Tarsus Pharmaceuticals Inc at UBS Ophthalmology Day (Virtual) Transcript

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

Question: Ashwani Verma - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : So I think maybe just like talking about the market a little bit, just so that people understand like Demodex blepharitis, I think you said that like the core -- like the 7 million out of the 25 million prevalence. And just if you can go through the numbers in terms of what do you think is the eventual addressable market? I remember from back in when we used to interact, when I covered the stock, I think there was a lot of focus on just driving diagnosis expansion and you used to talk about dry eye disease as a positive analog. Where are we in that journey? Where do you think eventually you might -- what portion of the market may you eventually be able to tap into?

Question: Ashwani Verma - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Yeah. Do you think that the patient segmentation that you have in terms of where the severity of the patients is, is that where, I think, most of the use is happening right now? Or do you think that you could start to tap into more like moderate or less severe patients eventually also?

Question: Ashwani Verma - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Great. Okay. So I think in terms of the launch, just as you look forward, what do you think are the major drivers? You called out this Medicare coverage that's -- you got one payer on board and looking for more of an expansion in 2025. Just if you can elaborate on that, is that something that you think that can drive substantial ramp in 2025? What's the volume pull through? What kind of impact on pricing just from that book of business?

Question: Ashwani Verma - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Yeah. So I guess, so if I think about the commercial and Medicare roughly being the same lives and you said that one of the largest Medicare plans has signed up, have you put any numbers around it? Like how much that might mean? I'm trying to figure out how many additions (inaudible) looking, 30% -- I'm just making up a number of the 50% becoming available? Is that the upside? So you signed this recently and is that any tailwind to 2024 numbers or more likely volume coming in '25?

Question: Ashwani Verma - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : All right. Okay. So you're already at 44% gross-to-net. And even with -- almost like as many lives being added on the Medicare side, you still think that low-40%s is a good steady state. Is that because your reception in the Medicare channel has worked out to be far better than you originally expected? I know, typically, you can see more gross-to-net type discounting in the Medicare area. Just curious, what's driving that confidence in the lower-40%s?

Question: Ashwani Verma - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Yeah. All right. Great. So I wanted to ask just around any kind of like really just retreatment opportunity here and how often do you expect patients to refills. That's one part of the question. And then secondly, I think, the IQVIA data is slightly under capturing the demand of the products, to the extent that you can like help us understand like what's sort of the dispense variability versus IQVIA data is and if you have any sense on that change.

Question: Ashwani Verma - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Yeah. Okay. All right. Great. So let's talk about like the DTC a little bit. So just help me understand, so this is something that you're planning to initiate in [4Q], you said, right. What's the amount of investment that you're making? And typically, I guess, when is the benefit that you start to see from this type of DTC campaign? Any thoughts on that. And is it a mix of like social media, TV advertisement, or just -- where is most of the focus at?

Question: Ashwani Verma - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Yeah. Okay. All right. So maybe just switching gears to the pipeline a little bit. So for the MGD, what percentage of MGD patients have Demodex infection? And how these patients currently being identified right now and treated? And how can that change?

Question: Ashwani Verma - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Excellent. All right. And just in the few minutes that we have. If you could talk about the Lyme disease program or TP-05, just frame the market opportunity here and any emerging competition that you are looking out for?

Question: Ashwani Verma - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : All right. Okay. Yeah, so those kind of bring me to my next question. I guess, how do you think about partnerships overall for the platform? Is there -- I mean, like yeah, Lyme disease is one. But are there any other areas that you think are amenable to partnership to maximize the return on the assets or some that you think that you can do it standalone on your own?

Question: Ashwani Verma - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Yeah. Okay. All right. That's great. Thank you so much for this. So we are almost at the end of our time. This was great. And yeah, looking forward to keeping in touch and good luck with all the progress that you've done and other initiatives that you have in the pipeline. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 02, 2024 / 1:00PM, TARS.OQ - Tarsus Pharmaceuticals Inc at UBS Ophthalmology Day (Virtual)

Question: Ashwani Verma - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Yeah. Great. All right. Thanks, Aziz. Have a good one.