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Earnings Call

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (TAK)

Earnings Call 2022-03-31 For: 2022-03-31
Added on May 05, 2026

Earnings Call Transcript - TAK Q4 2022

Christopher O’Reilly, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you for joining Takeda's earnings announcement for FY 2022. I will be your host. Before we begin, I want to remind everyone that we will discuss forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may significantly differ from what we talk about today. The factors that could lead to this difference are detailed in our most recent Form 20-F and other SEC filings. Please also note the important information on Page 2 of the presentation regarding forward-looking statements and our non-IFRS financial measures that will be covered during this call. The definitions of our non-IFRS measures and reconciliations to comparable IFRS measures are included in the appendix of the presentation. Now, let's proceed to the presentations. President and CEO, Christophe Weber; R&D President, Andy Plump; and CFO, Costa Saroukos, will present, followed by a Q&A session. Let's get started.

Christophe Weber, President and CEO

Thank you, Chris. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. It’s a great pleasure to be with you. Fiscal year 2022 has been a very successful year, during which we have been putting our corporate philosophy into action to create long-term business and societal value. Everything we do is guided by our values, brought to life through action based on patient trust, reputation, and business in that order. This is fundamental to our strategy, our identity, and our culture. We have been steadily executing towards our vision to discover and deliver life-transforming treatments with a commitment to patients, our people, and the planet. A good example is how we have chosen to price our recently approved dengue vaccines QDENGA. We are prioritizing countries with the highest burden of disease and where barriers to access to medicines and vaccines are particularly complex. In line with our pricing strategy, we will adjust QDENGA's price according to a country’s economic stage and health system maturity to ensure broader access. For example, the private market price for QDENGA in Indonesia will be about one-third of its European price and far lower than other innovative vaccines in Indonesia. With regard to our people, our intention is to create an exceptional inclusive experience wherever we work. For colleagues who can work virtually as well as in our offices, we emphasize effectiveness, flexibility, and inclusion with fit for purpose and regular face-to-face interaction and are leveraging data and insights to inform our approach. We are also committed to delivering a high standard of environmental leadership, and we made important progress toward our greenhouse gas emission goals in fiscal year 2022. For example, in March of this year, we officially opened our first positive energy manufacturing support building at our site in Singapore. This building produced more electricity than it consumes and it is the first of its kind in the biopharmaceutical industry in Singapore. In the U.S., our virtual power purchase agreement with Enel North America is expected to create up to 350,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy credits per year. That accounts for approximately 20% of Takeda’s current enterprise Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions. We are also doubling down our investment in data, technology, and AI with a 10% investment increase in 2022 to improve our productivity across our entire value chain. Through our core business, Takeda is creating long-term value for patients, shareholders, and society, while making a positive impact on our people, communities, and the planet. Turning to Slide 5 and our financial performance, I am pleased to say that fiscal year 2022 was an excellent year for Takeda as we delivered and exceeded management guidance for revenue and profit growth. On the top line, we booked revenue of more than ¥4 trillion for the first time, representing core growth of 3.5% at a constant exchange rate. This performance was driven by our growth in launch product, which increased 19% at a constant exchange rate and now represents 40% of our total revenue. Core operating profit was nearly ¥1.2 trillion, representing growth of 9.1% at a constant exchange rate. Core earnings per share was ¥558 with growth of 13.9% at a constant exchange rate. I also want to highlight our continued progress in reducing our debt. We have now brought our leverage ratio down to 2.6. This includes the impact of a $3 billion payment we made in Q4 to acquire TAK-279 from Nimbus. Excluding that, we would have reached 2.3x, or the low 2s target we set as one of our key financial metrics commitment after the Shire acquisition. This achievement enabled us to pivot to a new phase of investing for growth and shareholder returns. Moving to the right-hand side of the slide, and our pipeline progress in fiscal year 2022, our dengue vaccine QDENGA received approval in multiple countries, including Indonesia, the European Union, the U.K., and Brazil. We have since received additional approvals in Argentina and Thailand and have launched in a number of European and Nordic countries. The U.S. FDA also accepted QDENGA for priority review, and we are looking forward to a potential approval in the U.S. and to expanding access to these vaccines to other regions later this year. This year, we have positive late-stage clinical trial data readout for TAK-755 and fazirsiran. Based on favorable interim Phase III results, we are on track towards the filing of TAK-755 as a treatment for congenital thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, or cTTP, a rare blood clotting disorder with limited therapeutic options. We also announced positive Phase II results for fazirsiran in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency associated liver disease. This year, we have begun dosing patients in the