Cara Therapeutics’ (NASDAQ: CARA) loss widened in the third quarter of 2019, hurt by higher expenses. Cara Therapeutics posted a loss of $0.74 per share on revenue of $5.8 million. The market expected clinical-stage biopharma company to post a loss of $0.58 per share on revenue of $4.34 million. CARA stock was down about 2% immediately after the earnings announcement during the after-market session.
Revenue for The three months ended September 30, 2019 consisted of license and milestone fees revenue that was recognized by the company related to its license agreement with Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma. R&D expenses increased to $36 million for the recently ended quarter from $22.3 million in the prior-year quarter.
Cara expects that its existing cash and cash equivalents and available-for-sale marketable securities of $249 million as of September 30, 2019 will be sufficient to fund its currently anticipated operating expenses and capital expenditures into the second half of 2021, without giving effect to any potential milestone payments under existing collaborations.
Last month, Cara Therapeutics announced a 20% increase in the enrollment of KALM-2 Phase 3 global clinical trial of KORSUVA injection, a drug to treat the postoperative pain and chronic kidney disease associated itching conditions. The company expects the trial to be fully enrolled by the end of fourth quarter and file the New Drug Application (NDA) for KORSUVA injection in the second half of 2020.
In August, the Stamford, Connecticut-based firm entered into a non-exclusive commercial license agreement with Enteris BioPharma for oral formulation rights to Enteris’ Peptelligence Technology.
Under the terms of the agreement, Enteris will receive an upfront payment of $8 million, including $4 million in cash and $4 million in Cara common stock. Enteris is also eligible to receive development, regulatory and tiered commercial milestone payments, as well as low, single-digit royalties based on net sales in the licensed territory.
Shares of Cara Therepeutics, which ended up 1.77% at $20.74 today, have gained 60% since the beginning of 2019 and 6% from this time last year.