Q4 2022 Assertio Holdings Inc Earnings Call

Speaker 1: fourth quarter and full year 2022 Financial Results Conference call. All participants are now in listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. If you would like to queue for a question on today's call, you can do so by dialing star one. Please note, this event is being recorded.

Speaker 1: I would now like to turn the conference over to Matt Kreps from Daro Associates, Investor Relations for Serdio. Please go ahead. Thanks, Matt.

Speaker 2: Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us today to discuss Asordio's fourth quarter and full year 2022 financials. The news release covering our earnings for this period is now available on the investor page of our website at investor.asordiotx.com.

Speaker 2: I would encourage you to review the release and the accompanying presentation as it is important to today's discussion.

Speaker 2: With me today are Dan Peyser, President and CEO , and Val Schwichtenberg, Senior Vice President and CFO .

Speaker 2: Dan will open the remarks and provide an overview of the business, followed by Paul who will review our financials. After that, we will open the call for your questions.

Speaker 2: During this call, management will make projections and other forward-looking statements regarding our future performance. Such forward-looking statements are not guaranteed at future performance and involve risks and uncertainties including those noted in this morning's press release as well as the earlierspeaking and wheat MasterCard videos with SEC.

Speaker 2: These and other risks are more fully described in the Risk Factors section and other sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K . Our actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. An Assertio specifically disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. With that, I will now turn the call over to Dan.

Speaker 3: Thank you, Matt.

Speaker 2: Welcome to everyone joining us this afternoon. Last quarter I had remarked that the actions we had taken in the third quarter marked the pivot from restructuring towards growth.

Speaker 2: Now that we've reported our fourth quarter, that growth is self-evident. Net product sales increased 55% versus the prior year.

Speaker 2: Our adjusted EBITDA margins were 66% versus 53% last year. Adjusted EPS increased 52% and our cashflow from operations was up nearly six and a half fold to 26.7 million.

Speaker 2: In fact, we generated more operating cash flow this quarter than the business generated in net product sales in three of the four quarters of 2020 more We're extremely proud that the actions we've taken have led to these results Including the acquisition of sympos and early in the fourth quarter which contributed 1.8 million of net sales this quarter

Speaker 2: to date in 2023 is outperforming our internal deal model expectations.

Speaker 2: We've come a long way in a short period of time. What I'm most excited for is what's yet to come. We're in a far better position now to execute on our growth plans, both financially and in the current environment.

Speaker 2: As the song goes, today is where our book begins, the rest is still unwritten.

Speaker 1: I've developed a habit of laying out our corporate priorities and then discussing them on our first investor call of the year. This year will be no different. And our priorities should not be a surprise to anyone who has followed our company. They are, first, to continue to build and prove the value of our non-personal commercial platform. For a special voltas submit to pMay Rhadmin

Speaker 1: plans to diversify our portfolio and create future growth opportunities for the business.

Speaker 1: We're going to be making some substantial investments and improvements in our commercial platform early this year.

Speaker 1: We're doing this to continue to advance the internal platform and have more accurate and timely feedback so we can improve our ROI and our ability to grow demand.

Speaker 1: Let me break that down just a little bit across our key brands, starting with Simpazan and NoTrexel.

Speaker 1: As I mentioned earlier, the initial sales of SimpaZone are ahead of forecast.

Speaker 1: We're seeing some very encouraging results with the digital campaigns we've been running.

Speaker 1: Open rates on our digital communications have been amazing, and we see a significant education and awareness opportunity around the unique benefits of this drug's dissolving film-based delivery to provide more accurate and consistent dosing. Important attributes for the prescribers of this drug to LGS patients.

Speaker 1: Last year we had some stumbles with O'Trek's up that pushed growth opportunities into this year.

Speaker 1: Not only do we have an entrenched competitor, but we had some supply challenges with both finished product and samples. Our supply issues are now behind us, so we're back and 100% focused on growth in that product, and believe that the expanded reach through digital promotion, especially into the pediatric segment, can help create demand.

