Christopher Lu

Christopher Lu asked about Exelixis' capital allocation strategy, specifically how they balance incremental share buybacks against business development and clinical investment opportunities, and if there's a point where buybacks would be less favored.

Answer

Chris Senner, CFO, explained that Exelixis views capital allocation across three elements: R&D, business development, and share repurchases. He believes that with current revenue growth and prudent expense management, including R&D expenses in the billion-dollar range, the company can fund all three elements simultaneously.

Christopher Lu asked about the company's capital allocation strategy, specifically how incremental share buybacks are balanced against business development and clinical investment opportunities, and if there's a point where share buybacks might be less favored for other potential value generators.

Answer

Chris Senner, Chief Financial Officer, outlined the company's capital allocation framework, which includes R&D, business development, and share repurchases. He expressed confidence that with current revenue growth and prudent expense management, including R&D expenses in the billion-dollar range, Exelixis can fund all three elements simultaneously.

Christopher Lu of SVB Leerink inquired about the upcoming AACR presentation, asking if preliminary efficacy data for the alternating dose regimen would be shared, how to interpret the read-through from immunogenicity to efficacy, and if multiple clinical updates for the alternating regimen were planned.

Answer

Igor Matushansky, Chief Medical Officer, clarified that the AACR presentation will focus exclusively on translational data, with clinical efficacy updates reserved for the ASCO conference in June. He explained that based on preclinical data, improved immunogenicity is expected to translate to improved efficacy. Matushansky confirmed that clinical efficacy for both the HB-201 and HB-201/HB-202 programs would be updated at ASCO.