Earnings Labs

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN)

Q3 2022 Earnings Call· Thu, Nov 3, 2022

$734.06

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Hello, and welcome to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Towanda, and I will be your operator for today’s call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now like to turn the call over to Ryan Crowe, Vice President, Investor Relations. You may begin.

Ryan Crowe

Analyst

Thank you, Towanda. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to everyone listening around the globe. Thank you for your interest in Regeneron, and welcome to our third quarter 2022 earnings conference call. An archive of this webcast will be available on our Investor Relations Web site shortly after the call ends. Joining me today are Dr. Leonard Schleifer, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer; Dr. George Yancopoulos, Co-Founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer; Marion McCourt, Executive Vice President and Head of Commercial; and Bob Landry, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. After our prepared remarks, we will open the call for Q&A. I would also like to remind you that remarks made on this call today include forward-looking statements about Regeneron. Such statements may include, but are not limited to, those related to Regeneron and its products and business, financial forecasts and guidance, development programs and related anticipated milestones, collaborations, finances, regulatory matters, payer coverage and reimbursement issues, intellectual property, pending litigation and other proceedings, and competition. Each forward-looking statement is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those projected in that statement. A more complete description of these and other material risks can be found in Regeneron's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2022, which was filed with the SEC this morning. Regeneron does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. In addition, please note that GAAP and non-GAAP measures will be discussed in today's call. Information regarding our use of non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of those measures to GAAP is available on our financial results press release, which can be accessed on our Web site. Once our call concludes, Bob Landry and the IR team will be available to answer further questions. With that, let me turn the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Len Schleifer. Len?

Leonard Schleifer

Analyst

Thank you, Ryan, and thank you to everyone joining today's call. Regeneron's strong operational momentum continued in the third quarter, highlighted by important developments across our pipeline and outstanding commercial execution. Total revenues for the quarter increased by 11% compared to last year when excluding contributions from our COVID antibody cocktail. With global net sales of Dupixent and Libtayo, as well as U.S. net sales of EYLEA once again reaching new all-time quarterly highs and growing by double digits. Before diving deeper into our commercial results, I'd like to review some of the recent progress we have made across our pipeline, starting with the striking pivotal data that we reported, in September, for our investigational Aflibercept8 mg, which we believe could ultimately transform the treatment landscape for patients. With nearly 90% of DME patients and 80% of wet AMD patients able to sustain 16-weeks maintenance dosing through 48 weeks of treatment, we believe Aflibercept8 mg may shift the current treatment paradigm, with more patients receiving less frequent injections, while achieving visual acuity gains anatomical improvements, and a safety profile comparable to EYLEA. It has proven to be very difficult to decrease the treatment burden beyond what we were able to achieve with EYLEA over a decade ago with many potential treatments failing either due to suboptimal visual outcomes or safety issues. A recently issued anti-VEGF agent did not demonstrate in pivotal studies that the majority of patients in either disease were able to sustain 16-week maintenance dosing throughout the first year of treatment, supporting our view that Aflibercept8 mg has the potential to become the next generation's standard of care anti-VEGF treatment, assuming regulatory approval. We plan to submit the Aflibercept8 mg pivotal data to the FDA under a single BLA at the end of this year, and have decided…

George Yancopoulos

Analyst

Thank you, Len. I will start with ophthalmology. Positive pivotal results for Aflibercept8 mg in the PULSAR and PHOTON study recently presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting. Results of these trials in wet AMD and DME respectively demonstrated that a remarkably high percentage of patients were able to be rapidly initiated into and then successfully maintained through week 48 on 12- and 16-week dosing intervals while achieving vision gains that were non-inferior to the current standard of care, EYLEA 2 mg dosed every 8 weeks. These results suggest that Aflibercept8 mg has the potential to become the new standard of care in these retinal diseases. I think it would be helpful if we step back for a minute and try to put these results in context. What our trials did was push the limits far beyond what has been accomplished with any currently available anti-VEGF therapies. Rather than using response criteria to try to identify or slowly extend patients to longer dosing intervals, our trials tested whether all patients could be randomly assigned and rapidly initiated on extended dosing intervals of Aflibercept8 mg without compromising visual improvement or safety. These Aflibercept8 mg trials accomplished just that for the vast majority while delivering a safety profile consistent with that of EYLEA. Eighty nine percent of DME patients and 77% of wet AMD patients were able to be rapidly initiated and maintained on a 16-week of Aflibercept8 mg dosing regimen while 93% of DME and 83% of wet AMD patients were able to be rapidly initially maintained on at least a 12-week dosing interval. All while delivering efficacy similar to that of EYLEA administered every 8 weeks. We believe these are truly unprecedented and potentially game changing results which have not been achieved using any other anti-VEGF agent. Others…