Phase III studies. Our Orexin franchise is also advancing. We began a Phase IIb study for TAK-861 in narcolepsy types 1 and 2 and published positive Phase I data for TAK-925 in the post-anesthesia setting. We continue to strengthen our pipeline with external opportunities to complement our innovative internal R&D engine. This included the acquisition of TAK-279 for immune-mediated disease as well as in-licensing agreement for fruquintinib for colorectal cancer and TAK-227 for celiac disease. We are optimistic about these late-stage programs and the potential of these molecules to bring meaningful advancements for patients. Looking ahead to fiscal year 2023 on Slide 6, we have been communicating for some time that this coming year will be challenging due to the impact from loss of exclusivity, most significantly VYVANSE in the U.S. and AZILVA in Japan. However, these are temporary headwinds and do not alter the momentum of our growth and launch products nor our excitement in the pipeline to deliver major and long-term growth. As a result of the strong deleveraging progress I highlighted on the previous slide, we are now entering a new phase for the company in terms of capital allocation. I am pleased to announce a planned dividend increase from ¥180 to ¥188 per share in fiscal year 2023, underscoring our confidence to grow beyond the near-term challenges in fiscal 2023, with regard to our guidance for the coming year. For revenue, we expect momentum from our growth and launch products to largely offset the impact of generic entry. However, we do have additional headwinds from COVID-19 vaccines expectation. In fiscal year 2022, we actually exceeded our revenue forecast for COVID-19 vaccines in Japan with almost ¥60 billion in sales. But as a result of softening demand and the government cancellation of their order for Nuvaxovid, we now expect fiscal year 2023 revenue to be minimal. As a result, our management guidance is for core revenue to decline by low single-digit percentage at a constant exchange rate, with COVID-19 vaccines being the main difference from our previously communicated goal of holding revenue flat this year. Regarding profits, we do expect an impact from losing the high-margin product generic in 2023, but we are doubling down on OpEx discipline to limit the impact as much as possible. We are not holding back from making the necessary investments to secure future growth, and we’ll continue to invest in R&D and data and technology to secure Takeda's long-term competitiveness. Although we expect core operating profit to decline in the low 10 percentile, we are still forecasting an absolute amount of more than ¥1 trillion. Core EPS is expected to be ¥434. After several years of business transformation, integration, and deleveraging, we have built competitive global scale with a strong financial foundation and are confident in our future growth. This enabled us to pivot our capital allocation policy to place less emphasis on rapid debt paydown and instead allocate more capital towards growth investments and shareholder returns. This includes the adoption of a progressive dividend policy which means that going forward, we intend to increase or maintain our dividend every year, reflecting a new chapter for Takeda with a clear focus on investing for growth and shareholder return. Our upcoming pipeline milestones also support our confidence in the future. First, we are expecting some significant lifecycle management expansion this fiscal year as we now anticipate regulatory decisions in the U.S. for Entyvio's subcutaneous formulation for ulcerative colitis and for HYQVIA and GAMMAGARD LIQUID for CIDP. We also expect the readout for ALOFISEL Phase III ADMIRE study, which we believe will support the U.S. filing of this highly innovative cell therapy for complex perianal fistula. And as I mentioned, we also anticipate further approval decisions for QDENGA, including in the U.S., as well as an approval decision in the U.S. for TAK-755 for cTTP. Lastly, we expect to obtain Phase IIb results for TAK-279 in psoriatic arthritis and initiate a pivotal Phase III program in psoriasis. Andy will share additional information on these programs later in the presentation. Turning to Slide 7 on our high-level outlook for the near, medium, and long term, based on our current assumption for fiscal year 2023, we expect to return to revenue, profit, and margin growth in the near term, driven by continued expansion of our growth and launch products such as ENTYVIO, TAKHZYRO, LIVTENCITY, and our plasma-derived therapies. We will also start to see meaningful contributions from QDENGA. We are also excited about our late-stage pipeline and anticipate significant milestones in '23 and onwards, as I have already touched upon. Following the temporary generic headwinds we faced this year, we have no significant loss of exclusivity exposure until the launch of Entyvio biosimilars, which could be as late as 2032, and therefore, the momentum from our growth and launch products, coupled with new launches from the pipeline will continue to drive growth into the medium term. Beyond that, we expect our investment in R&D to continue to pay off in the medium and long term with progress in our clinical pipeline. As we look to the future, we remain committed to returning to a core operating profit margin in the low to mid-30s, supported by productivity improvements driven by data, digital, and technology. We will also continue to evaluate asset-specific business development opportunities to further enhance the pipeline and reinforce our growth profile. Finally, as I mentioned, our updated capital allocation policy includes our progressive dividend policy of increasing or maintaining our dividend each year. In closing, fiscal year 2022 was a year of growth and strategy execution. We continue to deliver on our long-term commitment, advance our pipeline, and return value to our stakeholders while adhering to our values and bringing life-transforming treatments to patients. With that, I will turn the call over to Andy to update you on our pipeline.

