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Operator
Good morning. My name is Ashley and I will be your conference operator today. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to the United Therapeutics Corporation second-quarter 2014 financial results conference call.
(Operator Instructions)
Remarks today concerning the United Therapeutics Corporation will include forward-looking statements representing the Company's expectations or beliefs regarding future events. The Company cautions that such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
Please see the Company's latest Forms 10-K and 10-Q and subsequent filings with the SEC for additional information on these risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that the actual results, events or developments referenced in these statements will occur or be realized. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, new information or changes in underlying assumptions.
Today's remarks are intended to educate investors about the Company. This may include reporting on the progress and results of clinical trials or other developments with respect to the Company's products. Today's remarks are not intended to promote the Company's products, to suggest that they are safe or effective for use other than the consistent with FDA-approved labeling, or to provide all available information regarding the products, their risks or related clinical trial results.
Anyone seeking information regarding the use of one of the Company's products should consult the full prescribing information for the product available on the Company's website at www.unither.com.
Thank you. Dr. Rothblatt, you may begin.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Thank you very much, operator. Good morning, everybody. I'm pleased to welcome everybody to our second-quarter 2014 financial results conference call. And I am joined on this call by our Chief Financial Officer, John Ferrari; our President and Chief Operating Officer, Roger Jeffs; and our Chief Strategy Officer and individual who oversees all of intellectual property at the Company, Mr. Andrew Fisher.
So let me start off by highlighting the numbers for you. Total revenues for the quarter were just shy of $323 million. Earnings per share were $2.35 per basic share. And non-GAAP earnings were $2.57 per basic share. Our continued growth shows that our medicines are reaching increasing numbers of patients suffering from pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Notably the commercial launch this quarter of our extended release tablets called Orenitram harkens an opportunity to bring prostacyclin-based medicine to more patients in the US than ever before. Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, by providing them with a less invasive route of administration than our prostacyclin infusion therapy called Remodulin.
So with these introductory remarks I would now like to open the lines to any questions. I'll field the question if I'm the right person, or otherwise I'll direct the question to either Roger, John or Andy as appropriate. Operator, could you please begin the questions?
Operator
(Operator Instructions)
Mark Schoenebaum, ISI Group.
Unidentified Participant - Analyst
Hey, Martine, this is Salim in for Mark. I hope you are well.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Salim, yes, it sounds like you are the first person on Jeopardy to push the button.
Unidentified Participant - Analyst
(laughter) That sounds good.
Mark Schoenebaum - Analyst
Martine, this is Mark. I actually push the button. I have the faster trigger finger. Go ahead, Salim. (laughter)
Unidentified Participant - Analyst
On Orenitram, Martine, we heard there's some data out there on the TID. Could you describe it and tell us what you think about it? And perhaps relative to the BID data?
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
That's a very good clinical question, Salim, and I'm going to ask Roger to address it. Roger, are you on the line and able to talk about some of the clinical differences between TID and BID?
Roger Jeffs - President and COO
Sure. Good morning, Salim. Good morning, Mark. We have recently published, or presented, a pharmacokinetics study in patients where we looked at TID kinetics versus BID kinetics. It does what one would expect and one would not, on that it quote-unquote flattens out the kinetic profile and the plasma exposure that patients see with trepostinil delivered orally via Orenitram. What that has imparted it seems in some early data, and we're still evolving this, is that by diminishing the peak to trough ratio that the tolerability profile is improved.
So what we're seeing now, both in our open label extension study that we are closing, and in the initial commercial experience, is that physicians are tending toward a TID regimen as an initial therapeutic regimen for their patients. One, to improve tolerability. And then secondarily, to improve the ability to dose escalate and get to a therapeutic dosing level.
So again, anecdotes, we're collecting information on this and certainly want to prove that the safety profile is improved. And we want to look and explore the dose escalation profile over time with TID.
But the early initial commercial experience at least, is that the TID regimen is better tolerated, if you will. Again, I don't have data to support the word better, but that seems to be the preferred regimen to start new patients on, both as a new (technical difficulty).
Mark Schoenebaum - Analyst
Roger, just a follow up. Is the dose achieved in patients higher or lower with TID versus BID overall? Thank you.
Roger Jeffs - President and COO
That's a great question, Mark. And again, that something we're trying to explore. We're not sure. So I think the total daily dose, what seems to be happening in the initial experience, is that the amount of drug given is the same. It's just given TID instead of BID.
