TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:TCON) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Charles Theuer: Yes. No, good question. So as I mentioned as part of the call, we do expect full accrual this quarter which means that we should have response data by mid-year. We mentioned third quarter just because the other key endpoint for the trial is not just the objective response rate but also duration of response with the key endpoint being there a median duration response of more than 6 months being the goal. So in order to have significant data for each patient being on trial at least 6 months given we expect full accrual this quarter, we feel that data would then be in third quarter of 2024.

Unidentified Analyst: Okay. Yes, that makes sense. And then for your product development platform, do you have any deals that are being worked through right now? And how would pricing for future deals look like?

Charles Theuer: No, great question. So I can’t comment on specific potential transactions. But I would just reiterate the fact that we’ve clearly monetized the PDP in the past on 1 or 2 ways. One is through now licensing the actual technology through a non-transferable license that we accomplished in November. And that was for $3 million upfront. I think even more potentially substantial would be actually performing services for a company to replace a CRO and give them the access to our in-house platform. And to make clear what that potentially can mean to TRACON, if it’s a Phase I study and, for example, we can do a 30-patient Phase I study at $3 million and we know a CRO will charge typically $9 million or more, we charge $9 million and guarantee the price, so it won’t be more, that’s potentially $6 million in revenue to TRACON.

If it’s a bigger trial, let’s say, it’s a 100-patient trial that we can do at TRACON at, say, $10 million which is $100,000 a patient, again, a CRO might bid that study at $300,000 a patient, likely, the final cost to the potential partner to come would be more than that. So we’re talking about a $30 million cost-plus. If we can go to that company and say, we’ll guarantee the price at $30 million, knowing we can do it at $10 million, you can see that’s substantial potential revenue for TRACON. So both those are opportunities for TRACON and that gives you some idea of the potential economics around each of those potential opportunities.

Unidentified Analyst: Okay. And can you provide the cash runway and any cost-cutting efforts? And just how this is about SG&A going forward?

Charles Theuer: Sure. Just — so I think we’ve guided to mid this year. And I think as you’ve seen, we have definitely decreased these expenses, I think, related to 2 things. So one is they no longer have expenses related to the arbitration that was a significant expense the last 2 years. And second of all, we have, as I mentioned, almost fully enrolled the ENVASARC trial. So that will decrease expenses going forward as well. And potential revenue through licensing or leveraging the platform could result in further quarters in the future where we’re actually income-positive. And I would point out, we were net income-positive both in quarter 4 and also quarter 3 related to leveraging the platform.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] And I’m showing no further questions at this time. And I would like to turn the conference back over to Dr. Theuer for closing remarks.

Charles Theuer: Well, many thanks for the questions. And thank you to the audience for your time and attention and we look forward to updating you next quarter. Have a great day.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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