Galapagos - Earnings Call - Q4 2020

Transcript

Speaker 0

You and welcome all to the audio webcast of Galapagos' Full Year twenty twenty Results. I'm Elizabeth Goodwin, Investor Relations, also representing a great reporting team at Galapagos. This recorded webcast is accessible via our website homepage and will be available for download and replay later today. I would like to remind everyone that we will be making forward looking statements during today's webcast. These forward looking statements include remarks concerning future developments of the pipeline and our company and possible changes in the industry and competitive environment.

Because these forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, Galapagos' actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied in these statements. Today's speakers will be Anno van Mestolpe, CEO and Bart Filius, COO and CFO. Anno will reflect on the operational highlights and then Bart will go over the financial results and end with expected news flow for the year. You'll see a PowerPoint presentation on screen. We estimate that their prepared remarks will take about ten minutes and then we'll open it up to Q and A with Barton Anno, joined by the rest of our management board.

And with that, I'll now turn over to Anno. Go ahead, Anno.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Elizabeth, and welcome everybody to this webcast. Before going into 2020 overview, let's spend a couple of minutes on the Isabella discontinuation. Last week, the Independent Data Safety Monitoring Board contacted Galapagos with the fact that they had seen a dose dependent mortality in the study, meaning that the arms treated with zirataxostat showed more mortality than the placebo. And clearly, that was a case of death for this program. We immediately stopped the trial and informed the markets within twenty four hours after the information was brought to our attention and after we could have analyzed the data.

On top of that, we also saw when the data were unblinded that the efficacy was below expectations, which was a disappointment as well. As a consequence, we have stopped all activities with ciritaxestat, all the trials and all further analysis for now. Clearly, a big disappointment. We had worked long and hard on this program, the original 1690 program, which was a big hope for IPF patients. The community was looking forward to the outcome of this trial with a potential solution to this deadly disease.

A big blow for Galapagos, but we stay firm with regard to our commitment to IPF. We have four development programs and a number of preclinical programs aimed at sort of fibrosis. So we will be back in the IPF space with more mode of actions, with more trials. We think it's an area that needs new effective treatments, and we think we have a good franchise here. It's unfortunate that this has happened, but this is the risk we're running with new mode of actions.

Galapagos goes on routes that nobody else has gone before, And that means that we accept the risks associated with the novelty and the casualty that we have seen here with ciritaxostat is part of the business we're in. We will overcome this and we'll come back with new mode of actions for IPF. If we can go to 2020 and review, then clearly ziritexistat discontinuation followed a couple of other disappointments over the last year. Most notably, the complete response letter that we received for filgotinib in The U. S.

For rheumatoid arthritis. Our partner Gilead received that letter. And based on that, the analysis with the FDA decided not to launch filgotinib in The United States for RA. That doesn't say anything about other applications of filgotinib. We have a big trial going in Crohn's disease, and we have the data in ulcerative colitis.

So it's not that filgotinib is dead in The U. S, but for RA, Gilead is not going to file the low dose. On top of that, we also had a failure in a new mode of action program with 1972 in osteoarthritis in the ROCCELLA trial. We didn't see efficacy there. It was a Phase 2b trial that we executed here.

Unfortunate, but like with zirutaxostat, this is part of the business we're in that with mode of actions, you have a high chance that programs don't reach the finish line. I used to show a graph where we saw the attrition rate from 12 targets, 12 novel targets, leading to one program in Phase III. And these fallouts are part of this attrition that is the nature of the business we're in. We also saw a number of very positive news over 2020, although they were overshadowed by the negatives. We had DYZELICA, of course, initiated on the European market.

The EMA approved filgotinib, Yersellica on the market, and we started commercialization in Germany and in The Netherlands, and we anticipate the other countries to follow shortly here in Europe. As part of the restructuring of the filgotinib franchise, we were able to retain all European rights on filgotinib in Europe, and we will be now marketing Gycelica all over Europe under the Galapagos name. So that is a big step forward for us. A firm commercial organization in Europe has always been our ambition, and with Gycelica, we can achieve that. We're also very active on the licensing end where we got a number of new molecules, early molecules into the pipeline.

The last one that we announced and the biggest one actually was OncoArendi, which is a molecule that we are developing for fibrosis, which is Phase II ready. So an exciting program. We're very pleased with that license with the from the Polish company. We also did a divestiture. We sold Fidelta, our service division in Croatia successfully.

We think it's a win win both for Galapagos as well as for Fidelta because they are now part of a bigger CRO activity and where they play a very important role in the growth of that business, whereas within Galapagos, they were not very visible. So I think it's good for Fidelta. It's also good for us to focus on our core, core being developing new mode of actions. And then we had a lot of clinical progression. We started our Toledo program patients, the SIK23 inhibitor, 39,070, that we started in three proof of concept trials.

We started the TYK2 program in psoriasis. We had positive data of twelve oh five in the PINTA trial. So a lot happened over the year. And this is really the beginning of a whole range of clinical data that we will see over 'twenty one as well. And that is based on this deep R and D portfolio that we have been developing for a number of years, where we're always focusing on quite a large number of validated targets that we progress through lead optimization towards preclinical candidates and then into clinical stage programs.

