What to look for when Progenics Pharma posts Q2 earnings

Progenics Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PGNX) is set to release its earnings results for the second quarter of 2019 on Friday before the market opens. The results will be benefited by the revenue from the sales-based royalties under its intellectual property licensing arrangements and are recognized upon net sales of the licensed products.

Investors await for Azedra, which is used to treat pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma, ultra-rare cancers, to pull in some revenue and start contributing to the company’s growth. The company is yet to record any revenue from Azedra even though it was approved in the middle of last year. However, Progenics still rely on Relistor royalties to supply enough sustenance to thwart a fundraising event in the near-term.

The company’s sources of revenue include royalties and license fees from Bausch and other collaborators, and to a small extent, sale of research reagents. Progenics will recognize royalty income primarily based on sales of Relistor, which is used for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation.

Progenics is an oncology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative targeted medicines and artificial intelligence to find, fight and follow cancer. The company’s strategy also calls for undertaking increased research and development activities and managing an increasing number of relationships with partners and other third parties, while simultaneously managing the capital necessary to support strategy.

The company is expected to incur higher R&D expenses arising from the costs associated with its clinical trials, including pharmaceutical development and manufacturing of clinical trial materials. The costs also include salaries and wages, share-based compensation and benefits, which are not tracked by the program as several of its departments support multiple development programs.

Also read: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Q2 earnings review

Analysts expect the company to report a loss of $0.19 per share on revenue of $6.66 million for the second quarter. In comparison, during the previous year quarter, Progenics posted a loss of $0.20 per share on revenue of $3.88 million. The company has missed analysts’ expectations in all of the four quarters.

For the first quarter, Progenics reported a wider loss due to higher operating expenses. Total revenues increased by 34% year-over-year as the growth of Relistor sales drove royalty revenue higher. The one-time transition costs for Azedra manufacturing site and higher clinical and contract manufacturing costs for PyL dragged research and development expenses higher.

Get access to timely and accurate verbatim transcripts that are published within hours of the event.