Marion McCourt

Analyst

Thank you, George. Our third quarter performance reflects strength and across our commercial portfolio. We continue to extend our leadership position in additional therapeutic categories as part of our commitment to deliver life-changing medicines to patients in need. With Dupixent’s approval in prurigo nodularis, Libtayo’s anticipated approval in combination with chemotherapy in first line event non-small cell lung cancer and recent data demonstrating the compelling profile of Aflibercept8 mg, Regeneron’s commercial business is poised to deliver long-term growth. Starting with EYLEA, which reached $2.4 billion in global net sales for the third quarter, this represents an 8% increase on a constant currency basis, a remarkable achievement for brand that launched 11 years ago. In the U.S., EYLEA net sales grew 11% year-over-year to $1.63 billion to again achieve over a million injections in the quarter. Despite the overall 2% sequential category decline in volume from the second to third quarter of 2022, EYLEA continued to grow across all indications gaining share from both branded and unbranded agents. In fact, EYLEA reached all-time highs in category share of approximately 50% with a commanding 75% share in the branded category. We continue to strengthen and extend EYLEA’s leadership position in the anti-VEGF category as we recently announced the FDA has granted pediatric exclusivity for EYLEA, thereby, extending the period of EYLEA U.S. market exclusivity by an additional six months through May 17, 2024. Since announcing positive Phase 3 results earlier this year, there has been widespread excitement in the retina community about the Aflibercept8 mg dataset and Aflibercept8 mg’s potential to become the future standard of care, if approved. Next to Libtayo, total global product sales were $143 million, growing 25% on a constant currency basis. In the U.S., net sales grew 21% to $95 million based on growth in our lung…

Robert Landry

Analyst

Thank you, Marion. My comments today on Regeneron's financial results and outlook will be on non-GAAP basis, unless otherwise noted. Regeneron performed well in the third quarter, with growth from key brands and execution across the business continuing to drive strong financial results on both the top and bottom line. Excluding global revenues related to the COVID-19 antibody cocktail, third quarter total revenues increased 11% year-over-year to $2.9 billion, demonstrating continued growth momentum from our core business and reflecting the favorable impact of the Libtayo transaction. Third quarter total diluted net income per share was $11.14 on net income of $1.3 billion. Beginning with collaboration revenue, and starting with Bayer; third quarter 2022 ex-U.S. product sales were 817 million, up 4% on a constant currency basis, versus third quarter of 2021. Total Bayer collaboration revenue was $333 million, of which, $315 million related to our share of EYLEA in those profits outside the U.S. Total Sanofi collaboration revenue was $711 million in the third quarter of 2022, and grew 22% from the prior year, driven by Dupixent. Recall that in connection with the Libtayo transaction, we increased the repayment of our antibody collaboration development balance from 10% to 20% of antibody collaboration profits. A portion of this step-up is recorded as a reduction to antibody collaboration revenues, while another portion is recorded as R&D expense. Given Regeneron is now recording its full 50% share of antibody collaboration R&D expense has incurred, previously Regeneron had only recognized a partial share of its antibody collaboration R&D expense has incurred, with the remaining share of expenses added to the antibody development balance. Also, as we highlighted last quarter, in accordance with the agreement, we recorded a one time development balance repayment of $57 million as an incremental reduction to Sanofi collaboration revenue in…

Ryan Crowe

Analyst

Thank you, Bob. So, Towanda, this concludes our prepared remarks. We'd now like to open the call for Q&A. With the number of callers in the queue, I'd like to ensure we are able to address as many questions as possible. As a result, we'll only be able to answer one question from each caller before moving to the next. So, Towanda, please open the call for Q&A.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from line of Evan Seigerman with BMO. Your line is open.

