Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript May 9, 2023

Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. misses on earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $0.47 EPS, expectations were $0.48.

Operator: Good afternoon, my name is Chris and I’ll be your conference operator today. At this time, I’d like to welcome everyone to the Halozyme First Quarter 2023 Financial and Operating Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I’ll now turn the call over to Tram Bui, Halozyme’s Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Please go ahead.

Tram Bui: Thank you, operator. Good afternoon and welcome to our First Quarter 2023 Financial and Operating Results Conference Call. In addition to the press release issued today after the market close, you can find a supplementary slide presentation that will be referenced during today’s call in the Investor Relations section of our website. Leading the call will be Dr. Helen Torley, Halozyme’s President and Chief Executive Officer who will provide an update on our business and Nicole LaBrosse, our Chief Financial Officer will review our financial results for the first quarter 2023. On today’s call, we will be making forward-looking statements as outlined on slide two. I would also refer you to our SEC filings for a full list of risks and uncertainties.

During the call, both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures will be discussed. Certain non-GAAP or adjusted financial measures are reconciled with the comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings press release and slide presentation. I will now turn the call over to Helen Torley.

Helen Torley: Thank you, Tram, and good afternoon, everyone. Let me begin on slide three. Halozyme is a leading drug delivery platform company with a diversified and robust business, which include our ENHANZE royalty business, our auto injector technology business and a specialty commercial portfolio. I’m pleased to report that we executed our plan for the first quarter of 2023 achieving total revenue of $162 million, a 38% increase year-over-year. This performance sets us up well for the year and we expect strong quarter-over-quarter revenue growth throughout 2023 that will result in another record revenue year. Turning now to slide four. I’m delighted with the [indiscernible], the momentum of our drug delivery business. Halozyme has established our leadership in rapid subcutaneous drug delivery of ENHANZE, and more recently, with our differentiated auto injectors.

Our partners are making strong progress with their commercialization and development activities that are expected to result in strong and durable long-term growth. Drivers of this growth include the potential approval of efgartigimod subcu and atezolizumab subcu this year that will bring our approved product generating royalties from five products to seven products. Two additional blockbuster drugs OCREVUS subcu and Vivo subcu continuing Phase 3 development with the potential for launch by 2025. An additional two products, amivantamab subcu and relatlimab/nivolumab subcu fixed-dose combination also continuing Phase 3 clinical testing, the final phase before a potential launch and royalty generation with the potential to launch between 2025 and 2027.

And it is our goal to add to our already robust pipeline by adding three new agreements this year for ENHANZE, ENHANZE plus our high-volume auto injector and also a small volume auto injector agreement. Turning to slide five, let me spend a moment on why so many partners are focused on and are so excited about subcutaneous drug delivery with ENHANZE. ENHANZE, when co-formulated with our partner products, has demonstrated an ability to differentiate the subcutaneous product from IV. Subcu delivery decreases treatment times and treatment burden for patients. This in turn results in an improved patient experience with patient stating a strong preference for subcu in surveys. There may also be, as we saw in the case of DARZALEX subcutaneous, a lower rate of infusion related reactions.

This can also translate into considerable advantages to the healthcare system. These advantages include less use of more costly hospitals and infusion centers and less use of healthcare practitioner time, a growing consideration in all regions of the world. Moving now to slide six, I’ll provide an overview of our ENHANZE pipeline. We described this in terms of waves with Waves 1 and 2 the already launched products. The Wave 3 product, those that have the potential to launch between 2023 and 2025. And the Wave 4 products are those with the potential for launch between 2025 and 2027. I’ll go into more detail on Waves 2, 3 and 4 in a moment. But before I do so, let me highlight an exciting event for one of our Wave 1 product. Takeda received FDA approval for an expanded indication for HYQVIA to treat primary immunodeficiency in children.

HYQVIA is now available to a broader community impacted by primary immunodeficiency who may prefer flexible treatment options in the management of these disorders. And having the key value driver for our partners and our extensive development pipeline supports our expectations for royalty revenues to reach approximately $1 billion in 2027 with potential for growth beyond that. This projected growth is driven by new launches and the projected impact of co-formulation patents. Let me now move to slide seven for an overview of our royalty revenues. We project $445 million to $455 million in royalty revenue in 2023, 23% to 26% growth over 2022. Quarterly royalty revenue increased 43% year-over-year to $99.6 million and we project strong quarter-on-quarter growth throughout 2023.

