Christopher Martin: Yes, I can do that. So Lauren, thanks for the question. I think when we think about physician feedback and the market research, which we’ve done, which is very extensive, I think in the past year, we’ve talked to well over 200 physicians, both pulmonologists, primary care physicians, but also nurse practitioners and PAs. And the thing that they continue to reiterate to us is this idea that ensifentrine, as Dave talked about, can be used very broadly across the treatment paradigm. They reiterate to us that if we look at patients that are — they have today in their practice, many of them remain symptomatic and at risk for exacerbations. And the addition of a new mechanism to these patients is something they haven’t been able to do in 14 plus — 14 to 20 years.
So this gives them ability to do something very different. So if we think about how many patients are treated today, we know there’s about 8.5 million treated patients. We also know that there’s about 6 million of those patients on what you would consider the ENHANCE trial population, which is either LAMA or LABA or LABA/ICS patients and in those patients, you see physicians adding ensifentrine on at a very high rate. The other group of patients are, what Dave described earlier, which are these patients on dual bronchodilator triple therapy, where the physicians have no options, and we know these patients are still symptomatic. And in those patients, the physicians look at ensifentrine as an add-on as well at a very high rate in those patients because it gives them the ability to layer on an additional mechanism to the patient that could provide them this early and sustained response on bronchodilation symptoms and then the risk and rate of exacerbation.
So we feel very confidently based on the market research and our interactions with KOLs that ensifentrine will be used broadly across the patient population and really change the treatment paradigm that is occurring within COPD today. I think your second question was around payers and health care utilization. I think that’s — when we go back to a question earlier, which is around pricing, one of the reasons why the payers are believing ensifentrine will be priced at a premium versus the current products is because of that benefit that ensifentrine has on exacerbations and potentially overall healthcare utilization within their plans. We know that COPD is a high burden to the payer and the system. I think there’s — the last data check, over $50 billion worth of indirect or direct costs associated with COPD and complications of COPD.
So the ability for ensifentrine to reduce the rate and risk of exacerbations and help improve patient symptoms and lung function is a very attractive benefit. So they’re not looking at it just as a short-term, but they’re also looking at those implications long-term as they think about how to cover it and what they would accept as a price for ensifentrine as well.
Unidentified Analyst: Great. Thank you so much.
Operator: It appears are no further questions. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I’d like to turn the conference back over to David Zaccardelli for any closing remarks.
David Zaccardelli: Great. Thank you, everyone for your questions, and thank you to the patients and healthcare professionals who participated in the ENHANCE program. We are attending several upcoming conferences, including Jefferies Biotech on the Bay Summit and ATS and look forward to speaking to many of you then. As a reminder, our near-term milestones include submitting our NDA to the FDA in the second quarter and continuing preparations for our planned U.S. commercial launch of ensifentrine. Finally, I’d like to thank our shareholders for their continued support and the dedicated and talented team at Verona for their commitment. Operator, that concludes today’s call.
Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.