And here you see, again, the attrition as well, but also the broadness of the pipeline. We're starting at the moment from 27 targets. We currently have 10 clinical stage programs. So it's a pipeline that will deliver a number of programs into patient trials over the years to come, and we remain extremely excited about this pipeline. As you can see on the next slide, it's quite broad, especially on inflammation and fibrosis, inflammation with filgotinib being our lead program there with the trade name Yoselica, of course, approved now for RA.

It's submitted for ulcerative colitis in The EU. And we are expecting full recruitment of the Crohn's disease trial this year. So it remains a very important part of the Galapagos business. Then a whole range of other molecules with different mechanisms, the Toledo programs with SIK 2-three inhibitor, which you also see lower on the list than SiK3-four thousand three hundred and ninety nine, which we're developing for inflammation. And other SiK inhibitors in there, other JAK inhibitors.

We are continuing to broaden this pipeline, the whole range of new modes of actions that are in preclinical and moving towards Phase I. The same holds true for fibrosis, which is now led by twelve oh five, a molecule that has been in the PINTA Phase IIa trial. We're preparing for a Phase IIb there with target here, GPR84. And you can see that we have a range of different mechanisms here in the fibrotic pipeline, including also Toledo program 4,605. We remain committed to IPF and to fibrosis in general, And you can see that with this broad pipeline.

And then we have a couple of other programs outside these areas and one that we will expand further is in kidney disease. It's an area that we think is very interesting. Our first program is in CFTR inhibitor in PCKD. That program is in Phase II. So hopefully, we can get can show positive results there.

So all in all, I think a pipeline that we can still be very proud about. It's progressing rapidly. We have the resources, the people as well as the financials to move those forward. And hopefully, they will deliver the data that we're all waiting for. With that, I would like to hand it over to Bart to continue with the commercial footprint.

Bart, over to you.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Ono, and good morning, everyone, in The States, and good afternoon in Europe listening in to this webcast. Let's say a quick few words about our efforts to build out our European commercial footprint, then I'll move into the financials and the outlook, and that would conclude the presenting part, and then we'll go into Q and A afterwards. So on this one, we are very, very busy at the moment trying to to roll out JaiSilica. We're building out infrastructure at Galapagos, and we are in the process of negotiating with the various payers throughout Europe to get reimbursement for the products. We had very interesting news earlier in the year that we have a positive NICE recommendation on Gisilica also for the moderate RA population, which is actually a novelty in not just in the class of JAKs, but actually in all advanced therapies that previously these have not been available yet for patients with moderate RA and only for severe RA.

So we're very happy with that particular bit of news, and we look forward to launching in The U. K. In the next coming months. In Germany, the launch is on track. As you know, the German launch is run on the Gilead side.

So also numbers are reported by Gilead. Now it's early days, obviously. It was first product sales in November and in December. So it's early days, but so far, good. We're happy to see with the numbers that we've seen.

So launch on track there. And as Ono mentioned, in The Netherlands, we're also now in the markets since a couple of months, but actually, in reality, mostly since January 1 as the contract period starts in January in Holland. In other countries, the process is ongoing, and that includes countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, but we're also now looking at the Nordic countries, and Austria and Switzerland will follow thereafter. All in all, we are planning to complete the transition of Gicellica from the co promotion structure that we had with Gilead, where it was fifty-fifty between the two companies, to a full operation run by Galapagos by year end. There's quite a bit of background work that needs to be done.

The marketing authorization is going to be transferred structures are being put in place. But by year end, we should be running this fully independently. And in the meantime, we'll make sure that we keep our eye on the ball with regard to the launch and make sure that we make a success out of the products in Europe. Then moving on to the financials. As usual, I'll start with a perspective on cash.

And as you can see here and as was highlighted in our press release as well, we have landed the year with a cash burn of €517,000,000 which is in line with the guidance that we gave, which was between $490,000,000 and €520,000,000 And this includes also the cash out, for example, for the licensing efforts that we've done on the OncoRendi compound in November. What we always exclude from this cash burn are, on one hand, any cash proceeds from equity. In this case, this is a relatively small amount of €28,000,000 due to warrant exercises. And we also exclude currency translation effects, and those are meaningful in the year. The dollar has weakened significantly, about 10% over the year.

We've seen this in all of the quarters of the year already reflected in our cash balance. These are non realized effects because this is purely representing the dollar position that we hold, which is roughly between 2025% of our total cash balance. At the end of the year, we are we have a cash balance of about €5,200,000,000 Then on the P and L, in the key financials for the year, maybe a couple of highlights there. First of all, on revenues, we had a year of about €530,000,000 of revenues, And those are largely accounting revenues related to filgotinib on one hand, where we are recognizing all milestones, license income and portion of Gilead's transaction for the periods of executing the development plan. And in the year 2020, we have recognized a little less than €230,000,000 We've also had royalties, about €16,000,000 Those are mainly related to our portion of milestones received by Gilead from Eisai for their partnering in Japan.

