Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
The consolidated financial statements, included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q,
and this Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations should be read together with our audited financial statements and accompanying notes for year ended December 31, 2020 and the related Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, both of which are included in our Annual Report on Form
10-K.
In addition to historical information, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. As disclosed in this report, our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in this
Form 10-Q
and in the “Risk Factors” sections contained in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on
Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on February 25, 2021. Our operating results are not necessarily indicative of results that may occur for the full fiscal year or any other future period.
About Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapeutic candidates for the treatment of cardiovascular, metabolic, and liver diseases. Our lead product candidate,
MGL-3196
(resmetirom), is a proprietary, liver-directed, selective thyroid hormone receptor-ß, or
THR-ß,
agonist being developed as a once-daily oral pill that can potentially be used to treat a number of disease states with high unmet medical need, including
non-alcoholic
steatohepatitis, or NASH.
Our Patient Market Opportunity.
NASH is a serious inflammatory form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD. NAFLD has become the most common liver disease in the United States and other developed countries and is characterized by an accumulation of fat in the liver with no other apparent causes. NASH can progress to cirrhosis or liver failure, require liver transplantation and can also result in liver cancer. Progression of NASH to end stage liver disease will soon surpass all other causes of liver failure requiring liver transplantation. Importantly, beyond these critical conditions, NASH and NAFLD patients additionally suffer heightened cardiovascular risk and, in fact, die more frequently from cardiovascular events than from liver disease. NASH and NAFLD have grown as a consequence of rising worldwide obesity-related disorders. In 2016, in the United States alone, NAFLD was estimated to affect approximately 26% of the population, or an estimated 85 million people, and approximately 20% of this population was projected to progress from NAFLD to NASH. Current estimates place NASH prevalence at approximately 17 million people in the United States, or five percent of the population. Slightly lower prevalence is seen in the EU and Asia, with approximately
2.5-4.5%
of the population having NASH.
For NASH, we enrolled 125 patients in a Phase 2 clinical trial with resmetirom. We achieved the
12-week
primary endpoint for this Phase 2 clinical trial and reported the results in December 2017, and we reported positive topline
36-week
results at the conclusion of the Phase 2 clinical trial in May 2018. We also completed a
36-week,
open-label extension study in 31 participating NASH patients from our Phase 2 clinical trial, which included 14 patients who received placebo in the main study. We also completed a 116 patient Phase 2 clinical trial and announced results in February 2018 for the use of resmetirom in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, or HeFH. In addition to the NASH and HeFH Phase 2 clinical trials, resmetirom has also been studied in eight completed Phase 1 trials in a total of 219 subjects. Resmetirom appeared to be safe and was well-tolerated in these trials, which included a single ascending dose trial, a multiple ascending dose trial, two drug interaction trials with statins, a multiple dose mass balance study, a single dose relative bioavailability study of tablet formulation versus capsule formulation, a multiple dose drug interaction study, and a multiple dose drug interaction with food effect study.
Our Ongoing and Planned Studies.
On March 28, 2019, the Company announced that it had initiated MAESTRO-NASH, a Phase 3 trial in NASH with its once daily, oral thyroid hormone receptor beta selective agonist, resmetirom. This double-blind, placebo-controlled study is being conducted at more than 200 sites in the United States and the rest of the world. Patients with liver biopsy confirmed NASH with stage 2 or 3 fibrosis are being randomized 1:1:1 to receive a single oral daily dose of placebo, resmetirom 80 mg or resmetirom 100 mg. A second liver biopsy at week 52 in the first 900 patients will be the basis of filing for subpart
H-accelerated
approval; the primary endpoint will be the percent of patients treated with either dose of resmetirom as compared with placebo who achieve NASH resolution on the week 52 liver biopsy, defined as the absence of hepatocyte ballooning (score=0), and minimal lobular inflammation (score
0-1),
associated with at least a
2-point
reduction in NAS (NAFLD Activity Score), and no worsening of fibrosis stage. Two key secondary endpoints are reduction in
LDL-cholesterol
and a
1-point
or more improvement in fibrosis stage on the week 52 biopsy with no worsening of NASH. Patients will continue in the study for a total of approximately 54 months, and will be evaluated for a composite clinical outcome including cirrhosis on liver biopsy, or a liver related event such as hepatic decompensation. The total anticipated enrollment is approximately 2,000 patients, and will include up to 15% high risk F1 fibrosis stage NASH patients whose efficacy responses will be evaluated as exploratory endpoints.