Karishma Raghuram's questions to Alkermes Plc (ALKS) leadership • Q3 2024
Question
Karishma Raghuram, on for Chris Shibutani, asked about the decision to pursue the idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) indication for the orexin program despite potential negative implications from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the commercial opportunity needed to justify this move.
Answer
CEO Richard Pops explained the decision was multifaceted. He noted the low probability of the IRA remaining unchanged in nine years and the potential for Congress to amend the provision hurting rare disease patients. From a commercial standpoint, the significant size of the IH market (~40,000 patients) and its clinical adjacency to narcolepsy made the expansion compelling, as it significantly grows the addressable market for nine years at the same price point.