Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Rachel Vatnsdal: Great. Thank you. So first up on women’s health, you mentioned that ACOG had prenatal meeting scheduled for June and September, I believe expanded carrier screening and microdeletions were on the agenda for that June meeting. So can you tell us if you have any information regarding how that meeting went? And then when – how quickly could we see ACOG endorse 22q, could it come right after the September meeting or just updated time line expectations there?

Steve Chapman: Yes, that’s a good question. I mean, look, we really don’t get any information with respect to kind of what happens in these various meetings or even details, all the topics and things. So, I think, we just kind of take a step back and look at kind of the trends that are happening from a bigger picture. What are the topics that ACOG might be interested in? And I think, certainly 22q given the SMART study and expanded carrier screening given that significant portion of the community is now doing expanded carrier screening or topics that I think would be of interest. What we focus on is publishing data like we did in the SMART study, largest prospective trial that’s ever been done in NIPT, excellent performance specs for 22q, both on disease incidence, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value.

And we think it meets all of the criteria that one would need to issue coverage. But again, we don’t really know exactly what’s happening. We just see that the meetings are occurring and hoping that they’re discussing. If they do put out a guideline, I would imagine that we would find out more information kind of late fall on the status and what the funnel timing is going to be.

Rachel Vatnsdal: Great. And then a follow-up here, just shifting over to oncology. Can you give us an update on your latest conversations with private payers? I understand you have Blue Cross Blue Shield of California on that pan-cancer assay, which is a positive. But how are those conversations evolving, especially ahead of some potential updates from the NCCN guidelines? And then also, I know that American Cancer Society is still trying to push in a lot that commercial payers should offer the same Medicare testing. So can you just walk us through your latest expectations there? Really, what could that mean for the Signatera business? Thank you.

Steve Chapman: Yes. So American cancer study has really been leading the charge in a very bipartisan way on their biomarker bill. And from what we understand, it’s going well. I think they now have 10-plus states that have adopted it into law. I think from our side, it’s still early. Once the bill goes into place, then you have to see if they’re going to pay and kind of what the hoops are that you have to jump over. But it’s certainly creating discussions with payers, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some additional commercial coverage come in from other regional plans, maybe national plans in the near future.

Operator: Next question comes from Puneet Souda from Leerink Partners. Puneet, please go ahead.

Puneet Souda: Hey guys, thanks for taking the questions. This one is more broadly for oncology. I mean you had CRC first and then the adjuvant settings and then you had IO indication also now you have breast. Maybe can you talk about the sort of the trajectory for indications? And when do you think we can get a pan-cancer indication here? As you know, that happened in CGP as well. It took some time. You obviously have been leading this market for some time. And so I just want to get a sense of when do you think you can – we can reach that? And if there are Solomon and Alex on the line, would love their thoughts, too.

Steve Chapman: Yes. Solomon, why don’t you take that one?