Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc

NASDAQ:AMPH

Earnings Call Analysis

Amphastar's Strong Q2 Fueled by Key Product Sales

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals reported a 25% year-over-year increase in Q2 revenue, reaching $182.4 million. Key drivers were Primatene MIST and epinephrine, with sales up 38% and 67%, respectively. BAQSIMI, acquired from Eli Lilly, saw a 10% increase in quarterly sales to $38.5 million. Net income rose 45% to $37.9 million. The company anticipates potential approvals for AMP-015, AMP-007, and AMP-002 in H2 2024, expected to bolster revenues. Operational efficiencies and enhanced manufacturing capacities are strategic focus areas to meet growing market demand.

Robust Revenue Growth

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals reported a significant revenue increase of 25% in Q2 2024, reaching $182.4 million, compared to $145.7 million during the same period last year. This growth is largely attributed to strong sales performance in key products such as Primatene MIST, which rose by 38% to $22.9 million, and epinephrine, which surged by 67% to $27.9 million. The demand for epinephrine products was particularly driven by supplier shortages, establishing Amphastar's strong market position.

BAQSIMI's Impact and Future Growth

The company's acquisition of BAQSIMI has proven beneficial, with worldwide sales of the product increasing by 10% to $38.5 million in Q2 2024. Revenue related to BAQSIMI is generated from two channels: direct shipment to customers netting $30.9 million and sales through Lilly totaling $7.6 million. The strategic transition from Lilly’s distribution to Amphastar is key to increasing future revenues, with expectations for growth as Amphastar takes control over more markets by the end of 2024.

Strategic Product Pipeline Advancements

Amphastar is gearing up for a promising second half of 2024 with several anticipated product approvals including AMP-002, AMP-015 (teriparatide), and AMP-007, all slated to significantly enhance revenue. Each of these products targets substantial markets, although competition is expected. For instance, the teriparatide market is already competitive, which may limit the market share depending on how the FDA deliberates on AMP-002's approval.

Gross Margins and Cost Structure

Amphastar's gross margins improved to 52.2% from 49.9% year-over-year, benefiting from sales of higher-margin products such as BAQSIMI and Primatene MIST. However, a shift to in-house sales of BAQSIMI is anticipated to result in increased costs, which could pressure margins. The company acknowledges that gross margin trends may decline as they assume distribution in more territories.

Ongoing Operational Improvements

The efficiency of Amphastar’s manufacturing processes has been a focus, particularly at their Massachusetts facility, contributing to increased production capacity without significant capital expenditure. These improvements are essential for meeting increased demand and for the upcoming launches of new products.

Regulatory Update and Market Positioning

The company expressed confidence regarding its interactions with the FDA for several ANDAs, notably AMP-002, which is close to resolution of pending issues. In addition to FDA engagements, Amphastar anticipates facing competitive pressure in the insulin and glucagon markets as rival products become available.

Outlook and Future Guidance

Amphastar's guidance reveals positive momentum with expectations to maintain revenue growth into the second half of 2024, riding on product approvals and strategic executions. The anticipated revenues from BAQSIMI and new pharmaceutical products position the company favourably within the marketplace, and the CFO expressed confidence in achieving the company's $100 million sales target for Primatene MIST by the end of 2024.

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q2

[Operator]

Greetings, and welcome to the Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Second Quarter Earnings Call.

[Operator Instructions] Please note that certain statements made during this call regarding matters that are not historical facts, including, but not limited to management's outlook or predictions for future periods are forward-looking statements. These statements are based solely on information that is now available to us. We encourage you to review the section entitled forward-looking statements in the press release issued today in the presentation on the company's website.

Also, please refer to our SEC filings, which can be found on our website and the SEC's website for a discussion of numerous factors that may impact our future performance. We will also discuss certain non-GAAP measures. And the information on our use of these measures and reconciliations to U.S. GAAP may be found in our earnings release. Please note, this conference is being recorded.

Our speakers today are Mr. Bill Peters, CFO; Mr. Dan Dischner, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications; and Mr. Tony Marrs, Executive Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Operations.

I will now turn the call over to your host, Mr. Dan Dischner, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications. Dan, you may begin.

