Assertio Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASRT) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Mitra Ramgopal: Yes. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions, first congrats on the quarter. On Sympazan it certainly exceeded your expectations. I was just wondering, the sort of led to the upside versus what you’re expecting?

Dan Peisert: I think in this in the fourth quarter that we just reported I think it was about $300,000 of upside with relative to what we thought.

Mitra Ramgopal: Okay.

Dan Peisert: But we’re seeing good uptake above what our internal deal model was in January and February. Just to give you an example, I can’t say it’s 100% because of the promotion that we’re doing but, I certainly think it’s related the open rates on an e-mail for example that we would have on traditional marketing for some of our other products would be in the low-single digits 2% to 3%. The open rates that we’re seeing for Sympazan are 22% to 33%. So its multiples higher and it just shows us that there’s a lot of education and awareness that is that can still happen here to make sure that the physicians that are treating these patients can know about Sympazan and its benefits.

Mitra Ramgopal: Okay. Thanks. And as you look in terms of model and the leverage you have, how should we think about SG&A going forward as it relates to investments you probably need to make in sales force or personnel and increased headcount?

Paul Schwichtenberg: Mitra, what I would say about that is, as we look ahead, I mentioned, that we’re going to see a step-up in expenses in 2023, for a couple of reasons. One is further investment in Sympazan as we just acquired that product at the end of 2022. We’re going to be investing, some more in Otrexup. As I mentioned, we’re going to be spending more on samples, which were delayed in 2022. And then, also we’ve got the clinical studies out there on the R&D front for INDOCIN.

Mitra Ramgopal: Okay. So in terms of, having to add the sales force et cetera, no need or no imminent need right now, I guess?

Paul Schwichtenberg: No, plans to do that, at this point. There’s no need.

Mitra Ramgopal: Okay. Thanks. And Dan, you sound really excited in terms of the BD pipeline, a lot of assets for sale. I was just wondering, if you could give us maybe some color, on the type of valuations you’re seeing in this environment.

Dan Peisert: It really — it’s asset by asset. But, I think the generalization I can give is, that they’re far more reasonable than they were in 2008, when I started doing this, and we were paying five times revenue. So I think the valuation perceptions of the sellers are reasonable and they’ve come in check. And we’re seeing, a very large amount of very attractive opportunities.

Mitra Ramgopal: Okay. Thanks. And again, given the outlook for the year, it looks like you set up really nicely. Just wondering in terms of, any potential headwinds you’re seeing that might be cost of caution right now?

Dan Peisert: No, there’s nothing that would cause caution. We have some anticipated headwinds already baked into the guidance, that we’ve provided that get to the $150 million to $160 million.

Mitra Ramgopal: Okay. Thanks for taking the questions

Dan Peisert: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. There are currently no further questions at this time. So, this will conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Dan Peiser, President and Chief Executive Officer, for any closing remarks.

Dan Peisert: Thank you, Joel. In conclusion, the fourth quarter is one of the best quarters, we’ve had in my tenure with the company. Looking forward, the base business is the ability to show positive revenue growth year-over-year, despite the loss of exclusivity for CAMBIA, as we make investments in our digital platform to grow demand. In addition, there is potential to do far better with the recent changes to the guidelines affecting us. We continue to be active in business development and are very pleased with how our most recent acquisition of Sympazan is trending. I appreciate you, all taking the time to join our call. Hope, you have a good evening, and look forward to seeing those of you attending the Roth conference next week. Thank you very much.

Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.

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