Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Operator: The next question will come from David Risinger with SV8 Securities. Please go ahead.

David Risinger: Yes, thanks very much, and thank you for the updates. So I was hoping if you could talk about your vision for VX-548 in chronic pain. So obviously, you’re studying it in DPN. But specifically, what I’m interested in is, assuming that you succeed in your Phase 2 neuropathic pain trial, how might Vertex pursue Phase 3 development, how do you see the target product profile for the product? And would you consider development in musculoskeletal pain as well? Thank you.

Reshma Kewalramani: Sure. Hi, Dave. This is Reshma. Let me take that one for you. We see three distinct areas for a drug like VX-548. One is acute pain. I’ll put that aside for now and I’ll come back to it. And instead of seeing the chronic market as one market, we actually see it as two. The first being neuropathic pain. And the second being, let’s call it, musculoskeletal pain. In that chronic market which we subdivided into two, our immediate area of interest and where we are already in Phase 2 in the update on today’s call is that we are now projecting the completion of that Phase 2 proof-of-concept study by the end of this year, early next. We see that as a very substantial market and we are pursuing that first because, one, their very high unmet need.

Two because it fits our commercialization model, that is to say, a specialty market. I fully expect that VX-548 and NaV1.8 inhibition in general will also be effective for musculoskeletal pain. And I say that not based on conjuncture but rather because the product sets are molecules VX-150, we’ve already taken that into a form of musculoskeletal pain and it was positive there as well. So the way I see our pain portfolio progressing is acute pain first. We’re already in phase 3. That program will be completed towards the end of this year, beginning of next and I see that as the first pain opportunity in terms of nearest to market. Second, the neuropathic pain program, and I do expect that 548 will work in musculoskeletal pain. I don’t see that as a Vertexian disease because it requires a primary care outreach but certainly, if the medicine can help, and I believe it will, we’ll find a way to get it to patients but that will be through a Vertex commercialization enterprise.

David Risinger: Thank you.

Operator: The next question will come from Mohit Bansal with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Mohit Bansal: Great, thank you for taking my question. Maybe a question on exa-cel, one more question on that. So I know — I mean you are excited about the opportunity, and you’re talking about 32,000 patients there and the drug clearly works. I mean, it’s pretty amazing. But when we talk to doctors, they talk about maybe initial opportunity will be in 5,000 to 10,000 patients in the U.S. and they’re a little bit worried about safety at this point, early on and the investment community is also a little bit looking at it as a show-me story. So could you help us understand what we are missing in terms of when you talk to payers and prescribers, where do you think the disconnect is? And how do you think like what steps would need to happen for — what is disconnect to disappear? Obviously, launch would be an important part there.