Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s (INFI) share price has trended up ever since it announced encouraging updates on its oncology candidate, IPI-145, during the third quarter 2013 conference call on. The company’s share price rose 17.4% on Nov 8, 2013 to end the day’s trading at $14.05. However, Infinity Pharma’s share price declined 2.6% on Nov 11, 2013.
Infinity Pharma reported a loss of 71 cents per share in the third quarter of 2013, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 74 cents and the year-ago loss of 80 cents.
Infinity Pharma did not generate any revenue during the third quarter of 2013, similar to the year-ago quarter.
Other Details
Infinity Pharma’s research and development (R&D) expenses increased 24.9% to $26.9 million in the third quarter of 2013. The increase was primarily due to expenses related to the clinical development of IPI-145. The company’s general and administrative (G&A) expenses increased 16.3% to $7.3 million, mainly because of higher stock-based compensation expense.
Infinity Pharma has progressed well with its pipeline. During the conference call the company announced that five abstracts describing the clinical and preclinical data for IPI-145 were accepted to be presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2013 Annual Meeting next month.
Infinity Pharma is currently evaluating IPI-145 in patients suffering from indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (iNHL) in a phase II study. IPI-145 showed encouraging results in a phase I study in advanced hematologic malignancies. The company also intends to initiate a phase III study of IPI-145 in patients suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) later in the year. IPI-145 is also being developed for the treatment of mild allergic asthma (phase IIa). The company intends to announce additional studies on the candidate next year.
Infinity Pharma also had retaspimycin hydrochloride in its pipeline, which was being developed for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The company decided not to initiate further trials on the candidate after disappointing results from a phase II study in Sep 2013. The candidate failed to meet its pre-specified efficacy endpoints of demonstrating an improvement in overall survival in patients suffering from squamous cell carcinoma.
Our Take
We are encouraged by the company’s progress with IPI-145. We expect investor focus to remain on IPI-145 going forward.
Infinity Pharma currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). However, companies like Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ), Santarus, Inc. (SNTS) and Actelion Ltd. (ALIOF) look better positioned with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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