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The Company
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
The Company  
The Company

 

1. The Company

        PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (the Company or PTC) was incorporated as a Delaware corporation on March 31, 1998. PTC is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of orally administered, small molecule therapeutics targeting an area of RNA biology referred to as post-transcriptional control. The letters "PTC" in the corporate name are an acronym for post-transcriptional control processes, which are the regulatory events that occur in cells during and after a messenger RNA is copied from DNA through the transcription process. The Company has discovered all of its compounds currently under development using its proprietary technologies. The Company plans to continue to develop these compounds both on its own and through selective collaboration arrangements with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The Company believes that systematically targeting post-transcriptional control processes represents an unexploited approach to drug discovery and development. The Company's internally discovered pipeline addresses multiple therapeutic areas, including rare disorders and oncology.

        On the evening of February 22, 2016, the Company received a Refuse to File letter from the United States Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, regarding its New Drug Application, or NDA, for its lead product, Translarna™ (ataluren), for the treatment of nonsense mutation Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or nmDMD. The FDA stated in the Refuse to File letter that the NDA was not sufficiently complete to permit a substantive review. Specifically, the Company was notified in the letter that, in the view of the FDA, both the Phase 2b and Phase 3 ACT DMD trials were negative and do not provide substantial evidence of effectiveness. Additionally, the FDA stated that the Company had proposed a post-hoc adjustment of ACT DMD that eliminates data from a majority of enrolled patients. In addition, the FDA noted that the NDA does not contain adequate information regarding the abuse potential of Translarna. While other comments and requests are noted in the letter, as items to be addressed if the NDA is resubmitted the FDA specified that they were not related to its refusal to file the NDA.

        Translarna received marketing authorization from the European Commission, or EC, in August 2014 for the treatment of nmDMD in ambulatory patients age 5 years and over in the 31 member states of the European Economic Area, or EEA. nmDMD is a rare, life threatening disorder. The marketing authorization was primarily based upon the safety and efficacy results of our 48-week, 174-patient Phase 2b double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial evaluating the long-term safety and efficacy of Translarna in patients with nmDMD completed in 2009, or the Phase 2b trial.

        The Company's authorization in the EEA is subject to annual review and renewal by the EC following reassessment by the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, of the risk benefit balance of the authorization, which we refer to as the annual EMA reassessment. This marketing authorization was further conditioned on the Company's ability to complete its global, confirmatory Phase 3 clinical trial in nmDMD, which the Company refers to as ACT DMD, and submit the final report, including additional efficacy and safety data from the trial. The Company submitted this final report to the EMA in January 2016 and requested that the condition to our marketing authorization be removed. The Company expects that the EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, or CHMP, will issue a recommendation regarding this request in mid-2016.

        In June 2014, the Company initiated a reimbursed expanded access program, or EAP program, for Translarna for nmDMD patients in selected territories in the EEA and recorded its first sales of Translarna in the third quarter of 2014 pursuant to the EAP program. In December 2014, the Company recorded its first commercial sales in Germany. As of December 31, 2015, Translarna was available in 17 countries on a commercial basis or pursuant to the EAP program. The Company expects to expand its launch activities across the EEA pursuant to the marketing authorization granted by the EMA throughout 2016 and future years, subject to continued renewal of its marketing authorization following annual EMA reassessments and successful completion of pricing and reimbursement negotiations. Concurrently, the Company plans to continue to pursue EAP programs in select countries where those mechanisms exist, both within the EEA and in other countries.

        In October 2015, the Company announced results from ACT DMD, including that the trial did not meet the primary efficacy endpoint of change from baseline at week 48 in distance walked in the 6-minute walk test, or 6MWT, which the Company also refers to as six-minute walk distance, or 6MWD, in the overall intent-to-treat, or ITT, study population, as it showed a 15 meter benefit (p=0.213) in favor of Translarna compared to placebo, which was not statistically significant. Analyses of data from pre-specified subgroups, including patients with baseline 6MWD of 300 - 400 meters, was also conducted. A pre-specified meta-analysis was also performed of combined data from the ACT DMD and ambulatory decline phase patients from the Company's randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, Phase 2b clinical trial evaluating the long-term safety and efficacy of Translarna in patients with nmDMD, or the Phase 2b trial.

        During 2015, the Company's revenues have been and are expected to be primarily generated from sales of Translarna in counties in the EEA where pricing and reimbursement approval is obtained at acceptable levels and in other territories where the Company is permitted to distribute Translarna under reimbursed early access programs, or EAPs. The Company is subject to a number of risks similar to those of other early stage companies, including dependence on key individuals, the difficulties inherent in the development of commercially usable products, the potential need to obtain additional capital necessary to fund the development of its products, and competition from other companies. As of December 31, 2015, the Company had an accumulated deficit of approximately $593.0 million. The Company has financed its operations to date primarily through the private offering in August 2015 of 3.00% convertible senior notes due 2022 (see Note 6), public offerings of common stock in February 2014 and October 2014, its initial public offering of common stock in June 2013, private placements of its convertible preferred stock, collaborations, bank debt, convertible debt financings, grant funding and clinical trial support from governmental and philanthropic organizations and patient advocacy groups in the disease area addressed by the Company's product candidates.