Evan Seigerman

Analyst

Hi, guys. Thank you so much for taking my questions, and congrats on the progress. So, with nearly $13 billion on the balance sheet and minimal debt, can you provide more color on your capital allocation priorities? Would you consider business development on a larger scale and/or issuing a dividend?

Robert Landry

Analyst

Evan, hi, good morning, it's Bob. With regards to capital allocation, and demonstrated today by our growth in R&D in the 2023 forward guidance, we are going to continue to invest, first and foremost, in the R&D pipeline that we have. We issued our 10-Q this morning, within the MD&A; you'll see a plethora of trials that are currently ongoing. And as George mentioned in his script, we're very bullish with regards to what is in the pipeline. Now, again with regards to business development, it's not a [and or and or] [Ph], right, as you saw in what we've done in the first nine months of 2022, where we do think there are opportunities and where we do think we can do collaborations where one plus one is three, then we're absolutely going to take that opportunity, and I think Checkmate was a good example of that. And I would expect that you'd see more of that. With regards to your question on dividends, it's never a never. Obviously, that tool is in our tool chest if we do decide to play that card. As of right now, we don't have dividends in the foreseeable future in our plan. We have been very opportunistic with regards to buybacks. Again, the MD&A issued earlier today, the 10-Q will show you what we've been buying back our shares. Again, we'll remain opportunistic buyers. And we do have a remaining $1.2 billion remaining under our current $3 billion authorization.

Ryan Crowe

Analyst

Thanks, Bob. So, Towanda, please have the next question on, please.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Tyler Van Buren with Cowen. Your line is open.

Tyler Van Buren

Analyst · Cowen. Your line is open.

Hi, guys. Good morning. Congratulations on the great quarter. So, I just pulled up the Odronextamab and 5458 NASH abstracts, and it'd be great to get a brief preview from you guys on what you need -- what you believe you ultimately need to show at the conference to be competitive relative to what others have shown?

Leonard Schleifer

Analyst · Cowen. Your line is open.

Yes, I don't think we want to scoop ourselves given that the conference is coming up pretty soon, Tyler. But Odronextamab has the potential of being a very important molecule. We recognize that there are some people ahead of us, and we recognize that some of the most recent timelines are pushed back a little bit based on recent regulatory feedback. The regulators have recently been focused on having Phase 3 trials substantially enrolled at the time of submission before they'll grant accelerated approval. But we are confident in the profile of Odronextamab. And as George says, there is also the future possibility of combinations with other things in our pipeline that could really even leapfrog.

Ryan Crowe

Analyst · Cowen. Your line is open.

Thanks, Len. Next question, please, Towanda?

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Salveen Richter with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Salveen Richter

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. On EYLEA, what are you observing in the market between yourselves and Roche for the Vabysmo launch?

Marion McCourt

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

So, happy to give more characterization, as I mentioned, we see EYLEA continuing to perform extremely well, reaching all-times high category share of 50%, and now as well growth in the overall branded market where we participate with other branded agents, including Roche. One thing I will mention just to give a bit more insight is that EYLEA captured growth coming primarily from Lucentis and also from Avastin. And, in fact, if you put the Roche portfolio together, the growth of EYLEA obviously was positive, while there was a decline in a real market share for the Roche products combined.

Ryan Crowe

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Thank you, Marion. Next question, Towanda?

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Harrison with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Matthew Harrison

Analyst · Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Great, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. George, I was wondering if you could just comment on your outlook for the COPD study for Dupixent and how you think about that market opportunity? Thanks.

George Yancopoulos

Analyst · Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Actually COPD has been a very difficult disease for new therapies in biologics in particular. We think that there is a category of patients with COPD who have or are marked by more of what we call Th2-type inflammation. We think that, as I said in my remarks, that there's this unifying hypothesis there are a lot of Th2-type diseases that manifest in different ways. We believe that this subset of patients with COPD may maybe or fit into that category. And being able to benefit these patients in [technical difficulty] terms of either reducing their exacerbations and/or improving their lung function would really make a difference to these patients. And so, we're anxiously awaiting the data, and we're hopeful that we will have another set of patients where we might be able to demonstrate that Dupixent could really make a difference.

Ryan Crowe

Analyst · Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Thanks, George. Towanda, next question?