Andrew Plump, R&D President

Thank you very much, Christophe, and hello to everyone on today’s call. If we can go to the next slide, please, Slide 9. We continue to build forward momentum with our innovative pipeline this past year. I’m very excited to share our progress and highlight major milestones achieved in fiscal year 2022 as well as highlight expected major events in the coming year 2023. As Christophe mentioned, we had multiple pipeline successes this past year. We received several approvals for QDENGA in endemic markets. We also had approval in Europe and a positive CHMP opinion that could support the approval in eight additional dengue endemic countries participating in the first-ever EU medicines for all procedure. The WHO estimates around four billion people are at risk of dengue infection globally with an estimated 400 million infections, 500,000 hospitalizations, and 25,000 deaths each year, most of these deaths occurring in children. In our 4.5-year TIDES clinical outcomes trial, QDENGA demonstrated an 84% reduction in hospitalizations. As we work to provide broad access to endemic regions around the world, we now have the potential to significantly reduce the hospitalizations and deaths caused by dengue infection in the decades to come. We also had a number of positive study readouts to further advance our pipeline this year. And as Christophe mentioned, these include a Phase III readout for TAK-755, a Phase II readout for fazirsiran, and proof-of-concept data for our Orexin franchise. These positive studies support important program stage ups. We are on track to file TAK-755 for the treatment of congenital TTP in the U.S. with submissions in other regions to follow. We initiated a Phase III pivotal trial for fazirsiran. Fazirsiran is an innovative and very promising RNA interference therapy that may stop the buildup of harmful protein aggregates in the liver, which can cause inflammation, fibrosis, and ultimately liver failure. Fazirsiran has the potential to reduce the inflammation and fibrosis and prevent liver failure in patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. We also advanced TAK-861 into Phase IIb dose-ranging studies for patients with both narcolepsy types 1 and 2. While this has been a strong year for pipeline growth, it has not been without its headwinds. Based on feedback from regulatory agencies, we decided not to pursue approval for LIVTENCITY in first-line CMV infections. We continue to believe there was a net positive benefit shown against the standard of care in the frontline trial. But after discussions with regulatory agencies, we have decided to make the trial results available to transplant physicians via publications but not pursue a label supplement. LIVTENCITY remains the only approved therapy for refractory CMV infection and has made a meaningful impact on the lives of patients in the post-transplant setting. In the coming year, we see significant opportunities to further expand our growth and launch products. The potential approval of Entyvio subcu in the U.S. for ulcerative colitis and potential approvals for HYQVIA and GAMMAGARD LIQUID in the U.S. for CIDP both represent expansion opportunities for two of our largest franchises. In fiscal year 2022, we also made significant investments to enhance our long-term growth prospects with a number of pipeline-enhancing deals. These include TAK-279, which I will highlight in more detail later in the presentation; fruquintinib, a highly selective oral potent inhibitor of VEGF receptor 1, 2, and 3 with very strong overall survival data in previously treated metastatic colorectal cancer. This program has already been filed in the United States, and TAK-227, a potential first-in-class oral celiac disease therapy with strong data in the human gluten challenge study that was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Next slide, please. Through our disciplined prioritization process, we also made a number of strategic and data-driven decisions to prioritize investments in our most promising programs, which further propelled the progression of our pipeline. As a result, we achieved 41 clinical stage ups and eight approvals from the four major regulatory agencies around the world. We also continue to evolve our strategic focus. As an example of our disciplined decision-making, we discontinued R&D efforts in adeno-associated virus or AAV gene therapy. This decision will allow us to focus even more deeply on areas of cell and gene therapy, where we believe we can offer transformative therapies to patients and become industry leaders. These include our innovative allogeneic NK and gamma delta cell therapy platforms as well as next-generation delivery mechanisms for gene therapy. Next, Slide 11, please. Depicted here are our late-stage development programs. TAK-755 had strong interim results from our Phase III trial in congenital TTP, a rare disease caused by a deficiency of the protease ADAMTS13. TAK-755, our recombinant ADAMTS13 designed to replace this missing enzyme, showed a 60% reduction in the incidence of thrombocytopenic events versus the standard of care. TAK-755 was also better tolerated. Treatment-related adverse events were 9% for TAK-755 and 48% for the standard of care. We are on track for our first filing in the U.S. As previously mentioned, we have an exciting late-stage addition to our pipeline in TAK-279, a highly selective oral allosteric TYK2 inhibitor. We’ll be starting a pivotal development program in psoriasis in fiscal year 2023. Additionally, we will have a Phase IIb readout for psoriatic arthritis this fall and are preparing at risk to start a pivotal development program for these patients in early fiscal year 2024. In parallel, we will be accelerating the development of TAK-279 Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and systemic lupus erythematosus as well as exploring a broad range of additional indications. So next, Slide 12, please. Now I’d like to remind you why we are so excited about TAK-279. Firstly, TAK-279 is over 1.4 million-fold selective for TYK2 versus the JAK family receptors, which is important for a best-in-class TYK2 inhibitor given the known safety concerns associated with the JAK inhibitors. Secondly, as presented at the American Academy of Dermatology in March, TAK-279 has very strong Phase IIb clinical data in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. 33% of patients taking a 30-milligram pill achieved clear skin or PASI 100 with once-daily administration. In addition to the strong efficacy profile, adverse events were generally low. The most common adverse events were COVID-19 and acne, and importantly, acne and its related forms resolved while patients continued treatment in all but one study participant by week 12. We are looking forward to advancing TAK-279 into two Phase III trials in psoriasis and conducting a head-to-head trial against deucravacitinib based on these promising data. The figure at the bottom of this slide shows a high-level timeline of our anticipated clinical milestones over the next two years.