[Dan Dischner, executive]

Thank you, Paul. Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us for our second quarter earnings call of 2024. Joining me today will be Bill Peters, CFO and Executive Vice President of Finance; and Tony Marrs, Executive Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Operations.

It has now been over a year since the successful acquisition of BAQSIMI, underscoring Amphastar's strategic focus on expanding our portfolio with proprietary products, biosimilars and complex products. This quarter, BAQSIMI has emerged as a key driver, achieving impressive worldwide sales of $38.5 million for the quarter, representing a 10% increase compared to the same period last year and highlighting this product's growth.

Overall, the quarter concluded with solid sales growth, driving total revenues to $182.4 million, representing an impressive 25% increase year-over-year. This revenue growth is strengthened by significant increases in sales of Primatene MIST and epinephrine, which have risen by 38% and 67% on an annualized basis, respectively. Specifically, in-store sales of Primatene MIST have continued to show a growth trend, experiencing a 14% increase from Q2 of 2023. We remain confident in Primatene MIST's trajectory that it is on track to meet the $100 million sales target by the end of 2024.

At our IMS facility, we have focused on enhancing efficiencies in the production of our epinephrine and other products, leading to increased capacity. These improvements have strategically positioned us to meet current and future market demand. Our ongoing efficiency and enhancements have significantly boosted our manufacturing capabilities without the need of additional square footage.

Furthermore, we believe that the recent approval of our albuterol product will improve our efficiencies at our Massachusetts manufacturing facility where currently Primatene MIST is manufactured, optimizing our capacity utilization with another product and a third one, AMP-007 on the horizon.

Our glucagon injection sales have remained strong. However, we anticipate a decline from the peak levels due to increased availability of competitor products in the diagnostic market. This trend aligns with our strategic focus on the diabetes sector, particularly with the emphasis of BAQSIMI. We are dedicated to advancing our branded product strategy with BAQSIMI, which presents significant opportunities in the retail market. The current underutilization of glucagon amongst diabetics combined with BAQSIMI's advantages as an intranasal product positions us well for growth.

We want to briefly address the lawsuit filed by Teva on July 25. The lawsuit was filed with respect to Armstrong's approval or approved ANDA for generic albuterol. At the time of Teva's filing of this lawsuit, Armstrong had already received FDA approval for its ANDA, and we have launched the product. While we cannot comment further about the pending litigation, we are confident about our likelihood of prevailing against Teva. We will vigorously defend ourselves in this matter since we recognize the importance of providing patients with more access to affordable generic versions of albuterol inhalers.

Having now covered our key revenue drivers and significant events for the quarter, I would like to turn our attention to our pipeline and regulatory activities. On the topic of our filed ANDAs, we are engaged in positive and ongoing discussions with the FDA for AMP-002, with anticipated progress in the near future. For AMP-015, our teriparatide ANDA, we have submitted our response to address the minor CRL, and the FDA has assigned the GDUFA goal date in the fourth quarter.

Additionally, our second inhalation ANDA, AMP-007, remains on track for a fourth quarter GDUFA goal date. With regards to our diabetes products, I'm pleased to announce that we have filed our ANDA for AMP-018, which is a generic GLP-1 product, and the FDA has accepted review of -- with the GDUFA goal date in the second quarter of 2025.

As for our BLA for insulin aspart or AMP-004, the product is expected to be refiled in the third quarter of 2024. In closing, I'd like to note that Amphastar is well positioned for a promising second half of 2024, with the potential for 3 significant product approvals: Teriparatide, AMP-015; AMP-007; and AMP-002. These anticipated approvals are expected to substantially contribute to our revenue growth and enhance our market presence.

Our efforts to further strengthen our operational efficiencies and manufacturing capabilities will improve the foundation for transitioning from generics to higher-value products, including branded offerings, biosimilars and complex products with significant barriers to entry. By continuing to optimize our resources while strategically advancing our product pipeline, along with our commitment to grow our current branded product offerings, BAQSIMI and Primatene MIST, we are confident in our ability to drive long-term growth and deliver value.

With that, I would now like to turn the call over to our CFO and Executive Vice President of Finance, Bill Peters, to discuss the second quarter's financial results.

