Dr. David Chang
Thank you, Christine, and in many thanks to all of you for joining today’s call. When we launched Allogene in May 2018, we understood that our mission to reinforce a new generation of CAR T products was an important one. Like other industry pioneers, we knew that along our journey, we might face many obstacles that our progress would be marked by several first-in-class milestones and that a scientific approach to decision-making would guide us on the best path to success. Most of all, we knew that our compass has to be standard on doing right for patients. This is why each year on the company’s founding university we celebrate Patient Day at Allogene. This year, we will honor to have two patients join us live at our headquarters, one who received ALLO-501 for the treatment of relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and one who received ALLO-715 for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, each of whom continues in long-term response. They both spoke eloquently of their own journey with cancer, their decision to place their trust in Allogene and the impact that our AlloCAR T product candidates have had on their lives. Why do I mention this? We often get questions about our stock price weakness. Yes, the market is challenging. Yes, cell therapy stocks are temporarily out of favor. And yes, many of us in the industry find it frustrating that progress is not always rewarded in real time. But during times like this, it helps to remember that best marker of success is not necessarily a stock price, rather it is the impact companies in our sector are having on patients. We at Allogene not only have the confidence in the clinical data sets that we have delivered, but know that we are on the right path by having look into the eyes of patients who are with us today because of our investigational products. The two patients I met earlier this week are living proof of Allogene’s success. As we hear their stories, we also hear the growing rumble of this content around the inability of autologous CAR T therapies to satisfy patient demand. By 2030, it is estimated that 300,000 patients with lymphoma or myeloma will be eligible for an autologous CAR T therapy as it moves to earlier lines. Only a few on estimated 10% will be able to receive treatment, yet achieving even that goal will require 30,000 individual manufacturing ones. Last year, based on the reported sales, 6,000 to 7,000 runs were required, which along strained the system. We are keenly aware that shareholder interest is best served by bringing AlloCAR T products to the market as soon as possible, but the real sense of urgency that we feel originates from many patients who are on the sidelines today waiting their turn. In contrast to autologous cell therapies, patients in our trials don’t have to wait on the sidelines. They are able to start treatment within days of enrollment and without the need of undergoing bridging therapy, which often comes with marginal benefit, but with toxicities. Treatment consists of a onetime infusion of cells, free of hassle and inconvenience of having to return to the clinic for treatment again and again, and would ask the cumulative toxicities that often comes with lengthy chronic therapy. AlloCAR T is unique in its ability to potentially provide a onetime off-the-shelf product capable of achieving long-term remissions. As we march towards our goal of a BLA submission for ALLO-501A upon completion of the ALPHA2 trial and evaluate manufacturing process across our BCMA candidates to achieve optimal clinical performance, I am particularly excited to welcome Tim Moore to Allogene as our new Chief Technical Officer. Tim was my colleague at Kite and he was trusted to deliver CAR T products for every patient we enrolled in clinical studies and post-approval. As the Executive Vice President of Technical Operations, he oversaw the global development of the most commercially successful Autolus CAR T manufacturing processes in the industry. More importantly, he successfully navigated the complex CMC processes for the BLA submission of YESCARTA that led to an on-time approval of YESCARTA and Kite’s commercial manufacturing facility. He is a true pioneer who define operational strategy to reduce manufacturing risk and mitigate supply chain challenges inherent to engineered cell therapy. His joining Allogene is a recognition that the only way to deliver CAR T at scale and in a timely manner is through an allogeneic approach. Of course, to get to a BLA, we need to execute on clinical development, which is