So what that then imparts is a 50% increase in the total daily dosage. Basically just fills that inter-day gap, or trough, that would occur if we gave it BID. So what that's going to impart from a revenue standpoint, obviously, is a 50% bump in the revenue that each patient would bring.
We don't have enough data yet to say that over time that results in a higher total daily dose if administered TID, other than the fact that it's going to give you a 50% bump because you're filling that midday trough. It's a good question, something we're keen to explore.
At the end of the day, there are three things we want with Orenitram. We want as many patients as possible to benefit from the drug that are appropriate for that therapy. We want the dose to be tolerated, because the more patients on therapy drive revenue, as does the duration of that therapy.
And then the depth of prescriptions at the center. So the better experience that the physicians have with starting patients, and the tolerability, then the more patient starts will occur. So really it's really dose and duration and numbers that are going to drive the performance of Orenitram. Early data suggests that TID is what physicians are preferring. But there are also patients on BID regimen that are very happy with that regimen.
So we're not certainly forcing that TID regimen upon anybody. But it seems to be what at least physicians in the know are tending towards at this point. And it's something that patients seem to be very compliant with as well, which is the other important aspect of a TID regimen. Can it be complied with? And it seems to be that that is the case, given these patients are experienced with multiple regimens of therapy already.
Mark Schoenebaum - Analyst
Thanks so much from Salim and I.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Thanks, Salim; thanks, Mark; thanks, Roger. Operator, next question.
Operator
Phil Nadeau, Cowen & Company.
Philip Nadeau - Analyst
Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I wanted to ask about the IP situation.
Could you give us an update on the Sandoz trial? When do you expect to hear a verdict in that trial? In particular, how are the Orange Book-listed patents that aren't being litigated by Sandoz going to be handled in the case should you lose the current trial?
And also we saw in your 10-Q this morning that Teva filed an ANDA. Could you give us some understanding of the timelines in that patent trial? Thanks.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Sure, Phil. We have fortunately Andy Fisher on the phone. Andy sat through every day of that trial and handles all the issues, so there's no better responder to your question. Andy?
Andrew Fisher - CSO
Thanks, Martine. So with respect to the Sandoz trial, the trial itself concluded in mid-June. The judge indicated that he planned to issue a decision sometime in the near future.
The 30-month stay in the case expires next week. That has less relevance now that Sandoz, as you know, dropped one patent from the case, 222 patents expiring in October. So that patent has less relevance, or that 30-month stay, has less relevance given the existence of that patent being unchallenged.
That said, we do expect a decision in the near future. So stay tuned on that front.
As far as what happened after that decision, obviously that would require a lot of speculation to know what the decision is going to hold. There are three additional Orange Book listed patents for Remodulin, two of which relate to the use of the Flolan Diluent, much like the 007 patent that was litigated in the case. And the third of the unchallenged Orange Book patents is what we call the 393 patent, which is a product-by-process patent similar to the 117 patent that was litigated in the current case.
Last week we received a Paragraph IV certification from Sandoz on the 393 patent which expires in December of 2028. And we're currently evaluating that notification. But otherwise, with respect to the next step, obviously everything is driven by what the court's decision is in the case that's already been litigated.
You also pointed out that Teva has filed an ANDA for Remodulin. We received Paragraphs IV notification associated with that ANDA filing last week.
The notification indicated that Teva intends to launch the product covered by their ANDA prior to the expiration of both the 117 patent, which is the product-by-process patent expiring in November 2017. As well as the 393 patent, which I just was discussing with respect to Sandoz, that expires in December 2028.
The certification did not address the other Orange Book listed patents. So again, we're studying that notification and determining what our next steps will be with respect to Teva.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Thanks, Andy, great answer. If I could just give a strategic overview to complement Andy's excellent patent-by-patent analysis there.
Our company's position continues to be that the experience of any generic entry into the Remodulin space will not be any different than the generic entry into the Flolan space. There's no logical difference between Flolan, which is our main competitor for Remodulin, and Remodulin. They're both parenterally delivered prostacyclin through an ex-vivo pump.
Teva has had a generic in the Flolan space for at least three years now. And in each of those three years, Teva has not been able to discuss the information how we've seen, been able to capture more than 3% a year of Flolan's business with their generic epoprostenol version of Flolan.
