Heron Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HRTX) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Josh Schimmer: And then, John, you provided some encouraging uptake metrics early on for APONVIE, on the other hand, you provided encouraging uptake metrics for ZYNRELEF, and that’s been, I think, most investors would agree to date a fairly significant disappointment. So why should we have confidence in your APONVIE commentary in light of the fact that the commentary rents in relief really didn’t portend a launch that investors have been looking for?

John Poyhonen: Yes. It’s a very fair question. And I would tell you that I think APONVIE is entirely different. First of all, we have a broad indication for PONV prevention. So, we’re not limited in the surgical procedures that we can be used. The other thing from an ease of use, Josh, we don’t have the same training hurdles. It’s really just a 30-second IV push. It’s something that hospitals are used to using every single day. So the representatives don’t have to remain in the accounts and make sure that the training is €“ takes place withdrawn the product from the vial. So, I think while certainly there are some very encouraging initial results that we’re seeing. We believe this is a very different product and ease of use, and we’ll have a very rapid uptake as we get going and get formulary access.

Josh Schimmer: Got it. Thanks very much.

Operator: We’ll take our next question from Brandon Folkes with Cantor Fitzgerald.

Brandon Folkes: Hi, congratulations on the progress and thanks for taking my questions. Maybe firstly for me, can you just elaborate on some of the options you have for shoring up your cash runway? I know you did talk about that and sort of working with the Board on that. So maybe just if you could elaborate there? And then along the same lines, how should we think about R&D going forward in light of the ZYNRELEF label expansion, sNDA now being filed, but then also the sort of prefilled syringe and VAN you talked about today? Thank you.

Barry Quart: Yes, thanks Brandon. So, the €“ in terms of the second question first, looking at R&D expense going forward, we continue to do our best to moderate R&D over the course of this year. Even with our activities in terms of trying to move the prefilled syringe forward, that’s a relatively modest investment compared to running large scale clinical trials. We will do it as economically as possible. So the €“ and we’ve already taken significant measures to reduce our R&D expense as I think indicative of the numbers that we put up for fourth quarter. And we’ll continue to look at ways to reduce burn both in R&D as well as elsewhere. I can’t go into specifics at this point. The Board is still in the kind of data accumulation stage and working together very closely with management and we’ll certainly provide updates when available.

Brandon Folkes: Great, thanks very much. And maybe just one follow-up. In terms of the 10% growth €“ volume growth, any pushes and pulls around revenue that we should think about in the first quarter there, just sort of why revenue may or may not track that closely?

Barry Quart: Yes, great question. And there’s no doubt that in the first quarter as on an annual basis, you have what we showed in terms of seasonality of the use of ZYNRELEF and also ordering patterns and the mix of the two vial sizes, maybe different. So I don’t know if there’s any specifics that John or David can add in terms of Brandon’s question.

John Poyhonen: Brandon, were you asking about ZYNRELEF specifically?

Brandon Folkes: Correct, yes.