When is six better than 12? When we're talking about the annual number of injections that patients with the wet version of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have to get in their eyes.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Regeneron and marketing partner Bayer plan to file applications to sell the drug in the U.S. and Europe in the first half of next year. Given the solid results, it seems extremely likely they'll get a green light.
The positive results don't necessarily mean Regeneron is an automatic buy, though; the company already sports a market cap of $2.5 billion, after all. Regeneron does have one drug on the market, Arcalyst , but it treats an ultra-orphan indication and has only managed to recognize $20 million in sales through the first nine months of the year. There's a fair amount of future sales already priced in and there's a long way to fall if things don't pan out.
Of course, like Human Genome Sciences
In addition to VEGF Trap-Eye, Regeneron has a sister compound, aflibercept, a version of VEGF Trap that prevents blood-vessel growth in solid tumors. Aflibercept, which is partnered with sanofi-aventis
Regeneron is also testing Arcalyst as a treatment for gout, which would vastly increase sales. Early results were mixed, but the drug still has time to redeem itself, with two additional phase 3 trials expected to produce results early next year.
At today's prices, Regeneron looks like a decent investment. There's still potential for a blowup, so don't put all your money in one basket, but there's still room to the upside even after yesterday's 20% run if aflibercept and Arcalyst pan out.
Anand Chokkavelu shares five investment lessons and five stocks to go along with them.