Astria Therapeutics Inc at Jefferies Healthcare Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you. That's very comprehensive. So, like, it leaves me with a little question room. Okay. So this is a very well-validated target, right? So when we see the data mid-next year, it's more of the, like, whether it's going to work or not, but how well, how better it's going to work, or whether every three months a concept is going to really play out. So when you look into the data, aside from every three months of dosing, do you think there is a potential room for improved efficacy compared to Takhzyro every two or two weeks or four weeks?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : Oh, I see. Okay. The duration. Okay. How about the reduction in attack rate? So I think Takhzyro is like 80% range. And recently, [Ionis], they have a different, I guess a different, I wouldn't say different, totally different mechanism of action, but earlier targeting, pre-kallikrein. And they show about 96% reduction in attack rate. Although we don't, I don't think we saw attack-free rates. So there was about 96% every -- monthly dosing. I mean, obviously, yours is every three months and potentially every six months. But do you think that bar is now over 90%?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : Yeah, that's fair. That's fair, particularly for cross-study comparisons. But do you think there is a difference, there might be differences in efficacy in terms of targeting kallikrein versus using oligo, in that sense, oligo targeting pre-kallikrein?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : Okay. So when you look at -- the question that I, kind of one of the most frequently asked question to me on Astria is that, hey, HAE market is quite crowded because there are a number of drugs on the market, right? But it's not really -- well, it's not like -- but there is a room for improvement in terms of frequency of dosing as well as efficacy. So could you give us an overview of which class of drugs is the most well received in the market and where you can actually provide unmet need aside from less frequent dosing?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : I see. So Jill, in terms of HAE patients, what percent of our patients are receiving prophylactic treatment versus on-demand?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : Okay, and then 30% are on-demand. So okay, so you can increase the market share, moving patients from on-demand to preventive measure?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : Okay, and it's kind of interesting. So I think your comment is interesting that people who are on oral daily, and could move to injection, which is better, showing better efficacy. But then question that I'm getting is, hey, there is oral drug, so why take injection? But you're actually proposing the opposite, that you're on the oral, but with every-three-months or six-months dosing, patients might not mind taking the injection and move on to the more efficacious drug, correct?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : I see. So in very rare diseases, we often see patients have kind of like a royalty to a certain brand, so they tend to stick with it, even though there is a new product coming to the market. And your product, because it's kind of the same antibody with a longer duration of the effectiveness that you can dose less frequently than Takhzyro. But how you think about the royalty to a brand for patients, that even though you come up with a much more convenient product, that patients might not be willing to switch?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : I see. In the marketplace, do you see patients actually taking combination therapy of two different classes of drugs?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : I see. Okay. And then, like, every three months versus six months. So, see, every six months a dosing is coming out toward the end of this year, but in terms of convenience, and obviously, the number of injections per year is different, but at the same time, do you think there could be differences in commercial opportunity whether you have every-three-months dosing versus every-six-months dosing?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : Okay. And Takhzyro is every two weeks or every four weeks, so it's mostly used in every two weeks?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : I see. So pushing forward, so data is in mid-2024, and assuming successful inline data, how soon could you move into Phase 3, and when you start the Phase 3, how long do you think it would take to actually enroll patients?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : So when I look at Astria, I think it's not really -- the clinical risks are low. So I think the focus is more on the commercial potential of the product, and clearly, so far you have the profile of the product that could be quite differentiated from what's on the market as well as things in development. So I'm sure you don't want to really disclose your internal projections, but how do you see the market potential of the product plays out as you see the HAE market expands from today?

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : Yeah. So finally, Jill, I mean, when you ask a patient, hey, would you like to get injected twice a month or every three months, of course, a lot of them would say, hey, I prefer every three months. But realistically, once the product gets onto the market, let's just do some every-three-months dosing for the sake of the discussion. What percent of our patients on Takhzyro would actually switch? Because to me, the market, yeah, you can expand the market in on-demand patients, but a large portion of our patients are already on treatment. So instead of just not getting new patients, you need to penetrate the existing market in order to generate significant sales. So realistically, what percent of our patients on Takhzyro would actually switch? Because it is a less frequent dosing.

Question: Eun Yang - Jefferies - Analyst : Okay. Really, last question. So are you actually planning to do kind of a partnership for commercialization, or are you planning to keep it to yourself?