[William Peters, executive]

Thank you, Dan. Revenues for the second quarter increased 25% to $182.4 million from $145.7 million in the previous year's period. Primatene MIST sales grew 38% to $22.9 million in the second quarter from $16.5 million in the second quarter of last year. Remember that in the second quarter of last year, we experienced a onetime inventory drawdown by retailers, which held back sales of Primatene MIST in that period.

Epinephrine sales increased 67% to $27.9 million from $16.7 million due to other supplier shortages in the quarter. Phytonadione sales decreased to $10.3 million from $17.9 million due to increased competition. Enoxaparin and naloxone sales also saw a decline due to increased competition. Glucagon injection sales were flat as sales in Canada offset the decline in the United States during the quarter.

Other finished pharmaceutical product sales decreased to $34.7 million from $37.5 million, primarily due to a decrease in medroxyprogesterone sales of $4.6 million due to the discontinuation of the API by our previous supplier, which has caused us to temporarily stop selling the finished product. This was partially offset by increased sales in other products such as dextrose and sodium bicarbonate.

BAQSIMI revenues fall into 2 categories as we begin shipping the product in the United States and a few European countries in the first quarter of this year. The first category relates to product we ship directly to our customers, for which we recorded net revenues of $30.9 million. These revenues are recorded in our product revenue's net line on the income statement.

The second category relates to products sold by Lilly on our behalf under the transition service agreement totaling $7.6 million, which had a cost of sales and expenses of $4.6 million. This resulted in net revenues of $3 million in our other revenues category, which corresponds to Amphastar's net economic benefit for BAQSIMI. Total worldwide BAQSIMI sales were $38.5 million for the quarter, up 10% from $34.9 million in sales reported by Lilly in the second quarter of 2023.

We will continue to book revenues on a net revenue basis for those countries where Lilly continues to distribute the product on our behalf. For our own distribution of BAQSIMI, [ it ] will increase throughout 2024 on a country-by-country basis based on local regulations as Lilly has wound down their inventory, and we have Amphastar label inventory available. This will result in an increase in product sales and a decline in the net economic benefit recognized in our other revenues.

We would like to note that we just completed the first contract year of the 5 contract year period for potential milestone payments to Lilly. The 4 potential milestone payments are based on annual and cumulative 5-year sales of BAQSIMI. Cumulative BAQSIMI sales in the first quarter or the first year totaled $163.2 million, so none of these milestone payments were triggered. Our insulin API business had sales of $3.5 million, up from $2.8 million last year as we have shipped RHI API demand kind for the last time until they have qualified our updated material.

Cost of revenues increased to $87.2 million from $73 million, and gross margins improved to 52.2% from 49.9% in the previous year. The benefit of increased sales of higher-margin products such as BAQSIMI, Primatene MIST and epinephrine were partially offset by increased depreciation and amortization related to BAQSIMI and increases in labor and certain component costs.

Selling, distribution and marketing expenses increased 34% to $9 million from $6.7 million in the previous year's period due to sales force expansion and marketing expenses related to BAQSIMI. General and administrative spending increased 8% to $13.3 million from $12.3 million primarily due to increased expenses related to BAQSIMI.

Research and development expenditures increased 5% to $17.7 million from $16.8 million due to an increase in salary and personnel-related expenses as well as the ANDA filing fee for AMP-018. These increases were partially offset by decreases in clinical trial expenses due to the timing of clinical trials. Nonoperating expenses increased to $5 million from $4.1 million, primarily driven by increased interest expense on loans associated with the acquisition of BAQSIMI.

Net income increased 45% to $37.9 million or $0.73 per share in the second quarter from $26.1 million or $0.49 per share in the second quarter of 2023. Adjusted net income increased to $48.7 million or $0.94 per share compared to an adjusted net income of $34.8 million or $0.65 per share in the second quarter of last year. Adjusted earnings exclude amortization, equity compensation, impairments of long-lived assets and onetime events.

In the second quarter, we had cash flow from operations of approximately $69.1 million. During the quarter, we made the required $129 million payment to Lilly for the BAQSIMI acquisition. In addition, we used a portion of our cash to buy back $8.5 million worth of shares and to pay down a mortgage for $8 million. I will now turn the call back over to Dan.