And then on the platform, we are recognizing in a straight line over a ten year period the portion allocated to the platform as part of the 2019 Gilead deal. So the €230,000,000 that you see here is reflecting that straight line revenue recognition, and that will be continuing for the years to come. As a reminder, this number is lower in revenues than previous years than previous year, I should say. In 2019, we were recognizing one shot, euros $667,000,000 for Zivi, and that explains the down in revenue on the top line. Operating costs are up by about 35%, and the increase is really driven by three key elements.

First of filgotinib. To a certain extent, that's mechanical because we're now paying 50% of the filgotinib costs, and that's been reflected in on the revenue recognition side in revenues as well. And previously, we were paying 20% in 2019, still for half a year. So there's a mechanical increase on filgotinib. Then Toledo is clearly an investment focus for the company, and we've seen increases in investments in Toledo program.

And then finally, SG and A has gone up between the two years, reflecting the increase of the organization and specifically the rollout of our commercial efforts throughout Europe. And then final comment here on the net loss. That includes a financial expense of about €134,000,000 There's a couple of things underlying, but I'd like to highlight that more than 90% of this is noncash. It's really the translation effect of the dollar position that I was also showing on the previous slide on cash. Then on outlook on the next slide.

First, maybe on the key events for the year, and then I'll say a few words about our outlook on Caspern as well. So key events on filgotinib, we file in Japan for ulcerative colitis. We also anticipate the first half of this year to get insights into the MANTA and MANTA RE trials. We anticipate an approval decision for ulcerative colitis in Europe. And finally, for the second half of the year, on filgotinib, we think that Gilead will have fully recruited the diversity trial, which we are running for Crohn's disease.

And then other readouts, the most meaningful ones there, Toledo, there are three talks where we think we are going have data, psoriasis, RA and UC. Then we also have, in January, disclosed a program, and we've disclosed a target, the TYK2 target here, where we're running a Phase Ib in psoriasis, and we anticipate data from patients there as well. And then finally, five fifty five is a JAK1 inhibitor that we're evaluating in osteoarthritis, and we should see patient data on that program as well during the year 2021. Then I'll conclude on a couple of words on cash burn. We have refrained from giving a specific guidance, as you've seen in our press release of last night.

Now in January, I think I've had given some pretty clear direction as to where the cash burn would have landed, and that number would be around €670,000,000 which is basically an increase of about €50,000,000 expenses compared to last year, and those are connected to the launch buildup in Europe. Now obviously, after the news last week on Zeri, we've decided to take a good look at our portfolio and our cash burn. There will be an immediate let's say, positive impact on our cash burn from the fact that the Zeri trial is stopping. And beyond that, we will be coming back to you hopefully shortly with some further details about that exercise. The direction of the cash burn clearly is down, not up compared to the numbers that I have previously been talking about.

With that, I'd like to conclude and give the floor back to Elizabeth for Q

Speaker 0

Thank you both. And that does conclude the presentation portion of the audio conference call. I'd like to ask our operator, Annette, to connect us to any callers with questions for the executives. Go ahead, Annette.

Speaker 3

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. If you wish to cancel your request, please pass the husky. Once again, please press star and one if you wish to ask a question.

Speaker 0

Operator, could you please go ahead and open the line for the first person in the queue?

Speaker 3

Of course. One second, please. And the first question comes from the line of Lark from JPMorgan. Please ask your question. Your line is now open.

Speaker 4

Hello. Thanks for taking my question. Lars Engelde from JPMorgan. Two, please. Firstly, of course, appreciate that you're not going to give quantitative guidance on operational cash burn, but any further qualitative commentary you can make on how you see the development of sales and marketing spend in light of the discontinuation of cirtaxostat and when you expect to have more clarity on the R and D outlook would be much appreciated.

And then maybe secondly, how do you plan to address the the sort of potential gap in the pipeline with the Toledo program unlikely to yield an approved therapy before 2025 and beyond, assuming success? Thank you very much.

Speaker 2

Yes. Maybe let me take the first question and then the second question, although I guess you will take that one. Sales and marketing spend evolution. So first of all, important to highlight that the business case for taking on Gycelica fully in Europe was not built on zenithax and stuff. It was built on Filgotinib itself.

And in January, we have highlighted a bit some key numbers in terms of our expectations for Gycelica. We anticipate that we can make this a €500,000,000 product in second half of this decade. We also anticipate that by then, this can be a contribution margin of approximately 50%. And we've also highlighted that we think that this is going to be breakeven in 2024, so after three years of investments. So that should give you some direction as to how we think our spend would evolve.

We do believe that by the end of this year, the structure is fully in place in Europe, maybe a bit of full year effect in 2022, but that should be it. So that is unchanged as a result of the ZD news. Time for when we can give you further direction. At this stage, no precise time line, but I would estimate that latest by our Q1 reporting, which is April, May, we should be giving you some further clarity.

Speaker 1

So to this is Onno. To address the second question regarding the gap in our pipeline, it's clear that with Zuri out of there, we have a gap between the commercial product Yoselica and our Phase II programs, and we would like to fill that. So we will be active on the in licensing M and A activity this year to see if we can find a program likely in the fibrosis inflammation area to fill that gap. And I think there are opportunities out there. We have an interesting alliance, of course, at Gilead there, where Gilead will take on the has an option to take on the non European rights.

