Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RYTM) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Joseph Stringer : A few from us. The first one is on the your identified and diagnosed BBS patients who previously had said greater than around 300. Just curious what percentage of those are below or under the age of 6 and are therefore not yet eligible for commercial drug? And then second question is, I understand that you’re just over quarter into the launch in BBS, but just curious if you can provide some early metrics on persistence and compliance rates now that you’re getting more patients on drug? Has it been in line with expectations so far?

David Connolly : Yes. Great… Jennifer?

Jennifer Chien : Sure. So as outlined greater than 350 patients, I will say that at this point, we really don’t know the percentage that are under 6 years of age. So that percentage I cannot outline at this point of time. But what I will say is that our focus is not, of course, on the greater than 350 but continuing to get additional patients to an diagnosis, and we have very targeted ways that are outlining to be quite fruitful from that perspective. And maybe one example I can provide on that point in terms of how we get additional patients to a diagnosis. I’ve mentioned in the past that there are very specific ways. We use machine learning as well as ICD-10 codes as well as a follow-up in terms of our URO results just to have very targeted follow-ups from our field teams, but a separate example is the fact that for BBS, lot of these patients have facial issues caused by retinal abnormalities.

Now once again, sort of speaking to how we deploy our teams. There are many, many more ophthalmologists out there versus retinal specialists in the U.S. So our field team may focus on the retinal specialists while we go out and educate the broader group with our non-personal promotion efforts, and these are proving to be successful. So I wouldn’t necessarily just focus on the greater than 350 number, but we are once again continuing to expand that opportunity. In terms of metrics around persistence and compliance. On this point, I will say that we spend a lot of time internally as an organization just to walk through and plan for just in terms of how can we educate both the patient and HCP to understand the profile of the drug and really try to maintain them through the initial titration phase so that then they could get to the appropriate therapeutic dose and then start to see the benefits of being on treatment.

So I would say that, once again, it’s very early days, but at the same time, we are quite, quite happy just in terms of the ability for these patients to get through and once again start to experience the benefits that we’re hearing about.

David Meeker : Did that answer the question, Joseph?

Joseph Stringer : Yes, it did. Thanks for the color.

Operator: Our next question is from the line of Michael Higgins from Ladenburg.

Michael Higgins: Congrats from me as well on the continued progress, impressive launch so far in BBS. A question for Jennifer and David. You’ve given us a lot of detail, answered a lot of our questions coming in on the launch. You provide a lot of detail on the patient count. Curious if you can give us patient counts for IMCIVREE on POMC, LEPR, PCSK1? Also help us understand the launch in BBS and how it’s going?