1/24/01 conference call notes
1. financial
1.5 b cash 12/31/00
2001 guidance- - rev. = 220-240 m
loss = 100-125 m
r&d = 375-400 m
cash neutral
5-10% increase shares outstanding
2. year 2000 accomplishments
campath,melastatin,ldp341(cancer),ldp02(inflammatory bowel disease),
bayer,wyeth,lilly,aventis,productivity,senior hires,roche,taisho
3. year 2001 goals
(i) campath- - launch U.S. 1st ½; approval in europe in 2001
(ii) melastatin launch
(iii) ldp341- - multiple p 2 trials across solid tumors,liquid tumors in single agents
and in combination
(iv) ldp02- - p 2 for krohns and ulcerative colitis
(v) ldp977- - p 2 asthma
(vi) 12 nmes - - 6 currently in trials; at least 6 more in 2001
(vii) adding 12 nmes in late lead optimization and pre-clinical development
(viii) pipeline activity- - characterize 2000-4000 druggable targets, generate 200
validated targets, generate 70 high throughput screens in monoclonal antibodies
(ix) major metabolic disease partnership a la aventis- - share U.S. rights
(x) m&a activity
(xi) breakeven 2003-2004
(xii) personalized medicine
4. q & a
(i) 1- 2 nmes will be generated internally; the rest externally
(ii) r & d investment is for internal r&d and clinical support where they have
greater than royalty share; not partnership related
(iii) ldp02- - complete enrollment in 2001
(iv) ldp341- - 2 multiple myeloma trials
(v) m&a for products and technologies
(vi) campath- - no revenue guidance
(vii) campath- - other potential uses= cll, nhl,ms,solid organ transplants
(viii) bayer compound- - trial in 2002
(ix) very high on calp technology
(x) has rights to associated antibodies for which becton, dickinson is developing oncology diagnostics
(xi) how will they reach profitability in 2003-2004?- - the most interesting part of the call;questioned by at least 3 people
with rapidly escalating r&d expenditures, and the likeliest blockbuster not available til after 2003-4, how will this happen?
the answer is 3 pronged:
1. metabolic disease partnership
2. m & a for late stage products
3. a groundbreaking type of deal with pharma which trades mlnm’s platform technology,expertise and brains in exchange for,e.g. a share of existing product revenues or for actual products or for very late-stage candidates. maybe
they do a joint venture with, or run, a pharma division(levin mentioned that he was talking to divisional presidents).regardless as to the speculative(on my part) details,clearly they have gone from trading their expertise for a small share of royalties, to a 50/50 share and upfront payments with aventis , to getting actual product revenues (in some way) by 2003-4 to break even.
5. impressions - - sounded like the analyst community bought into the profitability model. i'd be interested in other listeners' takes on the profitability discussion
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