So even for an in license program, they will get the option to take the non European rights. So we are we have a solid partner there to market the product when it's in license. So I think we are a good party to talk to. We are already quite active to analyze the opportunities and hope to find an attractive molecule. With that said, it's clearly that we will remain focused on new mode of actions, novel targets.

So that is also criteria for any program that we will in license.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Speaker 0

So our next question comes from Laura Sutcliffe from UBS. Go ahead, Your line should be open.

Speaker 5

Hello. Thank you. Can I start with a broad question, please? So could you maybe just comment on whether in aggregate you think the pipeline as it stands has an acceptable commercial and clinical risk profile? And then something a bit more specific, on ziratax a stat, do you have any idea why you saw what you saw on safety?

I appreciate it's early days, but I was just wondering if you had learned anything so far that you could apply elsewhere. And then maybe if I can just sneak a third one in. On the MANGROVE trial, do you think you will get any file level data from that study? Yes.

Speaker 1

Let me start with the broad question, and then Walid can follow-up with the Siri question. Yes, we believe the pipeline has the right balance on from a scientific point of view, risk point of view, clinical point of view as well as commercial. If you look at it, we think Toledo has great potential. We also have programs with smaller potential indications in there. It, of course, remains all a question of getting the product through these clinical trials to the patients and with every new mode of action.

That is a more risky business than if you go for a Me Too product. But ultimately, we strongly believe that the innovation is what should drive our industry and that we especially as biotech companies should focus on getting these new mode of actions to patients. We are in the situation, the lucky or the good situation that we have enough cash to support these programs that we can actually support a whole range of parallel Phase IIs and even Phase III. So I think we will come back with a strong Phase III pipeline over the coming years. And we anticipate that the number of programs will actually reach the patient there.

Valid, do you want to continue?

Speaker 6

Thank you, Ono. Good morning, good afternoon, everyone. So regarding Zeri, it's a very good question. We have looked at the data. It's difficult to see a very clear signal right now that points to give us sort of, as you said, a way forward to figure out how we can de risk other programs.

What we have observed is that this increase in mortality started manifesting itself when subjects have been in the trial for at least six or nine months. So it didn't come until late. This is not due to any new tox signals, like, for example, a liver signal or anything else or cardiovascular signal. If we look at the mortality, the high level, it does seem it's due to exacerbation IPF actually, which is a bit surprising. And at this point, we need to look further into the data and look into the narrative, and it's it's a bit early days.

But it's nothing that that popped up that has linked to a mechanism of action that we could explain as of today or any tox finding that we've seen in our preclinical tox package. And we've looked at that in in a lot of details, of course, as soon as we got these these data. And with that, I'll turn it over to Pete.

Speaker 7

Thank you, Walid. So thanks for the question on the mangrove data. So mangrove is a phase two study in ADPKD patients where we dose 60 patients. It's a placebo controlled study. So this is the first step.

So after this study, if we detect a good signal, we will need to do other studies, dose ranges, and then an an an late study. So we are not pushing putting forward any filing data yet. Thank you.

Speaker 0

All right. Our next question comes from Peter Welford of Jefferies. Go ahead, Peter.

Speaker 8

I hope you can hear me. I've got three questions. Firstly, it's just, I guess, a bigger sort of picture question for Anno in the sense of or maybe for Waleed, in the sense that in hindsight, I guess, from a strategy perspective, do you has this changed the attitude of Galapagos towards sort of fast tracking, I guess, some development programs? But I mean, I think we've had a lot of debate about discussions you have with FDA and the decision to move straight into Isabella. I guess curious internally whether you've sort of reevaluated from a risk perspective, what decisions you're willing to make?

Or do you

Speaker 9

think this is just, if

Speaker 8

you like, an important part of clinical development? Secondly then, I guess, technical question for Bart. Just on the filgotinib share, the €16,200,000 Am I right in saying that, that's recognized in the other income part, if you like, of your revenue and not in the other the revenue part? I'm just trying to just from an accounting effect, just trying to understand why that 16,200,000,000.0 has been recognized. And then thirdly, just thinking about sort of the European strategy and sort of cash burn, is it possible for you to give us the rough cash burn or spend of ZeroText I can't pronounce that word in 2020?

I guess just presumably from our back of the envelope, it would help us at least as a starting point to

Speaker 10

have a rough idea, I guess,

Speaker 8

of how much Isabella was cash burn during 2020 to think about for 2021? Yes,

Speaker 1

Peter, I'll start. This is Ono. And the good news of the failure is that you don't have to pronounce UITAXISTAT very often anymore. So A silver Did it change our appetite for risk, the fast tracking?

Well, clearly, we're going to review the various gating events and review also what we did with Zeri as well as what we have done with 1972. I think one of the things we and maybe we have said in an interview that we are maybe have been a little bit naive, optimistic, thinking that we could target this kind of big diseases like OA, relatively simple. We had a molecule, had good preclinical data, exciting Phase Ib data in healthy volunteers and then went into a large Phase II with one year treatment, 900 patients, and then we didn't see an effect. And now with Zeri getting this tox signal and a disappointing efficacy signal, we need to rethink how we move progress forward. On the other hand, as I said at my start of the call today, this is part of new mode of action development, and we will face more disappointments in the future.

