On August 6, 2019 Alder BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALDR), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of migraine, reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2019 (Press release, Alder Biopharmaceuticals, AUG 6, 2019, View Source [SID1234538253]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"We continue to make significant progress toward the potential launch of eptinezumab in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2020. We have our commercial leadership team in place, with experienced personnel leading sales, marketing and market access. The team is sharpening our go-to-market strategy and expects to complete our commercial footprint later this year. We recently presented additional data further confirming eptinezumab’s differentiated clinical profile and benefits in patient-reported outcomes at the 2019 American Headache Society and American Academy of Neurology Annual Meetings," said Bob Azelby, Alder’s president and chief executive officer. "Looking forward, we believe there is a large opportunity to build value at Alder in the latter half of the year, with the initiation of eptinezumab’s acute study and the advancement of our product candidate, ALD1910, into the clinic. These collective activities align with our mission to forever change the migraine treatment landscape and give people with migraines their lives back."

Second Quarter 2019 Highlights and Recent Developments

Commercial readiness activities ongoing under the leadership of recently appointed chief commercial officer, Nadia Dac: As Alder prepares for the potential commercial launch of eptinezumab in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2020, the company has conducted new market research that further confirms eptinezumab’s differentiated profile and is prepared to begin account-level engagement with payers. The company plans to focus its marketing efforts on the high-prescribing headache specialist population and accounts, where eptinezumab fits well into their treatment protocols of quarterly patient visits with its short, 30-minute IV administration and its well-tolerated safety profile, as demonstrated in the company’s clinical trials. The company plans to utilize a specialty sales organization sized between 75 and 100 sales representatives.

New migraine-free months, migraine severity and quality of life data presented at AHS Annual Meeting: In July 2019, Alder presented new data from post-hoc analyses from its PROMISE 1 and PROMISE 2 Phase 3 clinical trials for eptinezumab at the American Headache Society’s (AHS) 61st Annual Scientific Meeting in Philadelphia, PA from July 11-14, 2019. Key highlights from the new data presented show 18.1% of episodic migraine patients treated with 100 mg of eptinezumab experienced no migraine days for at least half of the study period (≥six months), compared with 12.6% of placebo-treated patients, and 14.0% of chronic migraine patients treated with 100 mg of eptinezumab experienced no migraine days for at least half of the study period (≥three months), compared with 4.9% of placebo-treated patients. Data presented from PROMISE 2 also showed consistent clinically significant improvements in migraine severity in chronic migraine patients, a large contributor to impact on quality of life, starting at Month 1. Eptinezumab treatment resulted in clinically meaningful improvements in Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) scores in chronic migraine patients as early as Month 1 after treatment, which were maintained or further improved throughout the six-month study period, compared to placebo, which did not achieve a clinically meaningful improvement until Month 6. In addition, eptinezumab treatment resulted in clinically meaningful improvements greater than placebo in the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) scores in chronic migraine patients as early as Month 1 after treatment and through the six-month study period. From a safety perspective, longer-term exposure has demonstrated no change in the overall safety profile for eptinezumab.

Data showing consistency of rapid onset of migraine prevention and improvements in most bothersome migraine symptoms and patient reported outcomes data presented at AAN Annual Meeting: In May 2019, Alder presented efficacy data highlighting the consistency of the rapid onset of migraine prevention across four clinical trials with eptinezumab at the 71st American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA from May 4-10, 2019. Across the Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials, it was observed that eptinezumab, with its 100% bioavailability at the end of infusion, showed a rapid onset of migraine prevention. The rapid response observed on both Day 1 and through Month 1 in PROMISE 1 and PROMISE 2 was also sustained through the first quarter following a single eptinezumab infusion, and was maintained or further increased through subsequent infusions. Alder also presented a new analysis of patient-reported outcomes data from the PROMISE 2 Phase 3 clinical trial of eptinezumab for the prevention of chronic migraine, showing improvements in the most bothersome migraine symptoms and patients’ global impression of change in their migraine status by Month 1 after treatment, with improvements sustained in overall response through the first and second quarterly infusions.

Upcoming Anticipated Milestones

Eptinezumab PDUFA target action date set for early 2020: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the Biologics License Application (BLA) filing for eptinezumab in April 2019, and set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of February 21, 2020. If approved, eptinezumab will be the first-to-market IV therapy for migraine prevention, providing rapid and sustained prevention that begins on Day 1.

Acute study for eptinezumab to begin in 2H 2019: Alder plans to initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating eptinezumab as a treatment for acute migraine in patients who are candidates for prevention therapy in the second half of 2019. The trial will seek to leverage eptinezumab’s 100% bioavailability and rapid onset of prevention demonstrated in clinical testing, with the objective of securing an indication for the acute treatment of migraine for patients and positioning eptinezumab as the first anti-CGRP monoclonal antibody for both the treatment and prevention of migraine, if approved for both these indications.

ALD1910 to enter clinical development in 2019: Alder continues to advance its preclinical candidate, ALD1910, a monoclonal antibody targeting PACAP (pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide) for migraine prevention. ALD1910 is currently undergoing Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling preclinical studies. Alder expects to initiate a first in-human clinical study by the end of 2019.

Second Quarter 2019 Financial Results

As of June 30, 2019, Alder had $440.7 million in cash, cash equivalents, investments and restricted cash, compared to $412.4 million as of December 31, 2018.

Research and development expenses for the second quarter ended June 30, 2019 totaled $34.1 million, compared to $52.8 million for the same period in 2018. The year-over-year decrease was primarily due to a decrease in process development costs and a decrease in clinical trial costs due to the completion of patient treatments for several of the company’s clinical trials.

General and administrative expenses for the second quarter ended June 30, 2019 totaled $21.6 million, compared to $11.9 million for the same period in 2018. The year-over-year increase reflects efforts to support commercial readiness activities for eptinezumab.

Net loss applicable to common stockholders for the second quarter ended June 30, 2019 totaled $59.9 million, or $0.72 per share, compared to net loss of $70.7 million, or $1.04 per share on a fully-diluted basis, for the same period in 2018.

Financial Outlook

Alder continues to expect that full-year 2019 net cash used in operating activities and purchases of property and equipment will be in the range of $285 to $315 million. The majority of the spend is focused on ensuring that Alder is prepared for the potential launch of eptinezumab in the first quarter of 2020, including advancing eptinezumab’s supply chain, building commercial inventory, continuing to build out Alder’s commercial footprint and other pre-launch market readiness activities.

Alder believes its available cash, cash equivalents, investments and restricted cash will be sufficient to meet its projected operating requirements through the anticipated launch of eptinezumab and into the latter part of 2020.

Conference Call and Webcast

Alder will host a conference call today at 5:00 p.m. ET to discuss these financial results and recent corporate highlights. The live call may be accessed by dialing (877) 430-4657 for domestic callers or (484) 756-4339 for international callers, and providing conference ID number 6561825. The webcast will be broadcast live and can be accessed from the Events & Presentations page in the Investors section of Alder’s website at www.alderbio.com. The webcast will be available for replay following the call for at least 30 days.