Coherus BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRS) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Paul Reider: Yes. Thanks, Doug. Yes, we’re really pleased with the update. I think looking at the ramp, projecting the same level of growth quarter-over-quarter is probably too optimistic at this point. We’re going to continue to see demand growth driven from the current book of business and the patients coming back in, but also new business that we get in. So we — again, we haven’t guided to what the final CIMERLI number is, but we still maintain guides that sales are going to exceed $100 million for the year.

Douglas Tsao: And Paul, do you think the opportunity just improving your volume within your existing CIMERLI accounts? Or are you still picking up new accounts?

Paul Reider: Yes, Doug. In the third quarter, we increased the number of ordering accounts by 70%. So we’ve got about 550 accounts now that have ordered CIMERLI, 80% have ordered — reordered at least one time. So it’s really this breadth and depth. We want to go deeper into the accounts that are ordering, convert that still consensus unit volume that’s available for Avastin where they’ve completed their step edits. And at the same time, that continue to broaden out for those accounts that maybe have been a little bit slower on the CIMERLI adoption with biosimilars. What’s really pushing that new account acceleration though, Doug, is the fact that we’ve got now the Q-code well-established and also real-world evidence that was just presented at the ASRS meeting, demonstrating that CIMERLI is safe and effective and delivering on their clinical profile for Lucentis.

We just hit 139,000 units shipped. Now I know we’ve press released in the third quarter, it was 100,000, but it’s now 139,000. So we’re going to bring along those that were a little bit slower on the biosimilar adoption curve.

Douglas Tsao: And final question, Paul, on CIMERLI, is there a type of account that you’re really doing well in? Is it the private equity-backed practices? Or is it smaller practices? Just any color would be interesting to hear.

Paul Reider: It’s been a mix of everything, Doug. It’s really just been — once the retinal specialists understands that biosimilar to Lucentis is a great option for them, they get on board, they trial it, they get reimbursed and we start to see more rapid adoption there. So it’s really across the board.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Chris Schott with JPMorgan. Your line is now open.

Christopher Schott: Great. Thanks so much. Just two questions for me. I guess first, just coming back to the biosimilar Humira market. Can you just maybe just elaborate a little bit more on the priorities for YUSIMRY as we head into 2024, given it sounds like ’25 is really the key year for the market opening up? And maybe just as part of that, I know you did a couple of million this quarter in sales. It sounds like not a huge step up in 4Q. But should we think about a meaningful step-up of sales in this product in 2024? Or does this remain a relatively small business until we get out to ’25 and more the volume comes through? And I just had one follow-up after that.

Dennis Lanfear: Thanks for the question, Chris. The issue with the Humira biosimilar market is really the position of Humira on the formularies. And we don’t see significant growth in this market until 2025, until the Inflation Reduction Act comes in the pipe and then sort of the pricing dynamics of flip a bit. So we’re projecting shallow but steady growth throughout that time, but with the inflection in ’25.

Christopher Schott: Okay. Okay. That’s helpful. And then just on UDENYCA, just any color of how much of the sales at this point is coming from the auto injector from — versus the traditional presentation? As I just think about that auto-injector piece of it, do you expect any sort of inflection as I guess just the ecosystem gets more educated on the product or is coverage really the key here? And I know you’ve talked about some progress on that front. I’m just trying to get a sense of what the key factors that might lead to that auto-injector seeing broader uptake would be.

Paul Reider: Yes. Thanks, Chris. So in the third quarter, the prefilled syringe represented the vast majority of the UDENYCA volume, and it was coming from all segments of the business. So when we launched the auto-injector in the quarter, it was really the first of its kind, a new innovation that the marketplace had never implemented into the system. So we had to get payer coverage set up. At the same time, we then had to educate the providers and particularly the nurses and the pharmacists, get it on the formularies the order set. So there’s a lot of operational work that had to get done to get this set up. We’ve had about 300 accounts order auto-injectors since it’s been approved. So they’re looking for the places where it can fit in the system.

We expect that as the launch progresses, we’re going to see continued demand increases, and that will be buoyed as we move into 2024 as payer coverage continues to expand. So once we then have the on body, we’ll then be the only brand, Chris, with all three presentations, being a total solution, meeting the needs of the patients and the providers. So I think we got two shots on goal then with the auto-injector and the OBI to go after that Onpro market, which has remained fairly resilient at 42% share.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Ash Verma with UBS.

Ash Verma: I have two. So the first one, I believe you have a milestone payment due to Junshi for the NPC approval. Can you remind us what’s the time line and the amount for that? And then second, I thought there was an 8-K filed earlier that noted a smaller lease space going forward. Is there a new reduced workforce as a part of this? Just surprised to see the space is now cut into half. And any implications that you can mention for that to your cash burn?