It's just that we need once a while a success that brings us to the patient. We also don't want to throw away the baby with bathwater here. I think our innovative approach and rapid approach going with small effective Phase IIs is not something to immediately abandon. But I think we might fine tune it somewhat to give us more certainty or at least less risky steps forward going from here. Maybe, Walid, you want to comment on that as well from a clinical point, and then we'll turn it over to Bart.

Speaker 6

Yes. Thank you, Ono. I just want to say a couple of words on this Erie. I mean, at the time when we got the FLORA data, we really debated the length, and we didn't go in with with eyes closed. I mean, we were we we had we went in with eyes wide open.

We knew that we could take a path where we can do a phase two b study, which would be long and costly and delay the program or take a more aggressive approach and go straight into the Isabella program which we ended up going. However, what we did also is we put a lot of stop gap measures. We put the data monitoring committee that meets, it's a very robust committee that meets relatively frequently for a study like this to check on the safety, but also on the efficacy of on an ongoing basis. And also we added the futility. And those are stop gap measures that will protect the patient and that will protect us against excessive investment.

And I like to say that actually this has happened. The study stopped probably at about 50% cost of the whole program from a clinical perspective. Which is and we knew from the beginning is gonna be higher than if we had done a phase two b, but that incremental investment could have gotten off to the patients ultimately two and a half years earlier. And at the time, we debated that, and we knew we're taking a risk, but we thought that the incremental investment is worth that two and a half years ahead of you know, to bring the patients, which is an unmet medical need that is huge in in this in this indication. Of course, had we succeeded, we would have been heroes.

Now retrospectively, we we we're we're saying, okay. Well, maybe we should we shouldn't have done that. But I think as the owner said, we'll have to take a look and see how we better balance the composition of our portfolio to have maybe, you know, a certain limited amount of programs like IPF where you you will have to invest a large time and resource and and money until you get the initial result and maybe other areas where you can have an early readout, psoriasis, RA, psoriatic arthritis, and IBD. And that would be also another way for us to balance the risk of our clinical portfolio. And of course, Ono mentioned that very clearly that we will be taking a critical look at our gating events.

How much data do we need to have to take the next step? And that's really good housekeeping on our part and and a natural consequence of the disappointments that we've seen in our pipeline recently. And we'll be able to guide more on that once we have concluded our assessment. Thank you.

Speaker 7

I'll pass it on to Bart now.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Walid. Yeah. Peter, your two questions for Zolpi and royalties, they're recorded in revenues. So they're not in other income. They're reported in previous.

In other income, you'll find things like tax incentives and grants and stuff like that. So it's in revenues. The second question, cash burn in Zeri in 2020. We spent in 2020 about €55,000,000 on Zeri Taxistat. That's a net number, taking into account that we are sharing those costs with Gilead.

And your question obviously is to what can you expect then in terms of 2021, let's say, immediate reduction as a result of the yearly stop, I would say it's in the vicinity of about €40,000,000 Peter. So that's what I can tell you in terms of immediate consequences of the yearly stopping in 2021.

Speaker 8

And so can I just follow-up just on the progopitant royalties? So I guess just a little bit confused when

Speaker 2

I do the math because I think previously,

Speaker 8

I think you've booked sort of a reimbursement reimbursement income, I think, in the sort of first half of the year of about 6,000,007 million euros or something like that. So I guess, it looks as though presumably, there was no reimbursement or anything like that in the second half of the

Speaker 2

year or something or am I missing something? Now the royalty if you're talking about the royalties, €16,000,000 that is all booked. That's all part of the second half of the year. It's actually all Q4. And it's connected to the Eisai deal that Gilead has closed with Japan.

There have been fluctuations between the quarters on filgotinib revenue recognition as a result of changes to our development plan, changes to the structure that follows the transfer of some of these trials in Q4 to us. So there's a bit of moving parts there. So the net number that you've seen on the slides is what we recognized from Pindigo, and the €16,000,000 is what's, let's say, truly royalties in 2020.

Speaker 11

Got it. Thank you.

Speaker 0

Right. So our next question comes from Brian Abrahams of RBC. Go ahead, Brian.

Speaker 10

Hey, guys. Thanks so much for taking my questions. Two from me. I guess, first off, what do you need to provide to Europe on MANTA and MANTA Ray? And how clear are you as to what they'll be looking for from the interim blinded data to maintain the label and or authorization of Gesellica?

And then secondly, just as you think about future cash burn following the Zeri setback, I'm just curious sort of bigger picture, is your predilection to, I guess, reprioritize and use the cash you would have otherwise spent on Zeri to invest further in other assets? Or should we think about more, I guess, reduced spend, just, I guess, spend decelerating overall to preserve capital because you won't have those future revenues from the late stage asset? Thank

Speaker 6

you, Brian. This is Walid. I'll take the first question on Manta. So MANTA and MANTA Ray, those are both like two parts of one study. As you guys might know from what's in the public domain, look at a number of endpoints the primary endpoint is more than 50% reductions per concentration, but also we look at motility, we look at morphology, we look at hormone levels and so on and so forth.