Speaker 1: With respect to Indusen, our goal as we entered the year was to maintain demand.

Speaker 1: We made some very impactful changes to the product by exiting from an unprofitable segment.

Speaker 1: To date, we've been able to retain the majority of those volumes and the team has incented to maintain the same level of volume as the prior year.

Speaker 1: Recently, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, or ASGE, which has nearly 15,000 members.

Speaker 1: updated their guideline for post-ERCP pancreatitis prevention strategies, and now recommends the administration of pre-procedure rectal NSAIDs for all patients.

Speaker 1: The previous guidelines recommended in methicin only in patients considered at high risk for pancreatitis.

Speaker 1: Please remember that Indecen is the only FDA approved rectal end fit in the US.

Speaker 1: This change could be a tremendous opportunity for a Serdio.

Speaker 1: Based upon our sales, who we see as the end customers, and how the product is being used in ERCP, we believe that Indecent is used in approximately 160,000 procedures annually.

Speaker 1: We don't have a reliable source for how many ERCPs are performed annually in the US, but from simple internet searches, the most recent articles provide an estimate of 500,000 to 600,000. This implies that indices used is somewhere in the 25 to 31% neighborhood.

Speaker 1: which is consistent with what our market research indicated the high risk segment represented, or 22%.

Speaker 1: This guideline change has the potential to open up a new market that is three times larger than the current.

Speaker 1: The guidance we're providing for net product sales and adjusted EBITDA does not assume any incremental benefit from this change.

Speaker 1: AsserDio is acutely aware that, currently, this is an off-label use for the product, AsserDio remains deeply committed to remaining in compliance with FDA promotional regulations.

Speaker 1: We're currently evaluating how we can educate physicians and the institutions about these new guidelines within the constraints just mentioned.

Speaker 1: This change in ASGE guidelines makes it even more important that we execute on our plans to add this indication to the products label so that we can provide physicians with the appropriate safe.

Speaker 1: dosing, and usage of the product to prevent the serious complication of the ERCP, and so that we can promote the product for this important use.

Speaker 1: We received FDA feedback from our pre-IAD submission and are now incorporating that feedback into the design of a clinical trial.

Speaker 1: to lead this initiative for us. And Howard has some very relevant experience in this area, which will be extremely beneficial in both the design and execution of the trial.

Speaker 1: Our next step will be to submit an IND with our proposed clinical design.

Speaker 1: Once approved, we will have additional clarity into how long the trial will take and how much it will cost, and we'll share with investors at that time.

Speaker 1: In addition, there are changes that we are making to the product to make it more convenient and relevant in this setting.

Speaker 1: The current product was designed years ago for a completely different use and for repeated use as opposed to a single use.

Speaker 1: For the time being, we're going to keep those changes to ourselves for competitive reasons, but we'll share prior to starting the trials later this year.

Speaker 1: The rationale for adding this to our label and changing the product goes beyond promotion and growth. Upon successful execution, we will be eligible for three years of regulatory exclusivity for the product, which is a key driver for us.

Speaker 1: The enemy for this whole program is time. We want to do this as fast as possible.

Speaker 1: So we're being deliberately designed to ensure we address all of the FDA's input and have a trial the physicians will enroll. When the time comes we will also do whatever we can to accelerate the enrollment.

Speaker 1: With respect to business development, we're extremely busy right now. I had a recent conversation with a healthcare banker who said, I have never seen so many assets available for sale at one point in the last six to seven years.

Speaker 1: I've been doing this since 2008 and I agree with that sentiment. It's a tremendous time to be a buyer in this marketplace and to have the balance sheet and cash flow that can support acquisitions. The opportunities that are available are diverse. Single products, both small and large, both early and late life cycle, to multi-product portfolios and entire companies.

Speaker 1: Our mission remains the same, to acquire assets that diversify the business and provide future growth opportunities with a priority to those that have durable and long-duration IP that are creative.

Speaker 1: I remain highly confident that we will be able to meet our goal to acquire an additional $32 million of gross profit by the end of this year. Now I'll turn the call over to Paul to discuss our quarterly results. Paul? Thank you, Dan. Thanks for listening.