And by the way, that's with Glaxo fielding no sales force on behalf of Flolan at all. So we really fail to see why there's going to be any difference in the situation between Flolan and Remodulin. And whatever the outcome of the patent lawsuit is, we think that Teva would not be able to capture any more than the 2% to 3% of Remodulin revenues that they had been able to capture with regard to Flolan.
Now on top of that, you've got a very dynamic market situation going on, where we ourselves as the innovator, continue to innovate. In this case we're innovating Remodulin first of all in the direction of implantable Remodulin, where we have an exclusive arrangement with Medtronic.
I have not yet heard of a Remodulin patient who would not prefer to be on implantable Remodulin. That's a market I do not believe that Teva would be able to address, even at the 2% or 3% annual generic level.
Secondly, more and more patients on Remodulin are going to be going on to what is increasingly called oral Remodulin, although the real name for it is Orenitram. That's our same pharmaceutical ingredient, as beautifully described by Roger a few moments ago, taken orally. When taken orally TID, the PK is beginning to look pretty damn similar to Remodulin.
That's yet another -- and that has five listed patents covering it, going out to the late 2020s. So that's yet another protection of that portion of our revenues, I think, are going to increasingly go from the Remodulin bucket over to the Orenitram bucket.
And then finally, we are developing two different late-stage labels, with the Free to Be Me study of Orenitram kept at TID in combination with ETRA PD5s and our BEAT pistol study testing beraprost 314d in combination with Tyvaso, which we believe both will result in -- our goal is certainly to have both of them provide morbidity and mortality superiority information.
So in three different ways, I think even in the best case Teva is going to end up with an empty bag. And in the most -- based on historical data, the only thing that's directly comparable to Flolan, they would be able to claw about 2% to 3% of Remodulin revenues per year.
Next question please?
Operator
Terence Flynn, Goldman Sachs.
Unidentified Participant - Analyst
Hi, thanks for the question. This is [LeAnn] for Terence. To follow up on the Orenitram launch, can you provide a little bit more details on how many patients are on the drug so far?
Where are the patients coming from? And also an impact of inventory? And then could you also split the reported sales? The percentage of it that are coming from transition from Remodulin and Tyvaso? Thanks.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Thank you for the question, but we're not going to be able to provide answers on any of those questions. One, it's too new in the launch. Two, we never provide that kind of patient breakdown information. And I think if you really ask that question again about 12 months from now, we will have more of a baseline to provide more information.
Next question please?
Operator
Robyn Karnauskas, Deutsche Bank
Unidentified Participant - Analyst
Great, thanks. Congratulations on a good quarter. This is Mohit for Robyn. I have a question regarding on your SG&A expenses.
It seems like your SG&A expenses increased substantially in the second quarter. Could you please help us understand the drivers here? And how should we think about it for the rest of the year? And I have a follow-up with that.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Thank you. Unfortunately there are so many people in the queue that we will not be able to take the follow-up question. But we will give you a first-class answer on the first question, direct from our Chief Financial Officer, John Ferrari. John?
John Ferrari - CFO
Thank you, Martine. SG&A expenses did increase during the quarter, actually if you look, quarter year over year. Half that increase related to our legal and consulting expenses for the Sandoz litigation and responding to the subpoena for the OIG investigation also.
As the Company grows, our headcount has grown over the year. So there's some increase, a small portion of that is related to salary and benefits and related expenses to that.
We are also providing each quarterly, at various times during the year, grants to a nonprofit non-affiliated organization that helps patients meet out of pocket expenses for prescriptions. As the number of patients on our therapy has increased we've also increased our donations to that organization on it.
So that's a high level kind of why the expenses have gone up year over year. We also had the marketing expenses related to the Orenitram launch during Q2, which made, I won't say it's a one-time thing, but the bulk of that probably hit in the second quarter and then will continue at a slower pace for the rest of the year.
It's hard to give guidance on some of the items because, for example, professional fees or legal fees related to the Sandoz litigation, and the OIG investigation. Until we hear what happens with the outcome about the trial, it's hard to give any guidance on what the level of expenses will be in the future.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Thanks, John. That definitely was a great first-class answer. The only thing I may add to that is to say, again from a strategic perspective, our Company is very cognizant of the overall importance of shareholder value. In that regard, we try to run as lean and efficient a shop as possible.