Operator

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Tim Anderson with Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

Tim Anderson

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

Thank you so much. Lilly will be launching Lebrikizumab in '23 in atopic derm, and they have data that looks comparable to Dupixent, at least in this one indication. Pretty much a direct competitor, although not identical on mechanism, they know the derma space because it halts, and the positioning is going to be that they can dose every month versus Dupixent, which is every two weeks. So, I'm wondering if you have any strong views on that product or if you think that it's going to be total nonstarter which is pretty much the consensus view I get?

Leonard Schleifer

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

Maybe Marion can comment on it. But look, there's room for competitors in this market. We're really modestly penetrated in the opportunity. I don't think that the profile that you say is actually going to be suppressed. We've seen it so far, all that's similar. We have the earliest, from infancy already to adulthood. That's a big deal, okay. In addition, the fact that many of these people have other comorbidities, whether it be asthma or nasal polyps, for example, and they can get, if they do have comorbidities, this single drug can treat both. It's a very big differentiator. So, I think when you're the market leader, when you're so far ahead, when you have really a differentiated profile you have an advantage. Obviously, Lilly is a fine company; they know what they're doing. But as I said, there's room, frequently, when new, good drugs come to market there is a growth of the market. And we're not going after a fixed number of patients; we're actually growing those patients. Marion, I don't know if you want to add anything?

Marion McCourt

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

So, I would just add that most of the key opinion leaders that we speak to recognize that the dual mechanism of action, the NTIL-4 coupled with NTIL-13 is very, very important, so certainly efficacy shouldn't be assumed. There's also reinforcement on the incredible efficacy that's seen for patients with moderate-through-severe disease. And, obviously, real world experience is compelling. The administration with Dupixent is really quite straightforward, it's self-administration, and we actually see there the active patient or parent involvement has been very helpful in establishing Dupixent. But certainly as Len mentioned, expanding the education in category to bring more atopic dermatitis patients into the treatment continuum is very positive for patients, and certainly for Dupixent.

George Yancopoulos

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

Not to pile on, but since -- just to add on to what Len was saying. I mean the fact that the IL-13 have failed in these other important Th2 inflammation-driven diseases, like asthma and like COPD and others right now really does suggest that they are not fully addressing the Th2 inflammation, both in any one particular disease, but also as Len said, so many of these individuals, if you just look at our label or any label that describes these diseases, they suffer from other allergic comorbidities. And so, obviously, it can make such a difference for a patient where one drug can treat a systemic disease as opposed to treating the disease only in one of the many compartments where it manifests itself. I think this is the way I think medicine in the field should be moving. This is a systemic disease where Th2 inflammation is probably rampant in many compartments in the body, you don't only want to treat it in one compartment, you want to treat the entire body. And that's what we've been showing systematically, by going one disease after another with Dupixent. It works in every compartment, and it broadly attacks the underlying inflammation that's related and causative in all of these diseases.

Ryan Crowe

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

Okay, thank you for that response. Towanda, can we go to the next question?

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Mohit Bansal with Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Mohit Bansal

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Great, thanks for taking my question, and congrats on the progress. If I could probe little bit further on the comments you made about the growth of anti-VEGF market, you said it's about 4% year-over-year. Seems like bit of slowdown from what the high growth we have seen. Could you elaborate it further, do you see -- just one quarter, do you see any underlying trend there and it because of the high growth we saw post-COVID, which is tapering down, if you could help us understand that? Thank you.

Marion McCourt

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

I think it's very difficult to extrapolate one quarter. Certainly I did mentioned that there'd been a sequential decline of about 2% going from the second quarter into the third quarter in the overall anti-VEGF category. But I think it's really difficult to extrapolate from that. The numbers you shared on overall year-over-year growth of category, at about 4%, we recognize as well. I think we'll have to see as a bit more time goes by. But it's really difficult to draw conclusions on what may or may not have occurred in a one-quarter period.

Mohit Bansal

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Got it.

Leonard Schleifer

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

There's still quite a bit of room of growth in the diabetic eye diseases area. We still see a decent growth there in that category.

Mohit Bansal

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Helpful, thank you.

Leonard Schleifer

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Next question.

Ryan Crowe

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Thank you. Thank you, Len, and Marion, and Mohit. Next question, please, Towanda?