Speaker 1: This afternoon, I will review the financial highlights from our fourth quarter of 2022.

Speaker 1: As in previous quarters, there are slides available on our website that summarize these results. Net product sales were 49.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to net product sales of 32.2 million in the prior year quarter.

Speaker 1: As in previous quarters, there are slides available on our website that summarize these results. Net product sales were $49.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to net product sales of $32.2 million in the prior year quarter and $34.3 million last quarter.

Speaker 1: The increase in net sales versus the prior year quarter is primarily driven by Indusin and the addition of Otrexapin-Simpazan, which more than offset the expected declines in ZipSore and Salumatrix.

Speaker 1: Full year 2022 net product sales were $155.1 million versus $109.4 million in 2021, representing a 42% year-over-year increase.

Speaker 1: Indecent family nut sales in the fourth quarter increased by 15.9 million over the prior year quarter.

Speaker 1: primarily due to a volume mix shift to more profitable channels and a return to normal customer inventory levels after a reduction in the prior quarter.

Speaker 1: Approximately 5 million of this increase was related to the inventory change.

Speaker 1: Otraxip and Simpizan combined net sales for the fourth quarter were $4.2 million.

Speaker 1: There were no sales for Otraxip and Symphonzan in the prior year quarter, as these products were acquired in mid-December 2021 and October 2022 respectively.

Speaker 1: Cambian net sales of $7.3 million were flat to the prior year quarter, primarily due to lower volume partially offset by lower rebates due to a volume mix shift to more profitable channels.

Speaker 1: Sprechs net sales in the fourth quarter were $2.7 million, reflecting an increase of $900,000 versus a prior year quarter due to higher volume, partially offset by higher commercial rebates and discounts.

Speaker 1: Overall, portfolio net sales were up 55% versus the prior year quarter.

Speaker 1: Consistent with the prior quarter, costs of goods sold in the fourth quarter reflect lower costs due to product mix and improved margins on Indicen, resulting in a gross margin as a percentage of product net sales of 87.9%.

Speaker 1: The 2022 full year gross margin was also 87.9% vs. 85.5% in 2021.

Speaker 1: Our continued focus on profitability across the portfolio throughout 2022 has led to improved net sales and gross profit margins and was achieved through lower copay and consignment costs and a reduction in the shipment of free goods, which resulted in lower gross net expenses and cost of goods sold respectively.

Speaker 1: Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $33.4 million compared to $21.4 million last quarter and $17.8 million in the prior year quarter.

Speaker 1: The year-over-year increase was driven by 17.7 million of additional product net sales and the resulting increase in gross profit.

Speaker 1: partially offset by higher selling general administrative expenses due to increased sales and marketing expenses for Otreksib and Symphonzan.

Speaker 1: Adjusted EBITDA margin reflected as a percentage of total revenue in the fourth quarter was 66.3% versus 53.5% in the prior year quarter.

Speaker 1: 2022 full year adjusted EBITDA was $101.6 million versus $48.8 million in 2021, reflecting an increase of 108%. The year over year increase is driven by higher net product sales, primarily Indicen and the addition of Otrexib and Symphonzan.

Speaker 1: improved gross margins, and lower SG&A expenses.

Speaker 1: The fourth quarter non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share was 32 cents versus 22 cents in the prior quarter and 21 cents in the prior year quarter. 2022 full year non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share was $1.19.

Speaker 1: Please note that earnings per share is now calculated using diluted shares, including the if converted impact of the convertible notes as is required under GAAP.

Speaker 1: The full additional diluted share impact is 17.1 million shares in the fourth quarter. Adjusted selling, general, and administrative expenses in the fourth quarter were 11.1 million compared to 9.3 million last quarter and 10.1 million in the prior year quarter.

Speaker 1: The increase versus the prior year quarter is primarily due to additional costs for both Simpasan and Otrexup, along with personnel costs due to new headcount additions.

