GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Luke Miels : Sure. Thanks, Jo. I’ll cover to the China question first. So — we — the way the deal is structured, we still maintain the license in China and we preserve 600 head count. We are promoting the product in addition to Jive’s structure which is several orders of magnitude larger. We also partner with them in terms of profile positioning and life cycle work with Shingrix. So we’re very engaged. And I think the partnership has started very well. There’s high levels of trust. And you mentioned the Merck structure which has been in place I think 11 years, nearly 12 years now and that’s been very successful. So our aim is to replicate or even exceed that. One thing to keep in mind with revenue recognition in China next year, it’s driven by shipments.

So there will be a bolus, which is between 60% and 80%, depending on how much we shift, which will be recognized in quarter two. So that’s just one watch out. But yeah, we’re very excited about the long-term potential for Shingrix in China and the partnership and also the capacity to expand that to include RSV. In terms of Copay assistance, Inogen programs et cetera, we do have extensive programs across the business in HIV of course oncology and other areas. We’re not seeing an increase in those Jo, but we do have extensive reps that people can take advantage of. And of course, the copay has now been removed from Shingrix and RSV which is a big advantage for senior citizens.

Emma Walmsley: Thanks. Next question, please.

Nick Stone: So our next question is going to come from Simon Baker. Simon

Simon Baker: Thank you. Thank you for taking my questions. Two, if I may please. Firstly, on Arexvy. Arexvy ex US, you’ve said in the past that you expect a Shingrix-like broadly flat global pricing for Arexvy. Given that that’s now beginning to roll out, I just wonder if you could confirm if that’s still the case and give us any updates on how things are going outside in terms of those negotiations? And then secondly, and forgive my pronunciation I probably get this wrong. On the Aiolos acquisition, it’s slightly earlier than we’ve seen from your acquisitions in the past where you’ve prepared — been prepared to pay more for later-stage products. So I just wonder if you could give us an idea of whether this marks a shift in your business development approach or whether there was something particular about that T slip which to go earlier than perhaps we’ve done in the past? Thanks so much.

Emma Walmsley: Thanks very much. Well, let’s come to Luke for some globalization of Arexvy though the US will still be by far the biggest part of the business. But obviously, that’s going to be a key contributor for the future. And then Tony to comment on the Aiolos deal and our consistent approach strategically to BD, which starts with getting a very good return on the investment of that because of the sizable assets and their differentiation, which is definitely what we’re excited by here. But first to you Luke.

Luke Miels: Thanks, Simon. Yeah. I mean as I said, we’re approved in 39 countries. If you look below that and it’s very similar to what we’ve seen with Shingrix. It just takes time to assemble the arguments for the infrastructure in those countries to review the data. We know that some governments are waiting for that third season which we’ll have shortly. But if you look within that of those 89 countries, we’ve got nine that have issued recommendations and four that have voluntary reimbursement. So for example, I was in Germany yesterday, if you look at the 60-plus population, we’ve already got reimbursement through the six funds on about 24% of that population. So it’s early days. But in terms of pricing, our aim in the private market is to preserve that pricing level.

Of course, always we open if we can secure a contract because the structural nature of those contracts is such that we don’t have to do the DTC, et cetera that we need to do in the US, a smaller sales forces because the system itself will pull through those scripts, the UK being a typical example. So early days it’s been exciting. And I mentioned China before. There we’re working actively to get our exit China as quickly as possible.

Emma Walmsley: Thanks, Luke. Tony, comment on Aiolos and BD [ph].

Tony Wood: Yes, thanks. Hi, Simon. So first of all the way to think about Aiolos deal. Let me just reemphasize something to begin with. This is in the low T2 population. So it gives us access to an additional 40% of the severe asthma population for which Nucala and depemokimab aren’t addressed. Now similarly to Nucala and depemokimab. The reason we were confident to go early with the Aiolos asset is we have a very clear understanding of the PK/PD proposition there. So you can learn an awful lot with regards to projected dosing and efficacy through Phase Ib data which is the case of Aiolos and we look upon that as being a best-in-class opportunity which will appear in the market, potentially first-in-class with a Q6M profile and well matched in depemokimab.

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