Earnings Preview Q4: Cara Therapeutics’ success in 2019 will depend on Korsuva trial outcomes

Cara Therapeutics (CARA) is scheduled to report its fourth quarter and full-year 2018 financial results on Tuesday, March 12, after the regular trading hours. Analysts expect the clinical-stage biotech company to report a loss of $0.58 per share on revenue of $2.67 million. CARA stock ended Friday’s trading session up 1.53% at $16.60.

For the third quarter ended September 30, 2018, Cara Therapeutics’ loss widened to $0.51 per share compared to a loss of $0.38 per share in the third quarter of 2017. Revenue of $5.06 million included a $5.02 million of license and milestone fee received in third quarter of 2018.

At that time, the company reported that existing cash and cash equivalents and available-for-sale marketable securities as of September 30, 2018 will be sufficient to fund its anticipated operating expenses and capital expenditures into 2021, without giving effect to any potential milestone payments under existing collaborations.

R&D expenses rose to $22.3 million in the third quarter of 2018 from $9.2 million in the same period of 2017. The higher R&D expenses were due to a increase in costs associated with clinical trials, as well as increases in stock compensation expense and payroll and related costs for R&D personnel.

The Stamford, Connecticut-based pharma firm announced in early January that it had completed the enrollment for Phase 3 trial of Korsuva injection in hemodialysis patients with pruritus (itching). Cara expects to report top-line data in the second quarter of 2019.

The company also expects to report top-line data from its second Phase 3 Korsuva trial in the second half of 2019, which will support regulatory filings for worldwide approvals. This global Phase 3 trial is designed to enroll hemodialysis patients with moderate-to-severe pruritus in the US, as well as multiple countries in Europe and Asia Pacific.

If the company succeeds in these trials, 2019 will be an exciting year for both Cara Therapeutics and its investors.

Companies like Cara Therapeutics, GW Pharmaceuticals (GWPH) and Zynerba Pharmaceuticals (ZYNE) are focused on developing and testing new CBD-based drugs. On February 26, Zynerba won the patent for its CBD gel, which is used to treat Fragile X syndrome.

GW Pharma, which reported quarterly results for the three months ended Dec 31, 2018 recently, filed a marketing authorization application with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for its frontline cannabinoid drug Epidiolex and expects the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommendation in Q2 2019.

Shares of Cara Therapeutics have gained 28% since the beginning of 2019 and 3% in the past three months period.

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