Five partner products, using ENHANZE drug delivery technology and commercialized an approximately 100 global markets are contributing to royalty revenue growth to date with DARZALEX subcu and Phesgo are Wave 2 products, the key growth drivers. While we project the approval of efgartigimod subcu and Tecentriq subcu in the United States in 2023, we’ve seen virtually no royalty revenues in 2023 from these products due to launch timing and the standard time it takes for physicians to be confident regarding reimbursement. Also included in our royalty revenue is revenue from our small volume auto injector business. This remains stable and largely driven by Teva’s generic EpiPen. Moving now to slide eight, I’ll provide more details on DARZALEX. Janssen’s DARZALEX continues its amazing growth story, growing approximately 26% year-over-year on an operational basis in the first quarter 2023 to approximately $2.3 billion.

This increase was driven by share gains in all regions, continued growth of the market and strong adoption of DARZALEX FASPRO, the subcutaneous formulation with ENHANZE. J&J expects DARZALEX to continue to grow in the first-line setting. Analysts are now projecting annual DARZALEX sales will reach $16.5 billion in 2028. DARZALEX subcu is a globally established choice of physicians using DARZALEX for myeloma patients, with the share of 88% in the United States, and as last reported by Janssen, now exceeding 80% outside the United States. The key metric we now track is the overall brand performance as this was driven by the subcu. DARZALEX subcutaneous is a key growth driver of our royalty revenues in 2023 and will continue to contribute meaningfully until at least 2030.

Turning now to Roche’s Phesgo on slide nine. Phesgo is a combination of Perjeta and Herceptin for subcutaneous injection for patients with early and metastatic HER-2 positive breast cancer. This allows for a single five to eight minutes subcutaneous treatment compared with a lengthier IV treatment schedule. Roche recently reported that 85% of patients preferred Phesgo subcutaneous administration over the intravenous formulation of Perjeta and Herceptin. Over the first quarter of 2023, Roche reported Phesgo sales of approximately CHF240 million, an increase of 72% year-over-year. In the initial 30 launch countries, Phesgo share is now 35%, exceeding 40% outside the United States with the US and Germany approaching 20%. Roche, with their focus on patients, is a pioneer, clearly recognizes the benefits of subcutaneous drug delivery for patients and for the healthcare system overall.

We project continued growth from Phesgo in 2023 and beyond. Roche is also developing a path for patient self-administration of Phesgo with an on-body injector and expect pivotal Phase 1 data from this program in the second half of the year. Next up are our Wave 3 products, which are shown on slide 10. These products represent the next set of royalty revenue opportunities for Halozyme with potential launches projected between 2023 and 2025. The Wave 3 products are subcutaneous efgartigimod, atezolizumab, nivolumab and ocrelizumab, all of which are proven at least one indication as an IV formulation. This gives us confidence and the likelihood of approval for ENHANZE enabled subcutaneous versions of these products. I will summarize the key advancements and events occurring this year with this exciting portfolio where analysts project total sales including IV and subcu through its approximately $35 billion in 2028.

Argenx’s subcutaneous efgartigimod for generalized myasthenia gravis has an FDA PDUFA date of June 20, 2023. Argenx has also submitted a marketing authorization application to the European Medical Agency. Analysts predict potential total efgartigimod annual revenue of approximately $7 billion in 2028. The launch of the IV formulation is certainly progressing well with a reported $401 million in 2022 and growth of 25% quarter-over-quarter to $218 million in the first quarter of this year. We are excited that subcutaneous efgartigimod has the potential to be the first of our Wave 3 partner launches with US approval and commercial launch projected mid-year 2023. On their recent quarterly call, argenx’s management commented on the importance of gaining traction in early line patients for the continued trajectory and that the subcutaneous approval may help achieve this.

