ViroPharma Incorporated Q3 2009 Earnings Call Transcript

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2009-10-28 10:52:08.0

Tags: Patient, Call Transcript, Earnings, PCP, Seeking Alpha, ViroPharma Inc.

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

Yes. (Operator instructions) The first question we have is from Joel Sendek.

Joel Sendek – Lazard Capital Markets

Hi, thanks.

Vin Milano

Good morning, Joel.

Joel Sendek – Lazard Capital Markets

Good morning. Couple of questions. First of all, just some more details on the production of Cinryze. Is it -- are you anticipating that you will be capacity constrained or are you just kind of laying out your plan with how you are going to source products in the future? And how will that impact the gross margin going forward?

Dan Soland

So, Joel, this is Dan. First off, the most important thing that we want to accomplish is to maintain a reliable and an uninterrupted supply of product to our existing patients and any new patients that we add. So that’s our primary objective here. PCP, as we mentioned, begins in the first quarter of next year. And product from that effort comes into the channel in the second quarter of next year. PCP has an annual capacity of about 40,000 to 45,000 doses. And as we also mentioned in the call, at the end of the year, we will bring on the industrial scale. And this is an additional or additive of another 120,000 doses of annual capacity. So our objective is that we were sure that we don’t interrupt the supply to our existing patients and new patients that we do add. So we do need to manage this temporarily.

Charlie Rowland

And Joel, as to your margin question, really our guidance in the call today was greater than 70%. And whether we’re at PCP or industrial scale, we will still be above that number.

Joel Sendek – Lazard Capital Markets

Okay. So I guess -- I just want to -- obviously you mentioned that number of patients by year-end and we can kind of calculate the growth rate. So, should we have that maybe moderate for a quarter and then have a return to the previous rates? Is that kind of what you’re telling us or --?

Vin Milano

We are not giving any guidance today, Joel, on 2010. We are saying that we’re going to be managing the rate of new patient adds as we bring the PCP on. But again, as we know, the variables are great. So the number of new patients that we add is dependent upon how all the other variables play out.

 

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