Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Phil Nadeau: Yes. In terms of reimbursement in the structure of reimbursement agreements, one recent gene therapy launch included a warranty as part of the reimbursement agreement. Is that something Vertex is considering or would think would be helpful for a launch like exa-cel?

Stuart Arbuckle: Yes. We are considering a range of different options, Phil. The reason for that is kind of if you ask 1 payer, what they’re looking for, you get 1 answer. If you ask another pay, you get another answer. So I think much as we’ve done with cystic fibrosis, we’re going to look to be flexible. There are some who are going to be interested in just a straight price and just paying upfront for the benefits of onetime functional cures. Others are looking at more things like outcomes-based agreements on that. And so right now, we’re in kind of listening mode and defining and designing what the nature of our payment models will be. But I think the key word is probably flexibility.

Operator: The next question is from Liisa Bayko with Evercore ISI.

Liisa Bayko: Congratulations on the good quarter. Just wondering if you could give us a view on sort of the next data readout for your type 1 diabetes program, both the cells and the cells plus pouch?

Reshma Kewalramani: Sure thing. Liisa, with regard to the T1D program, on the VX-880 side, that’s, let’s call it the naked cells program. You should expect to have a data readout at the fall diabetes conference where there will be an oral presentation. On the 264 program, that’s the cells plus device program, we’ve just initiated enrollment. We’ve just dosed, as you heard in my prepared remarks, the first patient. And you should expect to hear from us with regard to results from that cells plus device program which does not require immunosuppressants, either when we reached a milestone in terms of data readout or we have a decision to communicate. We won’t be sharing results patient by patient.

Liisa Bayko: Okay, fair enough. And then as you think about your kind of commercial path for pain, are you going to be focusing on certain types of centers? I mean this could be obviously a very broad market and opportunity. How are you thinking about the rollout and where? I’m curious on that kind of — the market estimates could be — have a very wide range depending on how you think about it.

Reshma Kewalramani: Sure. Liisa, you’re right. We see this as an enormous opportunity. Let me ask Stuart to tell you how we plan to approach that opportunity. Stuart?

Stuart Arbuckle: Yes. So acute pain, obviously which is going to be our first launch indication subject to the studies being positive is — 2 things can be true at the same time, Liisa. I’d say one is acute pain therapies are prescribed by a wide range of prescribers. That is indeed true but it’s equally true that a large percentage of the prescriptions are concentrated in institutions, ambulatory surgical centers, settings like that, where patients are either prescribed and dispensed their acute pain medicine whilst they’re in the institution or the facility. And then they’re also prescribed and given a prescription on discharge for their ongoing pain management when they leave the facility. That accounts for a large percentage of the prescriptions in acute pain.

Those prescriptions are concentrated in somewhere around just shy of 200 sites covered by about 220 or so IDNs. And that is going to be the primary focus of our commercialization activities. We think we can cover that universe of centers with a sales force approximately in the 150 range which fits very nicely with our focus on specialty markets.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] The next question is from Salveen Richter with Goldman Sachs.