Three Westchester County biotechnology companies announced positive financial results for the third quarter.
Ardsley-based Acorda Therapeutics Inc. posted earnings well above what Wall Street analysts expected, while Greenburgh-based drug companies Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc. also posted a profit for the three-month period ending Sept. 30.
Acorda”™s adjusted earnings came to 65 cents per share on revenue of $106 million in the quarter, exceeding analysts”™ forecasts. Wall Street had expected $95 million, according to Zacks Investment Research.
A Nasdaq-traded company, Acorda develops and markets drugs for patients with neurological disorders, including multiple sclerosis, spinal cord and brain injuries, stroke and epilepsy. The recent $525 million all-cash acquisition of Civitas Therapeutics is expected to propel Acorda into the international market for Parkinson”™s disease therapy. The progressive neurodegenerative disorder afflicts approximately 1 million people in the U.S. and 7 million to 10 million people worldwide, Acorda officials said.
Progenics announced $37 million in earnings for the third quarter, which amounts to 51 cents per share, on $41.7 million in revenue. The company for the same period in 2013 reported a net loss of $10.5 million, or 17 cents per diluted share.
Net income for the first nine months of this year was $16.6 million or 24 cents per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $34 million or 63 cents per diluted share in 2013.
Progenics has a market capitalization of approximately $456 million.
Earlier this year, Progenics announced its injectable drug Relistor was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in patients with opioid-induced constipation who take opioid painkillers for chronic pain not related to cancer. The drug, which was developed with Raleigh, N.C.-based Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., does not reduce the efficacy of the patients”™ pain medication, according to a company press release.
Approximately 40 percent of chronic pain patients, or nearly 11 million patients, on opioid therapy experience opioid-induced constipation, and Relistor is the first approved medication that specifically targets the underlying cause of the constipation, the company said.
Regeneron reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.23 per share for the third quarter, up from $2.13 per share in the third quarter of 2013. Earnings were above the Zacks consensus estimate of $2.10 per share.
The company”™s total revenue in the quarter increased 22 percent from the same quarter in 2013, to $726 million, driven by strong sales of the injectable eye drug Eylea.
The company was recently named by Science magazine as the No. 1 biopharmaceutical employer in the world in the publication”™s Top Employer”™s Survey for the third consecutive year. Regeneron has a market capitalization of approximately $39.9 billion, and its stock price has risen more than 65 percent since the start of the year.
Regeneron announced in September that dupilumab, a drug it is developing with Paris-based Sanofi, met all primary and secondary endpoints in a phase 2 trial for patients with moderate to severe chronic sinusitis with nasal polyps. The drug also is being tested for use against two allergic conditions, atopic dermatitis and asthma. The FDA in September designated Eylea as a breakthrough therapy to treat diabetic retinopathy in patients with diabetic macular edema.
