's the wrong product for what they're looking for. Finally on Gocovri, regarding the narrative of the positioning, it is actually one of the unique issues and the attractiveness of Gocovri in the marketplace in Parkinson's, the fact that we can treat both OFF episode and dyskinesia. What we're finding out is that among physicians, whether they're movement disorder specialists or neurologists who are very well entrenched in the Parkinson's space, and they're well-versed about, you know, treating Parkinson's. You have the general neurologists. There are differences in how they treat, there are differences in how they look at dyskinesia. Everybody pretty much treats OFF, that's the most common thing, obviously. Not every physician is as attentive of every or every patient is as well spoken about their issues and really raise the issues with their physicians about dyskinesia and other things. It takes a lot of market education, which we've been, you know, doing a lot since we took over the product in really helping folks understand the dynamics between both. The fact that they don't have to have a trade-off between treating OFF and dyskinesia, and they can treat both at the same time. It does require a change in habits, and these things do take time. They take frequency. By our sales force, we continue to hammer that message and the importance of looking at the overall condition of the patient, not just OFF episodes or not just dyskinesia, but you could actually treat both and look at the overall condition and the overall status of the patient. It's a work in progress. We're pretty pleased with the, you know, continued solid growth of the business. Clearly, we're doing the right things, and it's resonating with physicians, and we continue to grow the brand. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Again, to ask a question, you'll need to press star one one on your phone. Please stand by as we compile the Q&A roster. I am seeing no further questions in the queue. I would now like to turn the conference back to Jack Khattar for closing remarks. Thank you. In concluding our call this afternoon, I would like to emphasize that Qelbree and Gocovri's growth are our top priority. We're excited about Qelbree momentum as well as Gocovri's performance and continued growth since the completion of the Adamas acquisition. We look forward to building on the momentum and finishing the year strong. I would like to thank all our employees for delivering a solid quarter with record revenues for Supernus and look forward to updating everyone on our next call. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect and have a pleasant day.