[Dan Dischner, executive]

Thank you, Bill, for the update. With that, we will now take your questions. Operator, please open the line for Q&A.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Ekaterina Knyazkova with JPMorgan.

[Ekaterina Knyazkova, analyst]

Just 2 for me, if I may. So first, just on epinephrine, seems like another very strong quarter for the product. Can you just maybe talk about expectations for that franchise over time, both from a competitor or a supply shortage standpoint, if you're seeing any changes there? As well as with potentially other players, either entering or filing an application in that market?

And then just second question is generic ProAir. Can you just help us frame how you're thinking about the size of that opportunity? And how quickly you can launch as [ and when ] you decide to do so? And how quickly you can, I guess, get uptake for that product?

[William Peters, executive]

So for the epi, we do have -- we have 2 different presentations for that product. First of all, there's a multi-dose file and a prefilled syringe. And the prefilled syringe has been on the drug shortage supply list for almost a year now or about a year now based on a hurricane that hit one of our competitors. So that portion of the business has remained relatively robust.

However, as Dan had mentioned in his comments, what we've done is we've taken some steps to increase the capacity of that plant by increasing some of the efficiency of some of the labor in the different packaging steps. So we've been able to increase the production of that product and pump out more sales as we showed this quarter. So we do expect that shortage for that product will be -- we're seeing from the competitors that they're going to start returning to the market in the fourth quarter now. I think last quarter, they said the third quarter. This quarter was the same in the fourth quarter. So -- but returning to a regular supply sometime next year.

So it's hard to say exactly, but right now, we're just preparing ourselves to make sure that we can take advantage of this and we can supply as much as needed to the industry. As far as the multi-dose file, there is a new competitor to that one out there. So we do expect that the sales of that presentation will drop somewhat as the market has gone from 2 to 3 suppliers.

[Dan Dischner, executive]

Yes. And on the generic ProAir, as we mentioned in the call, we have launched the product. So we've already got it out there. Where we're going with that, obviously, there are other competitors in the market, and we're still working on securing business there. So right now, I don't know that we really have a good idea, but we -- it's been received well so far. So hopefully, we'll be able to give an update -- a better update later.

[William Peters, executive]

And one of the things with that one is that we're increasing the capacity of the packaging over time. So we might be off to, I don't want to say, a more moderate start, but then we expect to increase that -- the ability to meet the demand for that product over the course of the next few quarters.

[Operator]

Our next question is from David Amsellem with Piper Sandler.

[David Amsellem, analyst]

So I got a couple of pipeline questions. So I know 002 has kind of been beaten over the head, but is there anything new that you could add regarding your interactions with the FDA? Or more specifically, what they're hung up on? That's number one.

Number two, on the GLP-1, just remind us, is that a P-IV or a P-III? Is that a litigated filing? And is there already generic competition? Or do you anticipate that there will be others when you're in a position to launch? So that's number two.

And then number three, on 017, similar kind of question, is that a P4? Is that going to be a litigated filing? And talk about the nature of competition in that market.

[William Peters, executive]

Yes. For AMP-002, we continue to have routine conversations with the agency. The last conversations we've had have been -- and I guess maybe stepping back, the idea is just to kind of get a sense of what they're doing and the progress that they're making for the issue. We think we understand what their issue is. And based on those conversations, we feel that they're coming to an end to be able to resolve their issue. And so based on those calls that we routinely have with them is why we feel that we believe it'll be a near future that they'll take action on the application.

For the AMP-018, the GLP, it is a Paragraph IV filing on that product. And we're still within the period of time where we have not been sued to date, but we still could be and that we do expect competition on this one when we're in a position to launch the product. And AMP-007, that is a Paragraph IV filing as well.

[David Amsellem, analyst]

And do you expect competition?

[William Peters, executive]

It's hard to say at this point.

[Dan Dischner, executive]

We'd rather not say at this point.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Jason Gerberry with Bank of America.

[Jason Gerberry, analyst]

Two for me. First, with BAQSIMI, as long as presumably, it's going to grow in the second half, this overall company gross margins second half versus first half, we saw a little bit of margin degradation in 2Q versus 1Q. So just wondering how we think about the impact of mix and more BAQSIMI in the revenues dropping to the gross profit line.