One area on the P&L forecast going forward that is definitely going to look much brighter, is the 10% royalty that we have paid to Glaxo on Treprostinil since our very first revenue, ends this year. So we no longer have to pay 10%, which is of course a huge chunk of money.
Probably one of the best out-license deals that Glaxo ever did. Last year alone upwards of $100 million straight to their bottom line. But we don't have to do that anymore after this year. And that's going to translate directly to improvement in profit and operating margin.
I think the timing is also really fortuitous. It did frankly as CEO, pain me a bit to be writing these humongous checks to Glaxo year after year when they weren't doing anything. What I'm happy about is that now that the revenue potential for Treprostinil is greater than ever with the approval of Orenitram, those will not be hurt by the 10% Glaxo royalty.
And as I've mentioned on previous calls, I believe that Orenitram is going to be one of the major factors pulling us to $2 billion in revenues by the end of this decade. It's really nice to see that that additional $1 billion from Orenitram will not be burdened by the royalty, nor will be Remodulin or Tyvaso revenues, going forward be burdened by the royalty. So I think that factor alone far outstrips the increase in legal expenses and headcount expenses and donation expenses that John referred to.
Next question please.
Operator
Michael Yee, RBC Capital Markets.
Michael Yee - Analyst
Hey, Martine, thanks. My question is on your cash, $760 million. I know you've been buying back some stock.
Where in your priority list is building out the pipeline in licensing? Remodulin has been fantastic but considering building out more stuff outside of Remodulin, better synergistic. How do you think about doing more business development?
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Great question; nice to hear you on the line as well. So the way we approach these questions strategically is very broad for us in that we allocate about half of our budget, half of our cash, to growing shareholder value operationally through products which we already have and are in our pipeline. We've got two Phase III studies that we're moving forward in that direction.
We have two products that are post Phase III that we're moving through the regulatory phase right now, that are pediatric oncology product, monoclonal antibodies for neuroblastoma, and the implantable Remodulin pump product, the joint deal with Medtronic. And then we have the early-stage products in Phase I.
The one that I think is perhaps most transformative, is our cell therapy product. As I know you know from being a keen observer of the industry. I think most people would feel that the cell therapy is the mAbs of like the last decade, like 10, 15 years ago there really were scarcely any approved monoclonal antibodies. Now they are becoming a mature product class.
Cell therapy is there today and where mAbs were 10 years ago. We are pouring significant resources into advancing our cell therapies forward for pulmonary hypertension. The one which I think you probably may be most familiar with is our license of Pluristem's cell therapy product for pulmonary hypertension. And I'm not completely sure if we previously announced, but that's now dosing patients in Phase I.
Another Phase I program that is moving forward, and frankly entered into patient dosing since the last conference call, is our antiviral product. This product is called UV-4, uniform victor four. It is a broad spectrum antiviral immune sugar that should be effective against any vicos-related virus.
We've chosen to develop it first against a dengue virus in an effort which is partly funded by us, partly funded by the NIH. That has begun patient dosing.
So we've got these quite transformative products in Phase I, the broad-spectrum antiviral, the cell therapy. And then up the other side we're about to launch into pediatric oncology, and our first implantable products, in this case an implantable pump product with Medtronic.
Now the other half of our cash is what we categorize as building shareholder value through non-operational means. By non-operational means, I pretty much mean two things. A, buying back shares; and B, buying other companies or end-licensing key products.
With regard to buying back shares, we previously announced our largest share buyback ever. This is certainly one of the largest share buybacks that a company of our size has ever done in the biotech space. And we have to wait like a couple of weeks until all the legal clearances are in place. But I think that's happening in real-time right now. I would expect imminently, in a matter of a couple weeks or so, the share buybacks pursuant to that authorization will begin.
And then in terms of buying other companies and end-licensing key products, you said the magic word, Mike, when you mentioned synergistic. We are keenly interested, and we feel increasingly confident, in the pediatric orphan space.
This is a space where we began with United Therapeutics. My own father has hypertension, was less than 10 years old and we started the Company and it was with that pediatric focus.
We've done well in the development period and hopefully we'll be able to launch by Christmas, if not shortly thereafter, in the pediatric oncology space. So we've developed a lot of good expertise there and that scenario where we are interested in acquiring companies or technologies to build shareholder value.
Also, of course, related products in the pulmonary space. It's been exciting to see any move forward with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. But as I say, most people are aware, their product like our products for pulmonary hypertension, are not cures.
