MorphoSys AG (NASDAQ:MOR) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Tim Demuth: Sure. Hey, Roy. Thanks for your question. Clearly, our mission is to become a leader in the hem-onc space with multiple commercial products. The R&D priorities are very clear. Pelabresib has the potential to be a best-in-class molecule and the trial in MS myelofibrosis is going very well, and we are really elated to sort of focus on that enrollment of the MANIFEST II study. In tafasitamab, we have a number of opportunities. I mentioned in my prepared remarks, the first-line DLBCL study, there are other lymphoma indications, the MCL and the follicular lymphoma. And, we just touched already a little bit on the very intriguing early data on our EZH2 inhibitor tazemetostat. So all in all, what I find here is a very, very dedicated group with experience and a great pipeline. So super happy to be here.

Roy Buchanan: Great. Thank you.

Operator: The next question comes from the line of James Gordon with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

James Gordon: Hello, its James Gordon, JPMorgan. Thanks for taking two questions So two, please. First one was just on Monjuvi, single-digit growth in Q3 if you adjusted for the prior to demand and the guidance implies single-digit growth in Q4. But then as we rolled into 2023, are you confident we will see growth in the product. So what is the out there? Is there a growth outlook for the product in terms of US sales? And the second question, in terms of the EZH2, I’m still going to call it that it’s easy to say if we continue to look promising, would you consider partnering the asset to fund further development and potentially get some milestone income, or would the plan be you’d want to do it for yourself?

A €“ Sung Lee: Hi, James, this is on Sung. I’ll take your first question. You asked about the growth in — the implied growth in Q4 and the outlook for 2023. I’ll just say with respect to Q4, there are some special dynamics we’ve seen in past Q4, obviously, it’s very typical in our industry to see some inventory build in quarter four and then a destocking of that in quarter one. So I think with regard to those dynamics, nothing has changed. Moving on to 2023. This is something that we’re evaluating. Obviously, with the introduction of additional competition this year that we’ve spoken about, we’ll get to 2023 at the appropriate time, but this is an ongoing evaluation for us.

A €“ Jean-Paul Kress: And pertaining to the EZH2, James, we definitely are very pleased with the way the data are unfolding. What we release is exciting. We think we have the best-in-class asset here and definitely leaps away from what was the first generation product on the market showing — excitement is growing from the community. We hear that from the tables in the several indications we’re pursuing in this Phase II. The good thing, as Tim trace out is that we have a couple of options here in terms of the indications. We have this basket trial, which are tackling these ARID1A mutation smaller segments, but which allows a lot of possibilities to address unmet need. And there are also possibilities for larger market segments and solid tumors like prostate, it’s early days, but we’re looking at that.

And again, this would probably imply that we could look at some partnerships in the future. But it’s a bit early to say here. We want to keep the optionality open. And remember, we have the rights for all territories or indications. We are really free for doing anything we want with this asset depending on how the data unfold that’s so far, very exciting. And honestly, when we acquired Constellation, our focus was so much on Pelabresib for good reasons that this is a good surprise. We like the asset at the time, but it’s going even better than what we thought.

James Gordon: Thank you.

Operator: The next question comes from the line of Victor Floc’h with Stifel. Please go ahead.

Victor Floc’h: Hi. Thanks a lot for taking my question. I have one on CPI-0209. I was wondering if you could comment a bit on safety. It’s a very candid question. Should we be worried about the level of dose reduction and dose interruption that was reported in the ongoing trial, or do you think it’s kind of market practice? Thank you.

Tim Demuth: Hi Victor, this is Tim. Yeah. So as you heard already, there’s a lot of excitement for the molecule, the best-in-class potential. It’s a Phase I study in heavily pretreated patients, a Phase 1/2 study. So patients have seen many, many prior therapies, including chemotherapy. It’s a highly heterogeneous patient population, and we’re quite pleased with the fact that despite the degree of prior therapies, patients are responding to the therapy, making comparisons regarding safety between this agent and other agents, I think, is a bit premature, very premature, and we continue to investigate the agent and find the optimal setting for its use — potential use in clinical trials and clinical practice later on.

Jean-Paul Kress: Victor, I would add that there is, obviously, an interesting data that could happen with other assets that has been acquired by another company. So the field is evolving. I think this is what we’re trying to say here pretty quickly on this class. It’s been under mined for a long time, and I think there is potentially a new year, we don’t want to raise expectations too much here, but it’s exciting and we are engaging on this in a very meaningful way.

Victor Floc’h: Okay, great. Thanks. And I have a follow-up, if it’s possible. Just a few words on the ongoing trial with plamotamab. Any comment on enrollment, because there is a lot of ongoing trials in this indication with this kind of drug. So I don’t know if you can make any comments on enrollment? And when should we expect first results or data from this trial? Thanks a lot.

Jean-Paul Kress: Yeah. So Victor, this is a study that’s driven by Xencor, as you know, so we cannot comment on the progress of the study.