Speaker 1: $1 million in 2021. The year-over-year decrease is primarily due to a year-over-year change in one-time legal reserves and settlements and the cost savings from our non-personal commercial platform.

Speaker 4: Net income for the fourth quarter.

Speaker 1: was positively impacted by an $80.4 million tax benefit from the reversal of a valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets.

Speaker 1: This adjustment reflects the positive change in the company's financial performance, which now has been consistently generating positive net income and operating cash flows. In addition to the higher sales, gross profit, and change in SGA expenses previously mentioned, net income also included $9.8 million of higher net income.

Speaker 1: fair value expense for contingent consideration as a result of an increase in the long-term end judgment sales forecast.

Speaker 1: Fourth quarter net income also reflected $1.1 million of lower interest expense.

Speaker 1: Cash provided by operating activities, as reported in the company statement of cash flows for the fourth quarter, was $26.7 million. For the full year, we've generated $78.6 million in cash flow from operations, an increase of $73.1 million versus the prior year.

Speaker 4: In addition to the improvements in profitability, we've increased accounts receivable collections, collected an income tax refund, reduced debt service, and effectively managed working capital throughout the year.

Speaker 4: Ending cash on December 31, 2022 was $64.9 million, reflecting a slight increase of $100,000 versus the prior quarter, despite making $25 million in final purchase price payments for Otreksip and Simpasand.

Speaker 4: The convertible debt refinancing in August resulted in the elimination of debt principal payments, resulting in $4.8 million of cash flow benefit in the fourth quarter versus the prior year quarter.

Speaker 4: On December 31, 2022, our long-term debt balance was $66 million, reflecting the $70 million convertible debt balance, less unamortized debt issuance cost of $4 million.

Speaker 4: On February 23rd, 2023, Assertio entered into exchange agreements pursuant to which Assertio exchanged 30 million aggregate principal amount of exchange notes for a combination of an aggregate of 10.5 million in cash and an aggregate of approximately 7 million shares of the exchange notes.

Speaker 4: of its common stock in the transactions. This reduces the amount of convertible debt outstanding that can become senior indebtedness in the event the company seeks to finance any of its future business development transactions with secure debt. Assertio did not receive any cash proceeds from the issuance of the shares of its common stock.

Speaker 4: The transactions reduced Lucerneo's overall debt by 43%, will save the company $2 million in annual interest payments.

Speaker 4: reduced the potential dilution from the exchange convertible notes by 4.6%, and will be accretive to 2023 diluted EPS by 2 cents.

Speaker 4: Lastly, our annual guidance for 2023 is as follows.

Speaker 4: Full year product net sales are expected to be $150 million to $160 million and adjusted EBITDA is expected to be $85 million to $93 million.

Speaker 4: Since we are more than 60 days into the first quarter, we have good insight into the start of the year. Based on sales to date, we anticipate product net sales in the first quarter to be $36 million to $38 million, reflecting typical seasonality due to patient copay and deductible recess on January 1st.

Speaker 4: and the loss of Canvia exclusivity.

Speaker 4: In addition, Oxedo has been out of supply for most of the first quarter, but we do expect supply to resume by the second quarter.

Speaker 4: The guidance for our full year 2023 reflects the following factors.

Speaker 4: for Nets product sales can be a loss of exclusivity on January 1, 2023.

Speaker 4: The addition of Symphonzan, which partially offsets the Can-dia loss of exclusivity. Indus in net sales growth driven by new commercial and channel strategies.

Speaker 4: including higher net pricing on indices driven by a volume shift to more profitable channels, less the one-time customer inventory benefit of approximately $5 million in Q4 2022 that returned inventories to normal levels.

Speaker 4: EBITDA guidance reflects a step up in operating expenses versus 2022 related to end-to-end clinical expenses and additional costs for Simpasan, or Trexif samples, and the annualization of employee costs. This guidance does not include the effect of the potential acquisition of new portfolio assets.

Speaker 4: to increase nut sales over 2022 despite the loss of exclusivity on Cambia, which was our second largest product.