What the market really wants is a cure for these conditions. So if we can find good assets that would be effective against pulmonary fibrosis, that would be another key target for deployment of our capital to build shareholder value.
Michael Yee - Analyst
Thank you, that's very helpful, Martine. I appreciate that.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Sure thing. Next question please.
Operator
Liana Moussatos, Wedbush.
Liana Moussatos - Analyst
Thank you. You haven't mentioned TransCon trepostinil. Can you talk about the status of that?
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Yes, Liana, thanks. TransCon trepostinil for the other people on the line, this was a pre-clinical program that we end-licensed that promised the ability to provide a once-daily injection of Remodulin that would provide the same level of pharmacokinetics as a continuous infusion of Remodulin.
Recently we decided to terminate that program before going into Phase I clinical trial for business reasons. The main thrust of those businesses reasons are that with the advent of the implantable pump from Medtronic, and the attractiveness and certainly the approval, with a specific mention of Remodulin transition with regard to Orenitram, the business space for the TransCon product was just about -- the amount of light there was just about blinking out.
So harkening the previous couple questions with our normal eye on the bottom line, as well as building shareholder value, for business reasons we had to terminate that program.
Liana Moussatos - Analyst
Thank you.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Next question please.
Operator
Yun Yang, Jefferies.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Mr. Yang?
Operator
Please check your mute button. Okay, we'll move on to the next one.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Operator, this would be the last one, it being five minutes after the time.
Operator
Geoff Meacham, JPMorgan
Geoff Meacham - Analyst
Good morning, guys, thanks for taking the question. Martine, you mentioned Orenitram in the adoption. Want to get a sense for what it in you guys are in, with respect to the launch from an expense perspective, from a commercial investment perspective. Then real quick to get your perspective on Selexipag and what that means to either new starts or switches from United Products. Thanks.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Thanks. Two very insightful questions. I think the best person on the call to address both those questions would be Doctor Jeffs.
As you know, he led the Orenitram development. Going to make him blush here a little bit. For 15 years all the gurus in the field thought that a sustained release prostacyclin analog delivered orally was impossible, trepostinil in particular with its 45-minute half-life. Dr. Jeffs proved them wrong. He deserves enormous credit.
I think with no hyperbole, it is really a modern miracle that a pill that Glaxo, Pfizer and every other big company thought was actually impossible, is now known not only possible, approved and prescribed by leading physicians.
It is a modern miracle in our biotech space. So there's nobody better to speak about it and the comparisons with Selexipag than with Doctor Jeffs. Roger?
Roger Jeffs - President and COO
Thanks, Martine. Hi, Geoff, good morning. With regard to Orenitram launch, we're in the very early stages of that launch. We just launched officially in June.
Certainly, we've tried to keep an initial focus on key experts for high-volume prostacyclin users. So we want to really focus on those experts in the field of prostacyclin use. One of those reasons is they're going to be early adopters, which they've shown to be.
They are able to use Orenitram effectively. Some of whom have had clinical trial experience, so they're very comfortable with the therapy already. And some of whom are new to the use, even though they are experts in the field.
Given the fact that experience has done so positively, we are actually going to quickly expand our targeting to a much broader audience of what we'll call community prescribers. These are physicians that have a lot of oral therapy use, but don't have a lot of prostacyclin history in their prescribing patterns. So there's a large target market that really is the opportunity that Orenitram presents in terms of a growth opportunity for United Therapeutics.
That's kind of where we are going to start that second phase of our launch in mid August and we're excited about that. I think we have a period of time, upwards of a year and a half or so, to have that market to ourselves before Actelion has the opportunity to file and possibly get Selexipag approved. So that's a period where we can gain traction in the market broadly.
We're also offering a lot of unique programs around payor systems, both co-pay cards to help with co-pay costs. We have an assist hub center that we manage internally that is a centralized referral team to help patients explore coverage and reimbursement options. And then we have a patient-assistance program to help eligible patients receive their therapy at no cost if they cannot afford the therapy, which is something that we've always done with all of our therapies.
You also mentioned Selexipag and what does it mean. From my own scientific perspective, I've had to do some forensics on this because very little data was presented. In June, Actelion hosted a conference call on their GRIPHON study and announced their top-line results, which in a study that enrolled 1,156 patients who were treated on average for 4.3 years, they stated a relative risk reduction in morbidity-mortality of 39%.