As argenx’s flagship pipeline product efgartigimod is being developed for the treatment of multiple autoimmune disease indications with subcutaneous development currently in six indications. I will note that four of these indications today are subcutaneous only indications. Argenx has announced plans to expand and add additional indications, including a new study plan for thyroid eye disease for later this year. And argenx project multiple data readouts in 2023. This includes data in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy now in July of 2023. Two additional Phase 3 data readout are projected for the fourth quarter of 2023 in two additional serious autoimmune conditions, idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura and pemphigus. I’ll move now to Roche.

At the beginning of the year, Roche announced their BLA to the FDA for subcutaneous atezolizumab with ENHANZE was accepted with a PDUFA date of September 15, 2023. Subcutaneous atezolizumab has the potential to offer greater convenience for patients and physicians with an approximately seven minutes subcutaneous administration time compared to 30 to 60 minutes for IV treatment. Roche believes this represents a significant advancement for patients, the healthcare system where resources are constrained as well as for payers. In the first quarter of 2023, Roche reported IV Tecentriq revenues of CHF920 million, an increase of 15% year-over-year, driven by higher demand in the US and in Europe. Roche also reported first quarter 2023 revenues of CHF1.6 billion for OCREVUS, which represents an increase of 14% year-over-year and annualizes at over $7 billion.

OCREVUS is on third Wave 3 opportunity. With more than 300,000 patients treated globally, OCREVUS remains the number one treatment in the US and EU5, both in terms of total share and new to brand share with a higher retention rate than other therapies for multiple sclerosis. The goal with subcutaneous OCREVUS is to significantly shorten the treatment and observation time compared to the IV where the IV is currently 3.5 hours to 6 hours. With the data readout for the Phase 3 trial of subcutaneous ocrelizumab with ENHANZE expected later this year, subcutaneous delivery could lower the target total administration and observation time for the first and second dose to one hour and to just 10 minutes for administration and observation for each subsequent dose.

Roche is excited that the subcutaneous data will provide an opportunity to expand the market and provide access to patients for whom intravenous dosing is not viable. Moving now to our fourth Wave 3 product, nivolumab. BMS reported OPDIVO IV sales of $2.2 billion in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 15% year-over-year or 17% excluding FX. BMS believes that subcutaneous delivery of drug [indiscernible] forward and they are progressing with their Phase 3 registration study of subcutaneous nivolumab utilizing ENHANZE in patients with renal cell carcinoma. Our Wave 3 products represent substantial de-risked near-term new royalty revenue opportunity for Halozyme, driven by two potential approvals this year and the Phase 3 readout of subcutaneous ocrelizumab.

The opportunity represented here in terms of analyst projections for total product sales is approximately $35 billion in 2028, which is significantly higher than the opportunity for our Wave 2 products which are driving our strong royalty revenue growth to date. Moving to Slide 11, I’ll review our Wave 4 partner product development pipeline with ENHANZE. Our longer-term growth trajectory is further supported by these Wave 4 products with potential launches in the 2025 through 2027 timeframe. Wave 4 is comprised of 10 partner products, two of which are in Phase 3 and the remaining eight are in ongoing Phase 1 clinical testing or have completed Phase 1. In 2023 and beyond, our goal is to continue to expand the number of products in development and to advance products through development to regulatory approval and launch adding multiple new royalty revenue streams.

The two most advanced products are Janssen’s subcutaneous amivantamab and BMS’ fixed-dose combination of nivolumab plus relatlimab with ENHANZE. Both are already approved and showing strong growth as IV treatment and are in Phase 3 clinical testing as subcu versions. Janssen initiated their Phase 3 study of lazertinib plus amivantamab with ENHANZE in 2022 in patients with EGFR mutated advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. And recently BMS also initiated the Phase 3 study, RELATIVITY-127, with the goal of demonstrating that drug exposure level of nivolumab plus relatlimab fixed-dose combination with ENHANZE is not in theater to IV administration of the same combination with this study being done in patients with previously untreated metastatic or unresectable melanoma.