Speaker 4: Additionally, we will be utilizing our operating cash flow to fund business development opportunities and continued investment in Indusen, Simpazan, and Otrexa to maximize the revenue potential for these products. Overall, we are once again incredibly pleased with the quarter.

Speaker 4: and full year results, most notably our commercial execution and operating cash flow generation. Looking ahead, our 2023 strategies and goals are aimed at continuing Osurdio's path to long term sustainable growth.

Speaker 2: And now I'll turn the call back over to Matt. Thank you, Paul and Dan. At this time, we'll take questions from our covering research analysts and institutional investor community. Joel, can you please provide the instructions for Q&A from our listeners?

Speaker 1: Absolutely. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question on today's call, you can do so by dialing star one. If for any reason you would like to remove that question, you can do so by dialing star two.

Speaker 1: Again, to ask a question, it is star 1. As a reminder, if you are using a speakerphone, please remember to pick up your handset before asking your question.

Speaker 2: We'll pause here briefly to allow questions to generate in queue. The first question is from the line of Thomas Flatten with Lake Street. You may proceed. The next question is from the line of Thomas Flatten with Lake Street.

Speaker 5: Hey good afternoon guys, congrats. A couple quick questions. Dana, if I heard you correct in your prepared remarks you said that you'd seen reordering or return of the majority of the 340B customers. If I heard that right, majority is you know anything greater than 51%. Is there any more color you can give us on that?

Speaker 1: I think it, yeah, majority does mean that, but it's north of 90%.

Speaker 1: Yeah, majority does mean that, but it's north of 90%. Okay.

Speaker 5: And then I know you have it as a strategy to increase the proportion of your business that goes through direct distribution. Could you give us an update on that and maybe where you hope to exit the year and just some thoughts behind converting that business?

Speaker 1: It is a strategy of ours. We're keeping the metrics there close to the vest just for competitive reasons, but we've been having tremendous success there recently.

Speaker 5: Great. And then the final one, kind of tagging on to the new guidelines, as you guys envisioned the protocol that you submitted and got feedback on, since it wasn't a standard of care prior to these guidelines coming out, do you anticipate there being a wrinkle in the design of that protocol because standard of care, at least according to the guidelines, would be...

Speaker 5: to use the product prophylactically so you wouldn't have a natural control arm. Any thoughts on that?

Speaker 1: I don't think this change is going to impact that. The FDA basically recognized that it was already standard of care for those that were considered high risk.

Speaker 1: So they were not pushing us to do, like for example, just a placebo-controlled trial.

Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing that we have to address, there's a number of things that we have to address relative to our preliminary design that we submitted to them. And the most notable is dose ranging. So they would like us to try some additional doses. So we're trying to accommodate that.

Speaker 5: Got it. Appreciate taking the questions. Thanks.

Speaker 3: Thank you.

Speaker 6: Thank you. The next question is from the line of Scott Henry with Ross Capital. You may proceed.

Speaker 7: Thank you. Good afternoon. Congratulations. Strong results again. A lot to unpack, so I just have a couple questions that I will focus on. First, you gave some granularity about Indocin in fourth quarter.

Speaker 4: Could you just repeat that? I just wanted to make sure I had that correct in terms of the sales level for fourth quarter. Well, so Scott, the fourth quarter reflected the continued buying of the 340B customers, as Dan mentioned, so it's in price benefit from that. But it also had... What does that mean for capital gains?

Speaker 4: What I mentioned was a $5 million inventory benefit as we returned customer inventory levels to normal levels in Q4. If you recall, we had mentioned that we had taken them down at the end of Q3.

Speaker 7: So there was a one timer in Q4 of 5 million. Okay, did you say overall, I thought I heard you say that it was sequentially 15 million higher? Is that, did I hear that correct? 15.9 million, 15.9 million higher than the prior year quarter.

Speaker 7: Okay, and which would get you around $104 million, $105 million for the year. And when you were speaking of guidance of matching one year over the past, I assume that was referring to 2023. So you think you can match that annual number for 2023 again, which could be conservative.

