Cambridge, MA based ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ARIA is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of breakthrough treatments for cancer. ARIAD’s only approved product is Iclusig (ponatinib). Iclusig, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), is approved both in the U.S. and EU for the treatment of adults suffering from T315I-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (chronic, accelerated or blast phase) or Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia or for whom no other TKI therapy is approved.
ARIAD is also working on studying Iclusig in earlier lines of therapy and intends to initiate three studies by year end with one of the studies having already commenced. In this scenario, investor focus will remain on updates on the performance of Iclusig as well as on evaluating the company’s progress with its strategic plans targeting sustained profitability, starting 2018.
ARIAD has a mixed track record with the company beating estimates in two of the last four quarters with an average positive earnings surprise of 16.88%. Estimate revisions are, however, flat for both 2015 and 2016.
Currently, ARIAD has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), but that could definitely change following the company’s earnings report which was just released. We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:
Earnings: ARIAD posted a wider-than-expected loss in the third quarter of 2015. Our consensus called for a loss of 20 cents per share and the company reported a loss of 29 cents.
Revenues: Revenues too fell short of expectations. ARIAD posted revenues of $29.1 million, compared to our consensus estimate of $50 million.
Key Stats: Iclusig sales were flat sequentially in the third quarter of 2015. In Jul 2015, ARIAD entered into a non-dilutive synthetic-royalty financing deal with PDL BioPharma that could see the company receiving up to $200 million as revenue interest in exchange for royalties on net sales of Iclusig. In addition, the company finished enrolling patients in a pivotal phase II (ALTA) study on its pipeline candidate, brigatinib. The study is being conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of brigatinib in refractory non-small cell lung cancer patients who tested positive for ALK+ and were previously treated with Pfizer’s Xalkori.
2015 Guidance: ARIAD continues to expect Iclusig sales in the range of $130 million to $140 million in 2015.
Check back later for our full write up on this ARIAD earnings report later!
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