Other notable program in our Wave 4 pipeline include focus on innovation for HIV. ViiV’s cabotegravir and Janssen’s rilpivirine, both already approved as IM and oral delivery are in Phase 1 development as subcutaneous drugs with ENHANZE. ViiV has stated their goal with subcutaneous delivery is to further extend the dosing interval thereby further freeing patients with the burden of treatment and the disease. ViiV is also in Phase 1 development with N6LS, a development stage broadly neutralizing antibody for HIV. I’ll move now to our new growth opportunities. We remain highly engaged with new partnership discussions for ENHANZE and our auto injectors. I’m excited that the funnel of discussions is at an all-time high driven by high interest in subcutaneous drug delivery.

While the timing is always difficult to predict, we are confident that we will achieve our goals for 2023 for one new ENHANZE deals, one new ENHANZE plus high volume auto injector deal and one new small volume auto injector deal. We are experiencing strong interest in learning more about our high-volume auto injector for rapid delivery of up to 10 mL, which is enabled by ENHANZE. This approach will offer a truly differentiated opportunity for patient friendly, high volume, subcutaneous delivery that can be utilized across the spectrum of disease areas for both small molecule drugs and biologics. We have a working prototype ready for clinical testing and expect to initiate and complete human feasibility studies by mid-year. We look forward to signing an agreement with a current or a new partner to collaborate on the custom development and are tracking nicely towards this goal.

I’ll turn now to our commercial portfolio which includes XYOSTED and TLANDO and are shown on slide 12. XYOSTED is a weekly, virtually painless subcutaneous testosterone replacement treatment, which is patient delivered by auto injector. Our growth strategy remains focused on converting patients from intramuscular injections, the most common treatment approach to date. In the quarter, we saw strong growth of XYOSTED physician demand achieving new weekly high average prescription performance every month. We successfully navigated the first quarter resetting of the high deductible for commercial patients through our copay card program, helping assure affordability was not a barrier for starting or staying on XYOSTED. Sales to wholesalers slightly lag demand in the quarter as a result of the change in our 3PL distribution channel.

Our goal remains to achieve approximately $100 million in XYOSTED revenue in 2023, representing a 20% increase from the run rate following the acquisition. And we’re also still focused on gaining access for TLANDO, our oral testosterone treatment. To-date, we have not yet reached agreement with pharmacy benefit managers on an appropriate rebate rate. And until access is established, we are projecting no revenues for TLANDO in 2023. Before I hand the call over to Nicole, let me reiterate our commitment to our strategic growth and capital allocation priorities, which is shown on slide 13. We are committed to maximizing our revenue growth and durability to create long-term value for all of our stakeholders. We’re investing strategically in ENHANZE and our auto injector technology while continuing to return capital to shareholders with our share buyback plan.

We’ve completed $500 million of the $750 million three-year share buyback program, which was approved by the Board of Directors in December of 2021 and this includes $150 million share buyback completed in the first quarter of 2023. We’re also actively evaluating M&A opportunities, taking additional platforms or companies with de-risked assets or platforms or technologies where we see the opportunity for significant revenue growth and durability. I’ll now turn the call over to Nicole to discuss our financial results for the first quarter of 2023. Nicole?

Nicole LaBrosse: Thank you, Helen. The first quarter of 2023 is on track with our plans and supports our strong financial performance expectations for the full year. As Helen mentioned, we remain committed to our capital allocation strategy. In regards to our share buyback program, we are pleased that within the first quarter, we maximized our repurchase opportunity and completed the full $150 million plan for the year resulting in the repurchase of 4.2 million shares at an average price per share of $36.01. Our share buyback programs have resulted in the repurchase of 34.8 million shares since 2019 which contributed $0.09 to non-GAAP earnings per share in the first quarter. Our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $275.6 million as of March 31st, 2023, compared to $362.8 million on December 31st of 2022 due to our Q1 share repurchases.

Our balance sheet remained strong with projected cash generation and EBITDA growth in 2023. Our net debt to EBITDA ratio is 3.2 as of March 31, 2023, which is expected to be less than three by the end of the year. While we have completed our share repurchases allocated for the year, we will continuously evaluate our future use of capital and monitor market conditions and other factors while also preserving capital to fund revenue growth and durability via M&A. I’ll now move to slide 14 for our detailed financial results for the first quarter of 2023. Revenue for the first quarter was $162 million compared to $117.3 million for the first quarter of 2022. The 38% year-over-year increase was driven by an increase in royalty revenue, primarily attributable to subcutaneous DARZALEX and the addition of product sales as a result of the Antares Pharma acquisition.