Speaker 7: was a little higher than expected, but Otreksip, if I did the math correct, was around 2.8 million in the quarter. Do you expect Otreksip to grow sequentially? I think that's a little lower, but certainly within the ballpark of expectations.

Speaker 4: Yeah, you've got the number right there, Scott. And our expectation is that we will be able to grow O'Treks going into 2023. As Dan mentioned, the supply issues that we ran into in 2022 are behind us, and we're also investing more in samples, which we believe will drive some additional volume.

Speaker 7: And then on the R&D side, obviously you're just putting forth your trial, your IND, but when we think about a trial like this, it's an acute indication. Generally what kind of follow-up are we looking at?

Speaker 7: Pretty short-term follow-up such that this could be the type of trial that you could typically do within a year from start to finish.

Yeah, it's all going to depend on enrollment. You're right that the I think we're measuring the primary endpoint around day five or day seven, but we'll have a total of 30 days. Like, is what we're going to propose a follow up on a patient level basis. So this will the timing will all hinge on how fast we can enroll the trial.

I know you had that orphan drug compound. Any updates on that? Where we stand? We should be thinking about as far as catalyst there.

I've been wrong for probably 18 months about predicting when they were going to be able to file that. So I made a comment last time that we really wouldn't say anything until the FDA has accepted their filing, just so I don't keep getting myself out over my skis on predicting this one.

But everything is.

Everything is, as far as I'm aware, everything is.

progressing just lower than I would like and because we can't control it we're just going to not comment on predictions. Okay, fair enough. And then final just bookkeeping questions. One, what should we think about for a tax rate now that it will be a traditional tax rate in 2023?

And with wiping out the convert and all that, what's probably a good shares outstanding number when we're at a steady state here.

Scott, this is Paul now the tax rate is going to be low double digits probably between 10 and 12%. And the the outstanding share number. I mean, we would prefer you to RK but Unity

Scott, this is Paul now the tax rate is going to be low double digits probably between 10 and 12%. And the the outstanding share number. I'm going to refer you to our K but basically we're looking at 35 for more information.

For the, basically we were at 48 million shares. Would he add in the full impact of the 17-1 that gets you into the mid 60s? Yeah, I think the amount that we had for the fourth quarter is going to be a good proxy, Scott. The exchange that we did, it just reduced dilution by right. Was it just around 400,000 shares? Right? So the fourth quarter number is a good proxy. Okay, and just one follow up there on the tax rate.

I mean, given that you booked the tax asset now into the income statement, why wouldn't you be up around a 22% rate or what you traditionally expect? We're still going to be getting the benefit of some NOLs that we have on the balance sheet or that we still have out there able to use.

Our gross on NOLs on the federal side are about 250 million.

Okay, so you're talking from a cash tax rate.

So you're talking from a cash tax rate or are you not?

Okay, that's great. We're reporting it. Okay. Thank you for taking the questions. Thanks, Scott.

Thank you. Again, if you'd like to join the queue to ask a question on today's call, you can dial star one. The next question is from the line of Hamid Korsant with BWS Financial. You may proceed.

Hey Hamid. Hi. So the first question I had was on this ASEG guideline change. Given that it's pretty much the same population of doctors using Indecin, what did it translate into being a fast kind of...

transition.

Or what would what would this flow down be? You know we don't have a great analog when they first put out the guidelines five years ago to include into methicine for high risk. It had already been being used for that since the New England the first

publication was in the New England Journal in I think late 12 or early 13. So the trend was continuing, it accelerated a little bit in 2017. So and we know physicians are well aware of this so We're working on the response of the ? perception of weather, where we are

The potential certainly does exist for this to accelerate from here until we can finalize our strategies for education and awareness that are going to be compliant. We're going to be cautious on, I guess, sticking our necks out to predict.

what the growth opportunity could be or what the shape of that looks like.

There's no doubt it is a tremendous opportunity for us. On the inventory front, do you feel comfortable with what you can manufacture and how much is in the channel?

for if there is any kind of growth out there this year.