Constantine Saroukos, CFO

Thank you, Andy, and hello, everyone. This is Costa Saroukos speaking. Today, I’ll walk you through the financial highlights of our fiscal 2022 full-year results and our outlook for 2023. Starting with fiscal 2022 results, I’m pleased to say that it was an excellent year for the company as we delivered or exceeded management guidance and booked a record ¥4 trillion in revenue and a core operating profit of almost ¥1.2 trillion. Starting from the top line, core revenue for the full year was ¥4.03 trillion or approximately USD 30.3 billion. Despite the entry of VELCADE generics in May 2022, we delivered solid revenue growth, up 3.5% versus the prior year at constant exchange rates, driven by our growth and launch products. These products now represent 40% of total revenue and grew at 19% on a constant exchange rate. Reported revenue growth was 12.8%, with business momentum and FX upside more than offsetting the impact of a ¥133 billion gain from the sale of the Japan Diabetes business that was booked in Q1 of the prior year. Core operating profit grew at 9.1% at a constant exchange rate to ¥1.19 trillion, breaking the ¥1 trillion threshold for the first time in Takeda’s long history. And our core operating profit margin was 29.5%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points on a year-over-year basis. This year-on-year margin improvement is an indicator of our financial discipline and our ability to control costs. In fact, at constant exchange rates, our SG&A spend was lower than last year. Reported operating profit grew at 6.4% versus the prior year, overcoming the high hurdle set by the gain on the diabetes portfolio in the prior year. Free cash flow for fiscal 2022 was ¥446.2 billion. But excluding the $3 billion upfront payment we made in Q4 for the acquisition of TAK-279 from Nimbus, it would have been ¥837.3 billion or USD 6.3 billion. As a reminder, the total upfront consideration for TAK-279 was $4 billion, and the remaining $1 billion will be paid in the first half of fiscal 2023. We finished March with net debt to adjusted EBITDA of 2.6x. If we exclude the Nimbus upfront payment from the calculation, it would have been 2.3x, meaning we would have achieved the low 2s deleveraging one year ahead of our target. This closes the chapter on the last major financial target from the Shire integration. Going forward, we’ll continue to focus on financial discipline and maintaining solid investment-grade credit ratings, but we are no longer in a phase of rapid deleveraging. After a record year for core earnings in fiscal 2022, we faced significant loss of exclusivity headwinds in 2023, making it a challenging year. The momentum of our growth and launch products is expected to largely offset the revenue impact of losses of exclusivity, predominantly from VYVANSE in the U.S. and AZILVA in Japan. However, year-over-year revenue and profit growth will also be impacted by lower expectations for coronavirus vaccines in Japan. In fiscal 2022, we booked almost ¥60 billion in revenue for Nuvaxovid and Spikevax, but we expect the contribution in fiscal 2023 to be minimal. On the OpEx line, we will stay disciplined to limit the margin impact from generic entry of VYVANSE and AZILVA, which are high-margin products. That said, we will not compromise on making the necessary investments in R&D and data and digital to secure long-term competitiveness. Lastly, but importantly, we are updating our capital allocation policy to reflect the achievement of our deleveraging target with the planned dividend increase, our first in 15 years, to underscore our confidence in the mid- to long-term growth