And then on business development, I'm wondering how you're thinking about that as something that might kickstart your goal of getting to pipeline, 50% proprietary programs by next year versus using [ BD ] more as a tool to maybe add a complementary market-ready asset like BAQSIMI?

[William Peters, executive]

Yes. So first one on the BAQSIMI and the market spend there. Yes, third quarter is always the biggest quarter. So we're expecting it to certainly ramp up from the second quarter on that basis. And the other thing is that on the accounting, remember that when Eli Lilly books the sale when they're the distributor and we get the net economic benefit, that's at 100% gross margin. There's no cost of goods associated with that, so we're getting that net.

So when we move from having them sell the majority of BAQSIMI to having us sell the majority of BAQSIMI, that we start incurring a significantly more cost of goods for those revenues. Therefore, the gross margin trend has dropped. And so one of the things I want to make sure people realize is that, that trend will continue on into the next quarter as we start picking up more countries in the quarter.

As far as the business development goes, yes, so we're actively looking for things, and we are -- we've actually looked at things that are both in development and more like BAQSIMI already on the market. So we've actually been in discussions with both of those things. There's nothing to announce at this time. And I don't want to say we're close on anything.

But we remain diligent and also want to make sure that we're paying the right price for these assets. So a couple of the processes that we've looked at this year have been competitive processes where we're not necessarily the highest bidder, but we're okay with that because we want to remain disciplined. We have a strong base in our R&D pipeline. So we really want to make sure that, that's our first #1 focus. And if we do any business development on top of that, that's really just icing on the cake.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Tim Chiang with Capital One.

[Timothy Chiang, analyst]

Just a couple. Could you just comment on how you think REXTOVY will do for you guys? I knew you launched that in the second quarter. And then secondly, just sort of comment on how you expect selling and marketing costs to shape up in the back half of the year versus the first half as you fully take over BAQSIMI in the U.S. and some of these other -- well, not just in the U.S.

[Dan Dischner, executive]

Yes. REXTOVY, as you know, is a crowded field. And one thing, our focus is on more of the government first responders or municipalities and first responders. And as we've discussed before, our product is also -- is different. We're using our proprietary device. So it's still too early to really say how we're going to do there. It takes time to secure those contracts. But we don't really anticipate it being a big product for us just because of the competitive nature of that environment there.

[William Peters, executive]

And then on the sales and marketing trends, 2 things there. One is that for most of the foreign entities, we don't really have a significant sales and marketing trends. It's mostly a distribution agreement, so we will have distribution expense that's going to fall into the cost of cost of goods category there.

However, as we look at the United States and we ramp up, we are planning to add some people to the sales force or the sales force is slated to grow in the third quarter. And I'll say that's an incremental growth as we make sure that we cover some more territories that were not as well covered in the past, so we are growing that. And one way to think about it is that we're probably going to spend a similar percentage on sales as we did for BAQSIMI a year ago. So the sales are up about 10%. And so the sales and marketing expense should grow about 10% as well.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Serge Belanger with Needham & Company.

[Serge Belanger, analyst]

A couple of questions. First on BAQSIMI. I think you mentioned sales were up about 10% year-over-year this quarter. Just curious if that was volume and market share driven or there was a price increase involved in that growth. And then secondly, on the pipeline, you highlighted 3 ANDA approvals that you're expecting over the second half. Maybe talk about the market opportunity for each and how they compare to the generic ProAir opportunity in terms of being impactful to Amphastar's top line.

[William Peters, executive]

Sure. So I'll take the first thing. The units were -- remember, the main thing in the United States is now that we're selling it there is that we actually had a net pricing decrease in the United States because we have higher fees that we have to pay to the wholesalers. So -- and that's a gross to net items. So we actually see a price reduction in the United States this year for the second quarter. So all of that and more is unit growth.

And the pricing outside of the U.S. really hasn't changed much at all other than maybe there's only one country that had a material change, and that's because it moved from a government-paid to a nongovernment-paid over some price negotiations. So the price went up but the units went down.

And as far as the ANDAs for the market share, so teriparatide, as you know, it's already a multiplayer market. So I think our expectations are that we'll get a reasonable market share of that product, but it's not going to be as big as we had thought at one point.

