Annual Report 2022

Annual Report 2022

Strategy and Objectives

Company’s Strategies

Our goal is to deliver therapies that are first-in-class and best-in-class to patients suffering from serious autoimmune diseases for which a significant unmet medical need exists. We focus on attaining this goal in a manner that is disciplined for a company of our size. We plan to:

  • Execute our global launch. With the commercial launch of VYVGART as the first-and-only approved neonatal FcRn blocker in the U.S., Japan and the EU, we have already taken the first steps in executing our plans for a global launch for VYVGART for the treatment of gMG. We aim for further approvals in additional jurisdictions in the course of 2023. We have already built our commercial infrastructure to support the commercialization of VYVGART in the U.S., Europe and Japan as well as built out additional commercialization infrastructure to support other indications in certain of these key territories if and when new indications receive approval. In 2023, we expect VYVGART approvals in Canada in the third quarter of 2023, and in the PRC and Israel by the end of 2023. We also plan to launch VYVGART in France, Italy and the UK by the end of 2023 following review of each country’s respective reimbursement dossier.
  • Expand applications for our lead product efgartigimod. Our goal is to maximize the commercial potential of our existing products and product candidates by exploring additional indications, as well as formulations that may expand the target patient populations within existing indications. We are further developing our lead product, efgartigimod, to market regulatory approval for the treatment of gMG, ITP, PV, CIDP, BP, Myositis, PC-POTS, Primary SjS, MN, LN, TED, AV and AMR. We expand the use of our products and product candidates in existing indications by developing new formulations, such as an SC version of efgartigimod, that may reach more patient groups by capturing different patient preferences and providing additional optionality with regards to dosing. In this respect, we announced the acceptance of a BLA by the FDA with a PDUFA target action date of June 20, 2023 for SC efgartigimod in gMG patients.
  • Advance our pipeline of assets. In addition to new indications for efgartigimod, we plan to advance our other product candidates. In particular, we have advanced the clinical development of ARGX-117 in a Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trial in MMN and plan to advance in Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trials in DGF in the context of kidney transplants and DM. We have also advanced ARGX-119 into a Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy volunteers and plan to advance early-stage pipeline candidates as well as expand our pipeline of future product candidates through the IIP.
  • Leverage our suite of technologies to seek strategic collaborations and maximize the value of our pipeline. Our suite of technologies and productive discovery capabilities have yielded several potential product candidates for which we seek to capture value, while maintaining our focus and discipline. We plan to collaborate on product candidates that we believe have promising utility in disease areas or patient populations but fall outside our commercial franchises or are better served by the resources of larger biopharmaceutical companies. In addition to collaborating on our products and product candidates, we may also elect to enter into collaborations for access to partner technology platforms or capabilities from which we can develop differentiated potential pipeline assets.
  • Implement our “argenx 2025” vision. We hope to make efgartigimod globally available to patients across our four commercial franchises. We aspire to make efgartigimod either commercially available or in clinical development in fifteen active indications. We plan to make progress across our broader immunology pipeline with ARGX-117 in multiple late-stage clinical trials and demonstrate clinical proof-of-concept with ARGX-119. Finally, we will invest in the continued expansion of our differentiated pipeline through our IIP.
  • Continue to build innovation into every step of our development, highlighted by our collaborative IIP translating immunology breakthroughs into medicines. Our IIP is our core business strategy connecting the specialized insight into disease and target biology of our external scientific and academic collaborators with our unparalleled experience as antibody engineers. Co-creation has led to a deep pipeline of highly differentiated product candidates. Through the IIP, we hope to together transcend breakthrough research and publications to our ultimate and unifying mission of creating new potential treatment options for patients.

Trends

Other than as disclosed in section “Presentation of the Group” and “Risk Factors”, we are not aware of any trends, uncertainties, demands, commitments or events for the current financial period that are reasonably likely to have a material effect on our net revenues, income, profitability, liquidity, capital resources or prospects, or that caused the disclosed financial information to be not necessarily indicative of future operating results or financial conditions.