outlook of the company. Slide 17 shows our results versus full-year guidance for fiscal 2022. We’re delighted with our performance as we delivered growth at a constant exchange rate at or above management guidance for revenue and profits. For core revenue, we achieved strong top-line growth of 3.5%, and at the high end of our guidance for low single-digit growth, driven by our growth and launch products, which more than offset the impact of VELCADE generics from May 2022. Core operating profit grew at 9.1%, also at the high end of our guidance range for high single-digit growth. This strong performance was driven by the expansion of high-margin products, coupled with our OpEx discipline to deliver operating leverage. For core EPS, I’m pleased to say we exceeded the guidance of high single-digit growth, growing at 13.9% at constant exchange rates, reflecting strong business performance and a more favorable core tax rate due to the recognition of previously unrecognized tax losses. Finally, on free cash flow, the Nimbus deal was not factored into our estimates when we gave a forecast of ¥650 billion to ¥750 billion at Q2 earnings, which itself was an upgrade from the initial guidance of ¥600 billion to ¥700 billion given in May last year. Including the Nimbus payment we made in Q4, free cash flow for fiscal 2022 was ¥446.2 billion. However, excluding Nimbus, it would have been ¥837.3 billion, well exceeding our forecast.

Christopher O’Reilly, Head of Investor Relations

I would like to take questions from the participants. In this Q&A session, we have Christophe, Andy, Costa, Ramona Sequeira, Global Portfolio Division President; Julie Kim, U.S. Business Unit President; Milano Furuta, Japan Pharma Business Unit President; Giles Platford, PDT Business Unit President; and Teresa Bitetti, Global Oncology Business Unit President, also on the panel. So the first question is from Yamaguchi-san, Citigroup.

Yamaguchi-san, Analyst, Citigroup

This is Yamaguchi from Citi. I would like to ask two questions. The first question is about March ‘24, but because March ‘24 is now very clear. Investors are interested in March ‘25 where the VYVANSE situation is getting much smaller, but still, there is. So do you see March ‘25 sales going to grow, I understand that. But will operating profit come back to growth as well? That’s the first question. The second question is about Nimbus products. Even though it has great data so far, do you see there is a need to add one more higher dose, like a 45-milligram per day, to boost up the efficacy because there is a good balance of efficacy and side effect? That’s the second question.

Christophe Weber, President and CEO

Thank you, Yamaguchi-san. It’s Christophe. If you look at our growth, it is very much impacted by VYVANSE, especially because it’s such a big product. We have modeled a very significant decline of VYVANSE starting in August 2023. There will still be an impact in fiscal year ‘24, but much less than in ‘23. That’s a big parameter we'll have to monitor moving forward. We expect to return to growth in the near term because we are not 100% sure about the VYVANSE decline. If it is as we have forecasted, we will bounce back in ‘24. But if, for example, the decline of VYVANSE is less in ‘23, more in ‘24, it could have an impact on our return to growth. But for sure, once VYVANSE is washed out, our growth and launch products are there as we continue to grow. We have much less exposure to generic until the introduction of biosimilars of ENTYVIO. So we will return to growth in revenue and profit, and our margin will start re-expanding towards the low to mid-30s as it is our goal.

