2018 Annual Report
2018 ANNUAL REPORT Dear Stockholders, 2018 was a transformational year for Catalyst with the approval of Firdapse® (amifampridine phosphate) tablets, the first and only evidence-based, FDA approved treatment for adult patients suffering from Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS). This approval means that all LEMS patients (and not just a few) now have affordable access to Firdapse®. It also represents the successful culmination of many years of hard work and effort by our company. 2018 was further marked by our efforts to prepare for the commercial launch of Firdapse®, as we spent the second half of 2018 building our sales and marketing team, our market access/reimbursement operations, and our patient education and support programs. On January 15, 2019, we launched Firdapse® in the U.S., marketing the product through a field force with extensive experience with neuromuscular, central nervous system, or rare diseases products. Our team includes specialists in patient assistance, insurance navigation support, and payer reimbursement support. We also have a field-based force of medical science liaisons who are helping educate the medical community and patients about LEMS, the clinical benefits of Firdapse® in treating adult LEMS patients, and about our company’s ongoing clinical trial activities. Further, we work closely with several rare disease advocacy organizations (including Global Genes, the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), and the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America) to help increase awareness and the level of support for patients living with LEMS, Congenital Myasthenic Syndromes (CMS) and MuSK antibody positive myasthenia gravis (MuSK-MG). In order to help patients afford their medication, we, like other pharmaceutical companies who are marketing drugs for ultra-orphan conditions, have developed an array of financial assistance programs that are available to reduce patient co-pays and deductibles to a nominal affordable amount.
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