CTI BioPharma Corp. (NASDAQ:CTIC) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Reni Benjamin: Got it. And then just my final question. Can you just talk a little bit about how you’re thinking about price increases and how we should be thinking about the first quarter? Only because other companies that we follow tend to have increased gross to net right in the first quarter as they try to help patients with the resetting of the copays and the like. Can you give us maybe a sense as to how we should be thinking about the revenues for the score?

Adam Craig: We had a price increase at the end of the year. We haven’t €“ we’re not going to comment on price increases for the rest of the year, because there are a number of factors that we have to consider. And as the year progresses, we may or may not do an additional price increase. It’s not a decision we’ve made at the moment.

Operator: Thank you.

Reni Benjamin: I am sorry, I just wanted to know about the first quarter.

Adam Craig: I’m sorry, Reni, I think you asked about the first quarter. We’re encouraged. We’ve had a good start to the year and we are progressing very well. But we’ll be reporting our first quarter results in about eight weeks time.

Reni Benjamin: Thanks for taking the question.

Adam Craig: Reni, did you €“ Reni, I’m sorry, did you ask about the first quarter in terms of price increase or, I’m sorry.

Reni Benjamin: Yes, I was more just trying to get a sense like we typically see a decrease in revenues in the first quarter because there’s an increase in growth to net with other drugs like ruxolitinib as the companies try to help cover the donut hole patients, there’s a delay to fill scripts. So there’s just some interesting dynamics that happened in the first quarter just because of the lease up that takes place. And so from an insurance perspective, and I just wanted to get your guys’ thoughts on how that might impact?

Adam Craig: Yes. Right. Reni, we’re happy to talk about that during the first quarter report call. We can’t talk about that today.

Reni Benjamin: You got it. Thank you guys very much.

Adam Craig: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Thomas Flaten with Lake Street Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Thomas Flaten: Hey good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Jim, you mentioned that the number of community prescribers have exceeded the number of academic prescribers. I was wondering if you could characterize patient starts or total patients along those lines as well. Has that €“ is that the same dynamic? Or are you still waiting for more patients in the community side?

Jim Fong: Yes. So that is the dynamic, correct. So we are seeing the new patient starts growing and that growth is exceeding in the community of those in the academic centers. So we’re really pleased about that because like we said, it’s a really good marker for penetration adoption and uptick of a new product launch.

Thomas Flaten: Great. And then any comment on lower dose VONJO prescribing in patients that might be challenged with the adverse events?

Jim Fong: Yes. We are seeing some of that. No doubt, if there are patients who’re frail that is up to the discretion of the physician, but by-and-large the vast majority of VONJO prescriptions are at the proper dose of 200 BID.

Thomas Flaten: Got it. And then one quick one for David; there was a pretty significant uptick sequentially in R&D and SG&A. Was that end of year, David? Or is that a new baseline we should use going forward?

David Kirske: I mean that is reflective of our concurrent investment in SG&A. So it’s €“ as revenue continues to drive forward that benefit, we are using to invest in commercialization as well as marketing.