AMP-002, I think what we've said in the past is that it's a relatively large market, but we're going to be somewhat capacity-constrained for that market. So we're going to probably get a lower market share than what you would consider to normally have in a 2-player market, but we still see it as being a good market and a large market for us.

And then AMP-007, we haven't said because we don't -- we've been somewhat consciously [ clouding ] the issue there because we don't want to let people know what the product is for competitive reasons. So I will say that we see this as a very good -- a market opportunity for us though.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Glen Santangelo with Jefferies.

[Glen Santangelo, analyst]

Bill, I also wanted to unpack BAQSIMI a little bit, because what's interesting is the results were probably better than, I think, we were expecting. Looking at some of the script data, it looked like the numbers were trending in negative territory for the first quarter based on your response to the previous question, you kind of made it sound like it was more volume driven than price driven.

So could you maybe reconcile those data points and what drove the strength in the quarter? And then maybe related to that, as we look to the back half of the year, can you maybe give us a little more color on a country-by-country transition and when you think the transition to Amphastar will be fully complete?

[William Peters, executive]

Sure. So yes, so the units in the quarter -- yes, I will say that we had a couple of hiccups as we transitioned from Lilly supply numbers to ours, NDC numbers in certain drug store chains and certain government programs. So we did have a hiccup and there was a little bit of a time during the second quarter where we weren't getting every script we should have been getting. But I think all of those problems were resolved by the end of the quarter. And so I think we're expecting the third quarter to tick back up the way it should be.

To a certain extent, some of the units sold later in the quarter were, I think, more of some of the wholesalers trying to gear up to make sure they had enough inventory in the channel because they want to make sure that they had enough for the large back-to-school surge that's usually happening in August. So I think that's part of it.

And ex U.S., we still had some nice trends there. So that's been going well as well. As far as the country-by-country basis, our goal is to get a majority of other countries that are not distributed by Amphastar over to our distribution by the end of this quarter. So we have a lot of countries planned for cutover in August and September. So this is going to be another one of those quarters. It's a little bit mixed in that there's going to be multiple countries that are cutting over throughout this.

So our expectation is that by the fourth quarter, there will only be 3 countries that are still being distributed by Lilly. Our goal is, probably, on the final 3, they might -- we might not take over distribution to them until January 1. So we're still -- we're looking at either a December transition for the final 3 countries or maybe January 1, so. But most countries should be our distribution by the end of the third quarter, which means that the fourth quarter will be a little cleaner from that standpoint. It'll will be a little [ churn ].

[Glen Santangelo, analyst]

Perfect. I appreciate all the details. Maybe if I could just ask one quick follow-up. On some of the other product categories, like when we think about, like, lidocaine and phytonadione, we see the supply issues ebbing and flowing in the market and that creates sort of these big swings in the results. And so as you look to the back half, without maybe giving specific guidance, are there any sort of product areas you'd call out where you're seeing either shortages or competitors sort of coming back online and influence some of those product categories in the back half? And I'll stop there.

[William Peters, executive]

Yes. So as I mentioned, the competitor that had the supply problems over the last year has said that they will begin distribution of some of these supply constrained products in the fourth quarter. So we do expect that some of -- they will be able to do that for their disclosures. So any of those things could drop off in the fourth quarter.

We're not seeing that in the third quarter yet. So the third quarter is kind of holding steady. But -- and as Dan had mentioned, I'll just point out again, we have increased the capacity of the facility that makes all of those products so that we could better take advantage of those. And that was one of the reasons that drove the epinephrine sales in this quarter. We think it probably should drive higher, certainly bicarbonate and dextrose sales in the third quarter.

So with that, we can make more product out of that facility, hopefully, taking advantage of these things as they come up. And so that we want to be in a position so that if there is a supply shortage by another competitor on these products, that we're able to supply the entire market. So we're kind of gearing up to be able to do that.

[Operator]

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would like to hand the floor back over to management for any closing comments.

[Dan Dischner, executive]

I want to thank everyone for joining us today. The second half of 2024 remains to be a highly anticipated period with 3 potential launches. We look forward to updating you all again. And again, thank you, and have a great day.

[Operator]

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.