Clinical-stage biotechnology company MannKind (MNKD -1.68%) left investors hanging after reporting its third-quarter earnings results before the opening bell this morning, but leaving out any talk of potential blockbuster inhaled insulin product Afrezza.
For the quarter, MannKind recorded no revenue as it's still in the clinical research stages of its existence, while its total operating expenses rose 26.2% to $44.8 million from the year-ago period and 7.7% sequentially from the second quarter.
Research and development costs, which are the bulk of MannKind's expenses, rose by 7.1% to $27.3 million, while general and administrative expenses exploded higher by 73.3% primarily due to higher non-cash stock compensation expenses during the quarter. Net loss for the quarter ballooned 18.7% to $50.8 million from $42.8 million in the year prior, however, due to a higher number of shares outstanding, losses shrank to just $0.17 per share from the $0.22 in EPS losses reported last year at this time. The $0.17 loss in EPS was still $0.01 worse than the Street had expected.
Being a clinical-stage company, having a reasonable amount of cash on hand to fund ongoing research is also crucial. MannKind ended the quarter with $93.8 million in cash and cash equivalents, up notably from the $28.5 million it reported at the end of the second quarter.
What was missing in MannKind's press release was any substantive update on its lead inhaled diabetes product, Afrezza. This was notably disappointing to investors considering that the company announced last Wednesday that the Food and Drug Administration had acknowledged the resubmission of its new drug application for Afrezza, which had been rejected via a complete response letter in January 2011. Moving forward, all eyes remain on Afrezza's PDUFA date of April 15, 2014, and the FDA's advisory panel meeting some weeks before that decision date.