And those, I think interpretation of this is gonna be difficult from the perspective of a primary endpoint not, also the study is not powered for statistical significance on the primary endpoint because health authorities have said that they will look at the totality of the data because there's no clear black and white way to interpret the data. Of course, unless, you know, the the compound is, you know, toxic and cause a lot of things, then then it becomes very clear and that we will have to report immediately. But the data will be the totality of the data. And there's no clear definition of what would be an acceptable deviation and imbalance that you would see in one but not the other. So the expectation from the FDA is that we maintain those studies blinded until we finish the monitoring phase.

However, we have obligations to the European authority and patients as well and Japan where we are marketing Gyphelica to once we have the data from the twenty sixth week that we present these data to these health authorities. And as such, we agree to the FDA that there's gonna be a small unblinded team that will have access to those data in order to prepare the documents that will be needed to provide to the health authorities in Europe and Japan so that we can adjust the label accordingly and be able to adequately inform the prescribers and the patients.

Speaker 2

I'll take the other question, Brian, on the aspirin. No, we are not going to reallocate the Zeli spend to other assets. The idea is we need to rightsize our total expenses for the year 2021. So the number will end up lower than the number that I was guiding for in January, including the €40,000,000 that I just mentioned on the ZIRI savings, including potentially a bit more.

Speaker 10

That's really helpful. Thank you very much.

Speaker 0

Great. So the next question comes from Matthew Harrison at Morgan Stanley. Go ahead, Matthew.

Speaker 10

Hi. This is Thomas for Matthew. For tick two, do you think your SEERES data can demonstrate any difference over the profile of the leading tick two? Thank you.

Speaker 6

Thank you, Thomas. Did I understand you correctly? You meant the psoriasis study. Is that what you said? I didn't hear you very well.

Speaker 10

The TYK two inhibitor?

Speaker 6

Right. But what kind of data were you talking about?

Speaker 10

Oh, the psoriasis. Yes.

Speaker 6

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, that that is that is a relatively small study. So I think directionally, it will tell us whether we are active, but I don't think it will give you a a precision to what degree you can compare with competitors where you have much more advanced data.

So I think directionally, we'll give you an idea, and that's what we're looking for. But the study is 30 patient study, 20 on active with 10 on each dose. We're taking two doses in that study and 10 on placebo. And its duration is four weeks as well because it's a phase one b. So directionally, we're gonna have an idea, but to be able to have the precision with which to compare against the more advanced compounds, think it would be a bit more difficult.

Speaker 11

Got it. Thanks.

Speaker 0

Okay. And now our next question comes from Rishi Jali at Bernstein. Go ahead, Rishi.

Speaker 12

Hi. Rishi Jali at Bernstein. Thanks for taking my questions. Two, please. So, firstly, I guess a follow on question on psoriasis.

I I mean, I know the data's early, and you also have a Toledo asset for the centering psoriasis. But, you know, I wanted to ask maybe, you know, kind of longer term perspective on where you see the bar for success here and how, you know, Galapagos can differentiate themselves. And the reason I'm asking is psoriasis is incredibly competitive as it is, but, you know, we could also expect to see another IL 17 AF on market later this year that perhaps sets a new bar in terms of efficacy. And then secondly, want to start maybe a bigger picture question on man management's view of value of the company today. You know, you have a lot of cash on balance sheet, but perhaps you could comment on maybe the balance of cash burn and the requirement to invest in the pipeline and perhaps your view of really what the current pipeline and platform represents from evaluation perspective.

Thank you.

Speaker 6

Okay. I'll let me take the first one. So the the reason we're doing the psoriasis study is to have a quick assessment in a phase one setting, which this indication lends itself to, to generate some initial clinical data to see whether we have a path forward. To be able to truly see whether we are competitive, our plan is to go into a psoriatic arthritis study, which is more of the indication that fit better with our outlook. But it's a fair question.

And I think the point that where we're coming from, I wanna make two points. One is that we need to generate enough data with this asset, which so far looks very good. We wanna generate more data with this asset so that we can ascertain, is this a competitive asset to continue to push forward for later stage development or not. And number two, psoriasis right now is not a primary indication for us. It's an initial study to tell us whether we're on the right path.

Now once we do a fuller evaluation and we advance forward, if the competitors are on the market with psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis, it becomes an easy way to broaden into psoriasis. But all of that will be part of our assessment with commercial and positioning to see whether we have a way forward or not. It's still a bit too early to tell. The initial data will tell us directionally whether we're heading there. And then the next question is, is it worth investing in a phase two b psoriatic arthritis study so then you can have much better precision with which you can compare compare to the competitors and see whether you have a differentiated drug there or not to be worthwhile investing further into.

Thanks.

Speaker 2

Yes. Let me say a few words then on the second question, Rishi. So I'm sure you've all done the math. I think our total cash balance is sort of equal to about EUR 79 a share. So currently, in terms of value that we are getting in the Street, we are not getting value for cash, let alone.

