Lilly hosted its Q4 ’18 earnings call and provided brief updates to its diabetes business including its REWIND outlook, Jardiance tailwinds, URLi regulatory filing, and CAROLINA topline results. Of note, Lilly discontinued development of the Ph2 DACRA-042 compound from KeyBioscience. Below, FENIX provides highlights and analysis from the call.
AZ received a positive CHMP opinion for dapagliflozin in T1DM and confirmed that dapa T1DM is under review by FDA. The company will likely discuss the positive CHMP opinion and US filing during its Q4 ’18 earnings call on February 14. Below, FENIX provides thoughts on a dapa T1DM indication in the context of the recent sotagliflozin FDA adcom.
Merck held its Q4 ‘18 earnings call and briefly discussed its diabetes portfolio. Of note, Merck’s earnings press release highlighted the recent in-licensing of NGM313, renamed MK-3655 (monoclonal antibody agonist of the β-Klotho/FGFR1c receptor), which is being evaluated in T2DM and NASH. Additionally, senior management announced that the company will hold an investor event on June 20, 2019 to provide an update on Merck’s strategic progress and its plans for the future. Below are highlights from the call.
JNJ hosted its Q4 ’18 earnings call (press release) and briefly discussed financial results for its Invokana franchise. Of note, the recent Invokana CV indication listed on a single slide, but was not discussed during prepared remarks or Q&A (see previous FENIX insight). Below, FENIX provides financial highlights for Invokana and perspective on the ongoing CV indication launch.
Following the T1DM sotagliflozin FDA adcom, Lexicon held an investor call (Sanofi and Lexicon press release) to discuss the panel’s 8-8 split vote (previous FENIX insight). Lexicon senior management briefly summarized the panel’s commentary before answering questions from financial analysts. Following the vote, Lexicon’s stock opened ~24% down. Below, FENIX provides an overview of post-adcom Lexicon webcast as well as additional thoughts on how the companies will overcome the split vote. The -24% market reaction to Lexicon’s stock price (shown in the chart above) is anticipated to rebound, particularly as Lexicon senior management seek to do damage control with institutional investors…….
Today, the FDA advisory committee panel split the vote (8-8) on whether the sotagliflozin benefit in T1DM outweighs the risks. Of note, the clinicians who treat glycemic control and T1DM tended to vote “yes” while the cardiologists and biostatisticians tended to vote “no.” Below, FENIX provides key highlights of the FDA adcom as well as market implications and read-through to the other SGLT inhibitors being developed for T1DM.
The Trulicity label has recently been updated with 3 major changes: 1) lower rates of hypoglycemia based on moving the cutoff from <70mg/dL to <54mg/dL, 2) inclusion of AWARD-10 data (add-on to SGLT2i), and 3) discontinuation of the pre-filled syringes. Below, FENIX provides analysis of the Trulicity label update including a focus on the broader market implications of lowering the hypo cutoff. Trulicity hypo label data improves competitive messaging vs. Ozempic The Trulicity label was updated with new, lower hypo rates using a lower hypo cutoff to match Ozempic and Bydureon. In the old Trulicity label, the cutoff was high……
Lexicon stock trading has been halted ahead of today’s sotagliflozin T1DM FDA adcom. The previous close was $7.70. FENIX will be providing a full analysis of the adcom.
Briefing documents for the Sanofi/Lexicon sotagliflozin in T1DM FDA adcom were posted today in advance of the January 17, 2019 meeting. As anticipated, FDA’s primary concern appears to be the increased risk of DKA with sotagliflozin; however, Sanofi/Lexicon’s mitigation strategy is projected to quell the concerns of the FDA adcom voting panel. Below, FENIX provides further analysis of the briefing documents, and in light of this evidence, FENIX predicts the results of the adcom will be positive for Sanofi/Lexicon. Executive Summary The 16-member panel will be asked to respond to 4 discussion questions (sota benefits for T1DM, concern for risk of DKA, differences between……
The second day of the 2019 J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference included diabetes-related presentations from Lilly, Sanofi, Lexicon, Mylan, Abbott, and Insulet. Separately, Lilly announced plans to further increase drug pricing transparency using Trulicity TV DTC. The commercials will include a portion directing patients to a Lilly website for more information on list price and average copays. Below, find a topline summary of key JPM takeaways by company followed by more in-depth coverage. In case you missed it, here is a link to FENIX’s Day 1 JPM 2019 insights. Lilly Lilly’s CEO provided a brief introduction to the company and referenced the……