Andrew Plump, R&D President

Thank you for your question, Yamaguchi-san. Regarding TAK-279 and dose ranging, we feel confident in the dose range that we have, specifically the 30-milligram dose, and we’re not intending to do additional dose ranging at this point in psoriasis. We believe that with the 30-milligram dose, we have a best-in-class molecule with a best-in-class dose. We do think in other indications based on the genetics of TYK2 biology and some preclinical studies, that there may be a need for higher exposures and activity in some diseases, for example, IBD. So, we’re considering additional dose ranging in other diseases. The biology is complex with TYK2, as you know. We’re talking about the inhibition of multiple pathways, many of which are quite difficult to measure in humans. We feel with the 30-milligram dose we have outstanding 24-hour coverage to support a best-in-class profile in psoriasis.

Tony Ren, Analyst, Macquarie

Thank you for the opportunity to pose this question. Congratulations on a set of very strong results and achieving your deleveraging target, slightly ahead of schedule. So, a couple of questions from me. The first one is on the TYK2 TAK-279 program. I just wanted to understand how many trials you’re planning to run? Looking at the slide here, it appears you are proposing two trials plus a head-to-head trial against an opponent likely, deucravacitinib. Can you clarify your thinking on that and perhaps offer some insight into the dosing strategy? Is the 30-milligram dose you're focusing on taking into your Phase III studies? Also, will you put TAK-279 under the GI business unit? Regarding your ENTYVIO subcu submission that you guys are handing to the U.S. FDA in April, I recall this application was rejected by the U.S. FDA related to the injection device back in 2019. How important do you think this will be for potentially delaying biosimilar competition?

Andrew Plump, R&D President

TAK-279 is our most heavily resourced program at this point. We have a project team with a focus on dermatology, inflammatory disorders, and exploring a range of additional disorders. In terms of the studies, we will run a substantive program this year with several Phase I studies to support registration across multiple indications. For psoriasis, we’ll start two Phase III studies this year and a head-to-head study around deucravacitinib next year. For psoriatic arthritis, we’re planning for a Phase III study to start early next year, based on favorable Phase IIb data. We aim to start Phase IIb studies in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and lupus this year. We intend to move forward with the 30-milligram dose, but it will require discussions with regulatory agencies before final decisions are made.

Julie Kim, U.S. Business Unit President

Regarding TAK-279 from a commercial perspective, we are confident in our ability to build the commercial capabilities to support TAK-279 when it is ready to launch in psoriasis. Besides, we believe there are significant opportunities for TAK-279 to expand our presence in IBD beyond ENTYVIO.

Costa Saroukos, CFO

Thank you, Tony. The FDA rejection in 2019 was indeed related to the device used for injection, not the product itself. This should not impact the timeline for biosimilar competition. We are very much looking forward to launching ENTYVIO subcutaneous in the U.S. based on our successes in other geographies.

Christophe O’Reilly, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Miki. For the final question, I would like to call on Miki Sogi from Bernstein.

Miki Sogi, Analyst, Bernstein

I have a couple of questions regarding TAK-279. On Page 19, you disclosed a high-level plan for your development program. Firstly, is the head-to-head study planned a superiority or non-inferiority study against deucravacitinib? Also, the duration of this study appears much longer than your other Phase III studies. Is this because of a longer duration or the size of the sample size that requires longer enrollment?

Andrew Plump, R&D President

We haven’t finalized the design of the head-to-head study. However, it's our intent to run the head-to-head study because we believe that TAK-279 is a superior molecule that we can demonstrate in a clinical study. Regarding the timeline, please do not look at just the graphic size, as it's not an indication of the study timeline. Those are general indicators for approximate start times.

Christopher O’Reilly, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you for your question. I’d like to bring today’s conference call to a close. Thank you very much, everybody, for participating today. If you have any follow-up questions, please reach out to the Investor Relations team. Thank you very much, and have a good evening or good day.