We're not getting any value for our platform. We're not getting any value reflected for our pipeline that Olna was showing earlier. And that includes,

Speaker 13

if I

Speaker 2

got the number right, about 10 clinical stage compounds or compounds in development. And it doesn't include any value for Gisendica either, which we think definitely has a value in Europe and abroad. So that's what I can say. It's not up to me to determine what the value appreciation is of shareholders in the company, but we do feel that there's a disconnect currently. In terms of cash burn, as I highlighted, euros 5,200,000,000.0 on the balance sheet reflected if you look at the cash burn plans that we were having, that's easily enough to live out the Gilead collaboration period until the end of the decade.

And obviously, that's a fantastic opportunity for us as a company to demonstrate that we can create value scientifically and that we can bring compounds to later stages and to the market, and we see we have opportunities of our existing portfolio of bringing other compounds to the finish line as well in that period. So definitely, we should be able to create value based on that cash rather than just see it as a spend on an annual basis. So yes, let me conclude with that. We think that there is the technology, the clinical compounds, the marketed compounds and the firepower finally for business developments as well that should be part of the value of Galapagos.

Speaker 12

Thank you. Very helpful.

Speaker 0

And now we take a question from Phil Nadeau at Cowen. Go ahead, Phil.

Speaker 11

Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Two for me also. First is on commercial. Curious to hear a bit more about your marketing message for Jacelica in Europe.

How are you differentiating it versus the other JAKs? And along those lines, do you think the recent data from ZOLGEN's basically failed study helps you? Does that hurt the JAK class? That's question one. Then question two is just on the accounting.

We are amortizing upfronts on the filgotinib payments over four to five years post 2019. Does the amount that we should be amortizing our model, does that change post the December agreement and the the cash payments that you have coming up this year and next

Speaker 2

year? Thanks.

Speaker 14

Yeah. So this is Michele here. Phil, take the first part of your question. So on the on the messaging. So the messaging is leveraging the strength of the balance we have with the efficacy demonstrated with Jacelic across different line of treatments, so the BioNafe and the Bio IR, and actual tolerability and safety data that also differentiated our profile in the clinical, in the development programs.

And this is the balance that we actually are bringing to physicians, The feedback that we're getting from Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, the countries where we have the promotion ongoing is really comforting and reflecting that. So that's really coming back also from the market research as the advisory boards that will reflect the strength of this profile. And these, as Bart indicated in the beginning, also reflect in the first indicators we get on the shares on more in play market in the first weeks and months of promotional sales there. On the impact of the sales and data, that, of course, is double edged sword if you want. On one end, it strengthens the value of our proposition because, of course, it gives more attention to the safety data we have in our profile.

Of course, on the other end, requires, it creates a reflection from physicians about about JAKs, which we know already was there in terms of the of the safety from the first generation of of JAKs, so Xeljanz and. And, again, on that, we see reflected that physicians appreciate the second generation, so the JAK1 preferential, and and we see an opportunity there if if this is reflected.

Speaker 11

That's helpful. Thank you.

Speaker 6

The second question was on the Yes. Yes, the

Speaker 0

revenue recognition. Thanks. The amortization of the Philgo upfront.

Speaker 11

Sorry, Phil. Was I

Speaker 2

disconnected from the line for a second. Can you just do it one more time for me the question?

Speaker 11

Right. So after the Q3 renegotiation of the deal with Gilead, I believe we had about six forty million dollars in filgotinib upfront payments to amortize over four to five years in our model. I'm curious if that number has changed now post the December reorganization of the deal with Gilead and the payments that you expect to receive in 2021 or 2022, is there less filgotinib upfront to amortize now over the next few years that we should take out of the model?

Speaker 2

Yes. No, it's about €800,000,000 at the end of the year, reflected in our deferred revenues. That's going to be recognized over the next couple of years. So it's up because basically the extra payments that were negotiated as part of the agreements in Q4 are also partially put into the balance sheet and we recognized as the development costs will be incurred over the next couple of years. So it's the same period going forward, let's say, three to four years, and €800,000,000 approximately a bit more than 800,000,000 and we'll have details in the annual report to be recognized over that period.

Speaker 11

Got it. That's very helpful. Thank you. Okay.

Speaker 0

And our next question comes from Jason McCarthy of the Maxim Group. Go ahead, Jason.

Speaker 9

Hi. This is Michael Okunowicz on the line for Jason. Thanks for taking the question. So, one thing I'd like to ask, considering M and A seems to be or in licensing as well, seems to be a priority for 2021 and likely on the later stage of things. How does that work with and how do you take into account the existing agreement with Gilead?

Would they have an option on in license programs? And do you have to factor that into the price you're willing to pay considering they can in license for €150,000,000

Speaker 1

Good question. This is Alno. Yes, exactly. So Gilead has an option on everything we in license. If we do it through an M and A or through a product license, They have an opt in for the non European rights for a price of €150,000,000 which of course has consequences of what Galapagos can do on its own regarding in licenses.

Or if not, we need to get Gilead at the table as well, which clearly is a possibility. Gilead, as you know, is very active in licensing and M and A activities. So we could do a transaction where we get the rights for Europe and Gilead would get the rights outside Europe and then we jointly do the further clinical development as in the current alliance. So that's a possibility. Not making it easier, course, three people at the table, but our relationship with Gilead is such that I think it's a very workable way forward.