That is a tremendous question and what we've all been thinking about since we saw these guidelines last week. We have ample inventory today. You can see that on the balance sheet. The vast majority of that inventory is in descent.

And we've been talking with our supplier and contemplating what we could do to accelerate some of the POs that we have outstanding already.

Okay, and the last question is just on pricing. Do you feel comfortable with where pricing is for an innocent? Do you think there's room to increase it if you start having shortages of supply? Do you feel comfortable with where pricing is for an innocent?

Good question. I'm not planning to have shortages of supply. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that we have adequate supply. Right now we are comfortable with where the pricing is.

I'm not planning to have shortages of supply. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that we have adequate supply. Right now we are comfortable with where the pricing is for the product.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mitra Ramgopal with Sdoti. You may proceed. Yes, good afternoon. Thanks for taking questions. First, congrats on the quarter. I'm sure you are doing all right Will, to start.

On SimpaZen, it certainly exceeded your expectations. I'm just wondering what sort of led to the upside versus what you were expecting.

With relative to what we thought, but we're seeing we're seeing good uptake. Above what our internal deal model was in January and February , just to give you an example. I can't see it's 100% because of the promotion that we're doing, but I certainly think it's related.

The open rates on an email, for example, that we would have on traditional marketing for some of our other products will be in the lowest single digits, 2 to 3%. The open rates that we're seeing for SIPAZAN are 22 to 33%. All right!

It's multiple higher, and it just shows us that there's a lot of education and awareness that is that can still happen here to make sure that that the physicians that are treating these patients can know about Simpasan and its benefits. Okay, thanks. And as you look into the model and the leverage you have.

How should we think about SG&A going forward as it relates to investments you probably need to make in Salesforce or on a personnel and increased headcount?

What I would say about that is, you know, as we look ahead, I mentioned that we're going to see a step up in expenses in 2023 for a couple of reasons. One is further investment in Simpasan as we just acquired that product at the end of 2020.

2022 we're going to be investing some more in Otreksib as I mentioned we're going to be spending more on samples which were delayed in 2022 and then also we've got the clinical studies out there on the R&D front for Indecent. you want to thinks about it prophets okay.

So in terms of having to add to the Salesforce, etc., no need or no imminent need right now, I guess. No plan to do that at this point. Just no need.

Okay, thanks. And Dan, you sound really excited in terms of the BD pipeline, a lot of assets for sale. I was just wondering if you could give us maybe some color on the type of valuations you're seeing in this environment. It really is asset by asset, but – count? Yes.

I think the generalization I can give is that they're far more reasonable than they were in 2008 when I started doing this and we were paying five times revenue.

The generalization I can give is that they're far more reasonable than they were in 2008 when I started doing this and we were paying five times revenues. So I think the valuation...

Perceptions of the sellers are reasonable and they've come in check. And we're seeing a very large amount of very attractive opportunities. Okay. Thanks. And again,

Given the outlook for the year, it looks like you set up really nicely. Just wondering in terms of any potential headwinds you're seeing that might be caution right now.

Um.

No, there's nothing that would cause caution. We have some anticipated headwinds already baked into the guidance that we've provided that get to the 150 to 160.

that would cause caution. We have some anticipated headwinds already baked into the guidance that we've provided that get to the 150 to 160. Okay, thanks for taking questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

There are currently no further questions at this time, so this will conclude our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Dan Peiser, President and Chief Executive Officer for any closing remarks.

at this time, so this will conclude our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Dan Peiser, President and Chief Executive Officer, for any closing remarks. Thank you Joel.

year over year, despite the loss of exclusivity for Cambia, as we make investments in our digital platform to grow demand. In addition, there's potential to do far better with the recent changes to the guidelines affecting industry. We continue to be active in business development and are very pleased with how our most recent acquisition of Simpazan is trending.

I appreciate you all taking the time to join our call. Hope you have a good evening and look forward to seeing those of you attending the Roth conference next week. Thank you very much. The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.