Following the approval of VYVGART for the treatment of gMG in the U.S. by the FDA on December 17, 2021, we transitioned from a clinical-stage to a commercial-stage biotechnology company, have commercialized VYVGART in the VYVGART Approved Countries and are working to expand commercialization in other jurisdictions, and to launch new products and product candidates, including new indications.

There has been no significant change in the financial performance or the financial position of the Group since the balance sheet date of December 31, 2022.

For more information, please refer to section “Presentation of the Group”, section “Risk Factors”, and to note 29 “Commitments” of our consolidated financial statements in section “Consolidated Financial Statements”.

Competitive Position

We participate in a highly innovative industry characterized by a rapidly growing under-standing of disease biology, quickly changing technologies, strong intellectual property barriers to entry, and a multitude of companies involved in the creation, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics. Many of these companies are highly sophisticated and often strategically collaborate with each other.

We compete with a wide range of biopharmaceutical companies, who are developing products for the treatment of gMG and other autoimmune diseases, including products that are in the same class as VYVGART, as well as products that are similar to some of our product candidates. We are aware of several FcRn inhibitors that are in clinical development. Competitive product launches may erode future sales of our products, including our existing products and those currently under development, or result in unanticipated product obsolescence. Such launches continue to occur, and potentially competitive products are in various stages of development. We could also face competition for use of limited international infusion sites, particularly in new markets as competitors launch new products. We cannot predict with accuracy the timing or impact of the introduction of competitive products that treat diseases and conditions like those treated by our products or product candidates. In addition, our competitors compete with us to recruit and retain qualified scientific and management personnel, establish clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, the development of our products.

Competition in the autoimmune field is intense and involves multiple monoclonal antibodies, other biologics and small molecules either already marketed or in development by many different companies including large pharmaceutical companies such as AbbVie (Humira/rheumatoid arthritis), Amgen, Inc. (Amgen) (Enbrel/rheumatoid arthritis), Biogen, Inc. (Tysabri/multiple sclerosis), GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) (Benlysta/lupus), F. Hoffman-La Roche AG (Roche) (Rituxan/often used off label) and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Janssen) (Remicade/rheumatoid arthritis and Stelara/psoriasis). In addition, these and other pharmaceutical companies have monoclonal antibodies or other biologics in clinical development for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

In addition to the current standard of care, we are aware that AstraZeneca PLC is selling Soliris and Ultomiris for the treatment of adult patients with gMG who are AChR-AB+ and that GSK, Roche, Novartis AG, CSL Behring, Grifols, S.A., BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc., Curavac, UCB S.A./RA Pharmaceuticals, Inc., DAS Therapeutics, Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, RemeGen Co, Immunovant, Inc., Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc., Horizon Therapeutics PLC, AstraZeneca PLC, Chugai/Genentech, Inc., Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc./Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Inc., among others, are developing drugs that may have utility for the treatment of myasthenia gravis (MG). Competitive product launches may erode future sales of our products, including our existing products and those currently under development, or result in unanticipated product obsolescence. Such launches continue to occur, and potentially competitive products are in various stages of development.

Our Competitive Strengths

We believe that the combination of our technologies, expertise and focus will enable us to overcome many of the challenges associated with antibody drug development and positions us to be a leader in delivering therapies to patients suffering from severe autoimmune, neuromuscular, hematology, dermatology and nephrology diseases for which the current treatment paradigm is inadequate.

Productive discovery capabilities through our IIP fuel a deep pipeline of clinical and preclinical product candidates. We are advancing a deep pipeline of both clinical- and preclinical-stage product candidates for the treatment of severe autoimmune diseases. Leveraging our technology suite and clinical expertise, we have advanced several candidates and believe this level of productivity affords us a breadth of options with regard to independently advancing or partnering our pipeline assets.

In November 2020, we announced the agreement to acquire an FDA Priority Review Voucher (PRV) from Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for $98.0 million. A PRV entitles the holder to FDA priority review of a single new drug application (NDA) or BLA, which reduces the target review time and may potentially lead to an expedited approval. During the third quarter of 2022, the Company utilized this PRV and submitted it with the BLA filing for SC efgartigimod for the treatment of gMG.

In November 2022, we announced an agreement to acquire a new PRV for $102 million, which we expect to redeem for a future marketing application for efgartigimod.