Royalty revenue for the quarter was $99.6 million, an increase of 43% compared to $69.6 million in the prior year period. I mentioned that royalty revenue for the quarter saw a small sequential decline of 6% from $106 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. This is due to the expected impact of changes in FX rates, annual royalty rate tiers and EpiPen seasonality. Some of our contracts include tiered royalties that escalate annually as volumes build over the course of the year. The threshold for increased rates was exceeded in Q1 and therefore the increased rates will apply for the remainder of the year. Amortization of intangibles was $17.8 million in the first quarter due to the acquisition in which Halozyme acquired intangible assets that are amortized over the useful life related to the auto injector technology platform XYOSTED and TLANDO.

We project amortization of intangibles to be similar for each quarter in 2023. Research and development expenses for the first quarter was $18 million compared to $11.9 million in the first quarter of 2022, primarily due to an increase in compensation expense related to the ongoing combined larger workforce to support the device platform in regulatory, quality and manufacturing as well as planned investments in ENHANZE. SG&A expenses were $37.4 million compared to $13.8 million for the first quarter of 2022, primarily due to an increase in compensation expenses related to the ongoing combined larger workforce, including the addition of commercial resources in sales and marketing for our testosterone replacement therapy products. EBITDA in the quarter $74.3 million compared to $76.4 million in the first quarter of 2022.

A year-over-year comparison reflects a $25 million milestone payment in the first quarter of 2022, which did not repeat in the first quarter of 2023 as well as the impact of year-over-year increases in operating expenses. GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.29 in the first quarter and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.47. Turning now to our 2023 guidance on slide 15. We are reaffirming our full year 2023 guidance. We expect total revenues of $815 million to $845 million, representing growth between 23% to 28% over 2022 total revenue. We expect total revenue to be primarily driven by continued strength in ENHANZE wave 2 products, DARZALEX SC and Phesgo as well as a full year of Antares product sales in auto injector royalty contribution.

We expect revenue from royalties to increase between 23% to 26% over revenue from royalties in 2022 to a range of $445 million to $455 million. Please note again that our 2023 guidance includes milestone payments for the approval of SC efgartigimod and atezolizumab for conservative royalty revenue contributions from these two products within this year. We expect EBITDA of $415 million to $440 million representing growth of more than 30% over 2022 EBITDA, which excludes the impact of amortization costs related to the Antares acquisition. Finally, we expect non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $2.50 to $2.65. With that, I’ll now turn the call back over to Helen.

Helen Torley: Thank you, Nicole. I’d like to thank the Halozyme team and our partners and collaborators for the strong progress made in the first quarter of this year that setting us up for such strong growth in 2023. We’re continuing to look forward to our commercial product and royalty revenue growth predict and we will increase the number of ENHANZE commercial partner products from five to seven products with the approval of subcutaneous efgartigimod and atezolizumab. We also expect pipeline progress and expansion with Phase 3 data for subcutaneous ocrelizumab and for subcutaneous efgartigimod as well as two new targets entering the clinic from our current partners. Continued progress in the development of our high-volume auto injector with ENHANZE as expected as well as adding new collaboration partners with the goal of signing multiple new collaboration agreements across our platform and we continue to expect revenue growth resulting from our commercial products.

These events all support our strong full year revenue and EBITDA growth guidance. With that we would now be delighted to take your questions. Operator, would you please open the call.

Q&A Session

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Jessica Fye with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Operator: The next question is from Corinne Jenkins with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Operator: The next question is from Mohit Bansal with Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Operator: The next question is from Michael DiFiore with Evercore ISI. Your line is open.

Operator: The next question is from Jason Butler with JMP. Your line is open.

Operator: The next question is from David Risinger with SVB Securities. Your line is open.

Operator: The next question is from Eun Yang with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] The next question is from Caroline Palomeque with Berenberg Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Operator: We have no further questions at this time and this will conclude today’s conference call. Thank you everyone for participating. You may now disconnect.