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Christopher Raymond with Piper Sandler. Your line is open.

Christopher Raymond

Analyst · Piper Sandler. Your line is open.

Hey, thanks. Just another question maybe on the VEGF market and EYLEA specifically, so in our checks we get a sense that there's some docs who believe that Vabysmo confers differentiated efficacy. But on the other hand, there's still a sizable amount of docs who've yet to see a patient for follow-up after the first dose. So, sort of just curious if, in the field, you're seeing a difference in perception of Vabysmo by time of experience, that is any discernable change in perception with the more patient follow-up they've had? Thanks.

Marion McCourt

Analyst · Piper Sandler. Your line is open.

I think it's probably best that Roche answer questions on what they're hearing about use. I'll just share at this point, I haven't heard characterization or that use is still at a low level, in fact quite modest. I can characterize the EYLEA performance, as I did, in terms of market leadership and the growth we see in our business in terms of market share and other parameters, and that is across indications, and certainly substantially creating EYLEA as leader in the anti-VEGF category. And, obviously, we're very enthusiastic as is the retina community, probably even more important about the possibilities and potential of Aflibercept8 mg if approved in the future.

Ryan Crowe

Analyst · Piper Sandler. Your line is open.

Thank you, Marion. Next question, please.

Operator

Operator

Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Colin Bristow with UBS. Your line is open.

Colin Bristow

Analyst · UBS. Your line is open.

Hey, good morning, and congrats on the quarter. So, on EYLEA, in '23, we're starting to see [confirmary] [Ph] updates. So, I was wondering, could you just speak to how you see the market share evolving over the course of '23 in light of Vabysmo, and then, obviously, biosimilars? And then just as we think about high-dose EYLEA in the back-half of the year, anything you can say in terms of anticipated OpEx changes? Thank you.

Marion McCourt

Analyst · UBS. Your line is open.

So, as a start, we don't predict future market share performance, so I'm going to stay away from specifics in that area. Certainly, not only this quarter but over several quarters, we've been able to demonstrate continuing strong performance with EYLEA as anti-VEGF category leader. And certainly we'll continue to work on that. And as agents have entered the market, our competitive readiness abilities have been very strong. But most important, frankly, it's the profile of EYLEA; the clinical attributes, the safety of the product, the breadth of indications, ease of access for physicians and patients, but going forward, certainly we will be very much prepared to launch Aflibercept8 mg and you know, as we get into that launch potentially with an FDA approval we will be able to give more characterization, but as George and Len described today, the profile of Aflibercept8 mg and opinion leaders in the retina community confirm that this profile potentially has all the ingredients to become standard of care, and certainly that's what we work on all the benefits of vision coupled with safety, and now this potential of substantial durability that hasn’t been seen before in the category.

Robert Landry

Analyst · UBS. Your line is open.

Collin, it's Bob. With regards to OpEx, I mean Marion and I will do what we always do on the brands. We'll look at what totally makes sense. I mean as you know, it's kind of to find number of retinal docs. It's not as if we are going into tremendously new area that creates a lot of new touch points on it. And on top of that, Marion's team right now is a very tight functioning sales rep team on the top of their game. So, again, we don’t expect some gigantic pivots in this area, but again, we will make sure that we fund this appropriately and that it is -- the commercial side of it is going to match how well the clinical data is going to stand up on it. Thanks.

Colin Bristow

Analyst · UBS. Your line is open.

Thank you.

Ryan Crowe

Analyst · UBS. Your line is open.

Okay. Next question, please?

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Please standby for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Brian Abrahams with RBC. Your line is open.

Brian Abrahams

Analyst · RBC. Your line is open.

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my question, and congrats on the continued execution and innovation. On Costimulatory Bispecifics, by specific, now that you have more time with the evolving data, any views on predictors of response of durability there, and I'm curious how your learnings might shape your latest thoughts on threading the therapeutic window, both for the PSMA as you accelerate the trail enrollment, as well as your other Costimulatory Bispecifics? Thanks.

George Yancopoulos

Analyst · RBC. Your line is open.

