Sage Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAGE) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Barry Greene: Yes, Matt. Thanks for the question. So we — given the class of medicines that Zuranolone is a neuroactive steroid targeting GABAA, we anticipate that will be a schedule IV drug. And the three-month DEA year view after our two batch of data assuming were approved, will be the process to confirm that. What people need to understand is that the drug schedule has a lot to do with supply chain management and how these agents are handled across the supply chain, raw materials, active ingredients, attendance in the pharmacy. In terms of patients getting a prescription from their physician, every physician has a DEA number to write and there’s millions of millions of prescriptions that are being written for scheduled drugs by our target audience already. So really don’t keep being an issue at all.

Jay Olson: Great. Thank you very much.

Barry Greene: Thanks, (ph).

Operator: Laura Chico with Wedbush Securities. Please go ahead.

Laura Chico: Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I wanted to circle back to one that’s a little bit more logistical, but on the commercialization. Any additional commentary around kind of how you envision patient management or patient flow management is going to be handled in the commercial setting? I guess what I’m trying to understand a little bit more is who in the offices that’s going to be primarily responsible for managing patient follow-up patterns and I’m trying to understand a little bit more on the refill process? How are they going to be monitored and what would trigger a refill to be authorized? Thanks.

Barry Greene: Yes. Great, Laura. And that’s a really important question. So we think Zuranolone doesn’t change the practice of psychiatry or primary care to treat these folks, it really enhances. It’s another tool or where they all understand that patients are managed or patients respond more rapidly than the tools they have today. But let me ask Laura who’s treated most of these folks and how she thinks about the patient flow.

Laura Gault: So thank you for the question. It’s my belief that Zuranolone is approved, it’s really going to fit in with how ATPs are currently treating patients with depression. I think that they will continue to monitor patients over time and if there is a reemergence of symptoms that suggest another occurring, then they will undergo another treatment course with Zuranolone another physician and end patient compensation. I think what Zuranolone delivered to the people here is a tool that is different than the drug that physicians have been able to use in the past. It is a drug that works rapidly that has a durable effect. And that is a short-term statement for us. And from the discussions with physicians, what we hear is that either things that are doing highly valued. And we’ll see the important part of the armamentarium to depression moving forward.

Barry Greene: Yes. And just to round that out, some of the base of your question, Laura, is sort of a common belief, which is a misconception, that today a patient comes in, they are put on a chronic medication they stay on that medication and maybe it’s all over the six months and all as well. But the data don’t support that. The data suggests that a patient given a new antidepressant, only on the antidepressant for a median of seven weeks and that patients who continue to seek treatment and some don’t, some discontinuation and leave the system. But those are the (ph) treatment flow through two to three different medications a year. So just think about it. It’s not like today someone’s on chronic medicine, they’re just fine.

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