Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc.
(
ISIS
) reported a adjusted net loss of 33 cents per share in the third
quarter of 2012, wider than the year-ago loss of 27 cents and the
Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 28 cents.
Revenues decreased 44.0% to $11.6 million, below the Zacks
Consensus Estimate of $22 million. Revenues include license fees,
milestone-related payments and other payments.
Operating expenses decreased 7.6% during the quarter to $37.6
million. Research and development expenses decreased 8.4% to
$36.6 million and general and administrative expenses inched down
0.3% to $3.1 million.
During the quarter,
Regulus Therapeutics Inc.
(
RGLS
), founded by
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
(
ALNY
) and Isis Pharma, went public. Regulus offered 11.25 million
shares of its common stock at $4.00 per share and started trading
on NASDAQ from October 4, 2012.
Isis Pharma has invested $3 million in Regulus' common stock at
the latter's initial public offering. Isis Pharma currently holds
approximately 17% (7 million shares) of Regulus' common stock on
a fully diluted basis. Isis Pharma expects to recognize
substantial gains from the sale of its share in Regulus in the
fourth quarter of 2012.
Recently, Isis Pharma was in the news when it amended its
existing deal with
GlaxoSmithKline
(
GSK
) for the development of their candidate, ISIS-TTRRx. ISIS-TTRRx
is being developed for the treatment of transthyretin (TTR)
amyloidosis. The companies plan to initiate a
registration-directed phase II/III study evaluating the efficacy
of ISIS-TTRRx on neurological dysfunction and on quality-of-life
in patients with familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP), a type of
TTR amyloidosis, by the year end.
Our Recommendation
We currently have an Outperform recommendation on Isis Pharma.
Isis Pharma received a major boost in October 2012 when the Food
and Drug Administration's (FDA) Endocrinologic and Metabolic
Drugs Advisory Committee voted (9 - 6) in favor of approving the
company's lead pipeline candidate, Kynamro (mipomersen). A final
response from the FDA should be out in January 2013. Meanwhile,
Kynamro could be approved in the EU by year end.
We believe that antisense technology (the main area of focus at
Isis) represents an exciting and potentially revolutionary
platform for developing therapeutic candidates to treat a wide
margin of diseases.
The stock carries a Zacks #3 Rank (Hold rating) in the short
run.
ALNYLAM PHARMA (ALNY): Free Stock Analysis
Report
GLAXOSMITHKLINE (GSK): Free Stock Analysis
Report
ISIS PHARMACEUT (ISIS): Free Stock Analysis
Report
REGULUS THERAP (RGLS): Free Stock Analysis
Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment
Research