Yes. I think that our data actually shows that with the remarkable response rates, which we saw especially going to the higher doses, yet it's not as if you have to look hard to find biomarkers for response, the number just to remind you that is at the highest dose; three out of the four patients had very profound responses. So, response predictors are not an issue, but you also pointed the question about therapeutic window, certainly we are seeing autoimmune-related side effects associated with these responses. And so, we are working hard now, we are actually -- we have accelerated enrollment in this program, we are trying to understand more of the relationship between the responders, and having these sorts of new side effects, I mean one very positive perspective is we don’t see these series autoimmune side effects in people who don’t see responses. So, it's the people who benefit, who do get the autoimmune side effects these have obviously coupled, it's because I think the drug is doing what we intent it to do. I think this is some of the most exciting data in the history of immunotherapy that you can take what people have historically called a "Cold tumor," that has almost no responses to immunotherapy or repeating one therapy, and get these incredibly high rate of very deep and so-called durable responses, and we will continue to work on improving the therapeutic window. In terms of the bispecific program more broadly, and I want to hearken back, Len sort of answered the previous question about CD20 and BCMA, but I do want to amplify on some of these comments, which is we think that there are indeed a very small number of bispecs in the CD20 space, and the BCMA space, which are actually…

Ryan Crowe

Analyst · RBC. Your line is open.

George, there was one question about biomarkers in prostate cancer, maybe you might just comment on how quickly you can use PSA you know, as studies after paper works is exposed to both agents?

George Yancopoulos

Analyst · RBC. Your line is open.

Right. And in some of the data we have already shown, and we will continue to show, many of our patients have remarkably high PSA levels, because they have very high burden of disease, as all know depending on the assay and the lab and so forth, normal PSA levels are in the low single-digits, you know, maybe one to four, consider the highest levels. We have patients who entered into our study with PSAs in the 100s, 500s, 600 and so forth. And we saw with this combination treatment, as soon as you put the combination on board essentially at the next time point that we measured within three weeks or so, we saw dramatic drops in the order of 99% reductions in the PSA. And these are really astounding results, and now where we continue to follow our patients over time we have seen that, for example, bone lesions have entirely normalized, and so forth. So, the effects are incredibly rapid as reflected in the PSA. And to the point about predicting which patients respond, it doesn’t matter whether you had patients who had relatively low burden as measured by PSA, where their PSA was measured in let's say, 40 to 50 range or whether you had incredibly high PSAs in 500 to 600 range, those patients seem to similarly respond in terms of very dramatic, very profound drops in the PSA within weeks of starting therapy. And as we continue to follow these patient's incredibly durable responses, first patient has now been out for more than a year. Their immune side effects have resolved, whereas their complete remission has remained completely intact, and as I said, not only completely normalized the PSA levels, but the bone lesions and so forth have all normalized at least as measured by bone scans and so forth. So, this really has the potential to be so game-changing for these late stage patients who really have at this point no other real recourse.

Ryan Crowe

Analyst · RBC. Your line is open.

Thank you, Len and George. I think we have time for one more question. Towanda?

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Please standby for our final question. Our final question comes from the line of Carter Gould that Barclays. Your line is open.

Carter Gould

Analyst

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for squeezing me, and taking the time. Maybe just come back to -- for Marion, how we should think about your expectations for timeline to receive a J Code for high dose EYLEA next year, you know, we have seen in the past pretty varied timelines here in terms of like AVEVO got their's trending around, Eli Lilly and Roche clearly had a more pace process, and I guess more to the point, should our expectation be that's more of like a January 1, 2024 type of event that's potential for J Code, maybe in the later part of '23? Thank you.

Marion McCourt

Analyst

Carter, thank you for the question, and certainly we will stay very close on this. And obviously the importance of new BLA and new J Code is important. In terms of timing, I would need a crystal ball you know, certainly would share with you, we will be working very closely with the proper organizations and officials, but at this time it's too early to give anything definitive on expectation for J Code timing.

Leonard Schleifer

Analyst

Yes. My own perspective on this and slightly different is that I'm not convinced in this particular setting that the J Code is the end of the all of -- like, you are going to see these dramatic changes in uptakes post J Code, so --

Carter Gould

Analyst

Okay, thank you.

Ryan Crowe

Analyst

I think that's all we have time for today. Thank you everyone for joining the call. As always, the Investor Relation team is standing by for any follow-up questions you may have. Have a great day, everyone.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.