Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIR) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Roanna Ruiz: Got it. Thanks.

Operator: Our next question comes from Eric Joseph from JPMorgan.

Eric Joseph: Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions. Just one or two on HBV, just trying to get a better sense of the update we might see from March Part B in the fourth quarter, whether we should expect – well, well really the types of patient numbers, I guess we should anticipate, and whether we should expect readouts across the four different treatment regimens. And then I’m also curious to get a sense from you guys of what level of S-antigen clearance would support the addition of 3434 being additive to what you’ve reported so far from the Yuan trial of 2218 plus PEG, the doublet alone. Thanks.

Phil Pang: All right. So, Eric, thanks for the question. I would like to begin by stating let’s level set to what was shown at easel. At easel what we showed was that 48 weeks of 2218 with interferon alpha was able to result in an off treatment response in about 16% of patients six months after the end of treatment. That was preceded by an on treatment seroclearance, as you referred to earlier, of around 30%. So, basically 30% of patients had an on treatment response and then 16% had a continued off treatment response with 48 weeks of 2218 plus interferon alpha. What we’re going to be seeing in the fourth quarter of this year is of course the 24 week on treatment data from the triplet and the doublet. And so what we should be looking for is that 2218 plus 3434 gets us to patients who have a seroclearance.

And remember when you give 2218, 1, 8, and 34, 34 for only four or 13 weeks, we did not see any patient with seroclearance. So therefore, the goal will obviously be to see more patients or a number of patients with seroclearance, and whether or not we can match or exceed the 30% we saw with 48 weeks of the prior double. The other thing that’s important to look forward to is, of course, adding interferon onto that combination of 2, 2, 1, 8, and 34, 34, and seeing how much better we can do with that. Now, going back to, Paul’s earlier question about tolerability, clearly interferon alpha has some tolerability issues, if given for a long period of time, but that’s in the context of low efficacy. If we can achieve functional cure rates greater than 30% or 40%, we think that this is something that patients will really be keen to understand better and appreciate given the fact that living with a chronic disease is, as Marianne alluded to in the prepared remarks, something we’ve heard a lot about patients, as something that they want.

Marianne De Backer: Yes, and I would just add that as it relates to enrollment and timing, I mean, we’re right on track as to our expectations.

Eric Joseph: Okay. Would it be premature in the fourth quarter to see any post-treatment follow-up or off-treatment follow-up for patients that only received the 20 or 24-week regimen?

Phil Pang: So, Eric, at this time, all we’ve guided to is the on-treatment data from the 24-week ONs. And we are definitely looking forward to that information along with, as I alluded to earlier with marijuana, the chronic hepatitis D delta. So I think those are going to be the two exciting data sets that we hope to be able to share in the fourth wave.

Eric Joseph: Excellent, thanks very much. Looking forward to it.

Operator: Our next question comes from Eva Privitera from TD Cowen.

Eva Privitera: Hi. Good afternoon, and thanks for taking our questions. To just follow up on the prior question, for the triple combination with data in the second half, what rate of on-treatment seroclearance would get you excited or be indicative of the off-treatment clearance?