Speaker 9

Thank you. And then if you don't mind, I just want to ask one thing on IPF, specifically if 12 o five and the kinase have the same combination potential as you had with Siri, considering both of those assets target the the macrophage aspect of immune response.

Speaker 6

Pete, would you like to take this? I can take it.

Speaker 0

Thank you.

Speaker 7

From mechanism point of view, both the ketonase and the g p r 84 can be combined with other mechanisms of actions. What we've seen in Pindar, what we need to study is that there was a negative PK interaction between twelve o five and in negative, I mean, where we saw more of of toxicity. So in that sense, if we talk about the combo potential later of those of of those two assets, we'll need

Speaker 2

to find the exact dosing for a twelve

Speaker 7

o five with telanipen that might be different from the dose we could give on on the top of pirfenidone. But from a mechanism mechanism point of view, indeed, you can combine it with either pirfenidone or in Telanip. Thank you.

Speaker 9

Thank you very much.

Speaker 0

Alright. Thank you. And our next question comes from Evan Seigerman from Credit Suisse. Go ahead, Evan.

Speaker 15

Hi, guys. Thank you for taking the question. So I know this has been touched on before, but current valuation suggests a negative enterprise value could imply a number of things. One being that the spend your spend is not generating the value essentially. And I guess what is your plan to really reverse this trend and convince the market that the spend and investment you're engaging with the portfolio and the pipeline is going to create value for shareholders?

It

Speaker 1

will come from the programs that we have plus, of course, the performance of Dycelica in the market. We got to regain the confidence of the investors. We've lost that due to the CRL, to 1972 and now the ISABELA trial. And it's a normal reaction that when things fail, people turn their back on the whole technology and the company. We are strong believers that we have everything in house to bring new mode of actions to patients.

We have a very exciting pipeline, as I just showed you earlier. We have to deliver on that pipeline. We need to get programs through the various trials into Phase III into the patients. And if we can deliver that, I'm sure the investors will come back and the excitement will regain traction here around Galapagos. But for now, we need to focus on what we're good at, and that is bringing these new mode of actions through clinical development.

And we're going to look very closely, as already was discussed, about our processes, our gating events, our programs as well. And we'll report to market when we have done that analysis on what we're going to do for the years to come.

Speaker 11

Okay, great. Thank you.

Speaker 0

And our next question comes from Greg Savanarie from Goldman Sachs. Go ahead, Greg.

Speaker 13

Thanks, Elizabeth. Thank you for taking my questions. I've got two, please. My first, just revisiting the current cash balance of of €5,000,000,000 and the topic of in licensing and m and a. Are there particular themes that you can comment on and whether it is more asset specific.

I mean, is it is it indeed looking for something to fill in the gap in the late stage pipeline, or is it more around, technologies? I know in the past, the company has talked about interests in perhaps RNA based therapeutics or even protein degraders. So just wanted to visit that that theme. And then secondly, you know, the company is currently focused on inflammation and fibrosis, and I think there's a view that inflammation is increasingly, you know, more competitive. Fibrosis is a tough space generally.

And so I was wondering if the company has any interest in looking beyond inflammation and fibrosis and whether if there was, whether that would have to contemplate a conversation with with Gilead to make sure there was synergy there. Thank you very much for my question.

Speaker 2

Ono? Might have lost Ono. Let me give a shot at that, Greg. First of all, in terms of BD efforts, I would say there's indeed still the need to look at the technology side. We've done quite a few in licensing deals over the last twelve months as well as some smaller technology based deals as well.

And we will continue that effort because I think it's good in terms of, let's say, rejuvenating the technology of our platform going forward. I think frankly, in terms of size, that's going to be probably smaller. I think when we are referring to larger transactions on BD, we're really talking more about later stage assets, so more meaningful numbers as well in terms of cash spent thereon, but it doesn't preclude us from doing other efforts as well on the BD front. With regard to the therapy area choices, it's clear inflammation and fibrosis are committed areas. We've also announced last year that kidney is an area that looking for and that is confirmed.

And we actually, if we want to make changes on those, there is no need for us to talk to Gilead about it. It's really up to us to determine where our strengths are and where our focus should be. So that's not subject to a discussion with our colleagues from Gilead.

Speaker 13

Sorry, if I could just follow-up for clarification just on M and A. Did you mean to imply that you would prefer to do smaller deals versus a a larger deal? And I guess if if you are contemplating, quote, unquote, larger deals, is there a size of a transaction that you think is appropriate for the profile of the

Speaker 14

Galapagos? Yes.

Speaker 2

I think it will be a bit too early to give specifics about exact sizes. But clearly, we're talking about something else than the €25,000,000 that we were talking with OnGuardMD last year. That's what I would call the smaller deals that we would continue to be interested in to look at to refresh our earlier pipeline. But the BD that we're talking about here is clearly of larger scale, and we'll take that on as our analysis and evaluations progress.

Speaker 0

Okay. Thank you. That's all we have time for today on the call. Please reach out to the IR team if you still have questions. Our next financial results call will be the Q1 results on the May 7.

Thanks for participating today. Goodbye.