But I think as important as what they did say, is what they didn't say. So if you look at how that endpoint is defined, it was death, hospitalization, or worsening walk defined by two walks of decrements of 15%.
So they have not provided what the impact on death or hospitalization is, which then makes me curious, is this really just a longer-term walk study dressed up as a morbidity-mortality study? And when that data gets presented, particularly to regulatory authorities, will that get undressed quite a bit?
So for example, to claim that you have a morbidity-mortality impact when in fact all you have is a walk study in a different manner, I think is a totally different product profile than what has been claimed to date. Again, I think the data that is forthcoming will have to bear on that.
One thin Martine noted in her early comments was that Orenitram is upwardly titratable. We know from the Selexipag study that there's only an eight-fold difference in doses from beginning to end and there's a dose ceiling.
Historically for prostacyclins, that's a very small, what I'd call, therapeutic threshold for titration. And I would wonder what's the durability of therapy as patients begin to hit that upper dose ceiling.
So again, another question to answer. Another question would be what is the size of the walk second? And this is critically important. I want to make sure people understand this.
So if their six-minute walk effect is small, and they had several dose groups, it's going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to show a dose response. What that will make it very difficult for that therapy to have done, is to be dosed because physicians won't know how to dose it. And if patients aren't improving, they won't know if the patient is benefiting from that therapy long-term.
And really maybe all they've shown is not an improvement in the patient, but they've slowed the rate of decline. But we know physicians want to see patients get better when they give them a therapy. We've seen this with Orenitram. The active group in the monotherapy study improved by 25 meters. We saw improving walks at week 4, week 8 and week 12. So the walk benefit is very visible with Orenitram. And then the therapy can be upwardly titratable to match the disease progression, which again, this hasn't been presented by Actelion for Selexipag.
But I just caution investors and physicians and patients that not to get too excited until we really understand that data set. From my early look, if what's driving the morbidity-mortality endpoint is prevention of a decline in walk of 15%, then clearly with a 39% reduction in that, basically, walk decline, clearly they should have had a very robust improved end walk. But the fact that it wasn't reported suggests that the event rates are probably low and that the walk effect in the active group is small.
Again I'm making some forensic analyses here, but I think I would just caution everyone not to get too excited about that. And I think that our competitive profile is going to be very favorable, in fact.
Martine Rothblatt - Chairman & CEO
Thanks, Roger. Thank you very much for that answer. To wrap up the conference call, we've had another excellent quarter here at United Therapeutics. The future continues to look very good and strong.
The launch of Orenitram exceeded our initial expectation, as Roger said. We're going to be rapidly expanding it. Roger pointed out that the six-minute walk distance for Orenitram was 25 meter.
By the way, that is significantly better than the six-minute walk that was reported from the clinical trial of Tyvaso. And significantly better than the six-minute walk distance reported for the clinical trial of Remodulin.
Tyvaso and Remodulin, in the three years after their launch, went on to become the most prescribed drugs in the inhaled and parenteral parts of the pulmonary hypertension market, respectively. I definitely expect the same outcome to occur with regard to Orenitram in the oral prostacyclin category.
The market overall for pulmonary hypertension is actually growing now. That's a result of the fact that mean survival has now significantly exceeded five years. It's being reported variously at 7 to 10 years.
At that level of average survival, plus the new incidence of pulmonary hypertension patients, the total overall market begins to grow at about 10% a year. It's now crossing over 30,000 diagnosed and treated patients. I expect during the course of Orenitram's prescribed life, the number of pulmonary hypertension patients will actually double to exceed 60,000.
So we're well placed to take advantage of this with the launch of Orenitram. Our two Phase III studies of additional oral prostanoid treatment modality. And then the diversity of our portfolio can be seen with the hopeful launch not later than next year, of our first pediatric oncology drug, chimeric monoclonal antibody 14.18. And with the recent commencement of Phase I dosing of our antiviral drugs on dengue disease.
Thank you, everybody, for your attention this morning. And look forward to seeing you at upcoming healthcare conferences. Operator, you can wrap up the call.
Operator
Thank you for participating in today's United Therapeutics Corporation conference call. This call will be available for replay beginning at today 12 PM Eastern, through 11:59 PM Eastern on Tuesday, August 5. The conference ID number for the replay is 67533397. The number to dial in for the replay is 855-859-2056 or 404-537-3406. Thank you and you may disconnect.