What better way for a drugmaker to tell Wall Street about the approval of a medication your company makes to fight mites in eyes than to ring the bell at Nasdaq?
Tarsus Pharmaceuticals Inc. Chief Executive Bobby Azamian and about 20 executives of the Irvine-based firm (Nasdaq: TARS) on Sept. 6 rang the closing bell at a studio overlooking Times Square.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Azamian told the Business Journal.
“You feel like you’re in the center of Wall Street. It was really, really cool.”
The company’s had a lot to celebrate in the past three months.
On July 25, the Food and Drug Administration approved Tarsus’ medication called Xdemvy, a name that stands for X-ing out the demodex blepharitis disease that can cause mites in eyes.
“To ring the bell with our team during our launch was very special,” Azamian said.
“We wanted to make it about celebrating our approval and our patients.”
Also present were Azamian’s parents as well as his wife, Blair, and their 6-week-old child, Auggie, who he quipped was probably “the youngest ever bell ringer.”
COVID-19 had canceled the company’s physical appearance at Nasdaq when it went public in 2020.
Teardrop Solution
Xdemvy, a teardrop administered twice a day for six weeks, is the only FDA medication approved to treat a disease that affects 25 million eye care patients in the U.S.
Tarsus’ shares had doubled since April in anticipation of approval of this new drug.
On July 31, Tarsus announced it would raise another $100 million. Alas, the market didn’t take kindly to the dilution of shares as its stock fell 23% in subsequent trading.
Since going public at $16 a share in 2020, the share price settled last week around $17.77 last week and a $531 million market cap.
On Aug. 10, the company announced second quarter results, saying it’s completed recruiting an 85-person sales force to target 15,000 optometrists and ophthalmologists.
Analysts are projecting sales to explode sevenfold next year to $55.6 million.
The company’s been on a hiring spree in the past year as it has more than doubled its headcount to 240.
On Aug. 24, the company announced the availability of Xdemvy in pharmacies for prescriptions.
“It’s early days—we’re feeling really good,” Azamian said. “We’re seeing a lot of strong interest.”
To keep the atmosphere light when selling medication for this ugly-looking disease, the drugmaker works to provide a fun environment by hosting events such as “Friday Night Mites” and its employees are called “Tarsans.”
It’s one of the reasons Tarsus in July was recognized in the Business Journal’s Best Places to Work in Orange County edition.
Lyme Trial
Tarsus focuses on diseases with high unmet need across a range of therapeutic categories, including eye care, dermatology, and infectious disease prevention.
Tarsus has a Phase 2a trial to study whether TP-03 can treat Meibomian Gland Disease. It also has Phase 2a trials to study whether its TP-04 can treat Rosacea and if its TP-05 oral tablet can prevent Lyme disease.
All three trials should have early results by the end of the year, he said.
Azamian said the Lyme tablet has “captured a lot of imagination” since it affects about 500,000 Americans, with another 30 million at risk.
“Tarsus is unique because we’re creating new categories,” Azamian said. “We want to bring products to address diseases that don’t have solutions.
