Isis 2Q loss shrinks on collaboration revenue

Biotechnology company Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Thursday its second-quarter loss narrowed due to greater revenue from research collaborations.

Isis reported a loss of $2.2 million, or 2 cents per share, down from $11 million, or 13 cents per share a year ago. Revenue climbed to almost $33 million from $3.8 million, as research and development collaboration revenue jumped almost eightfold, to $26.8 million. License and royalty revenue grew to $6.1 million from $331,000.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a loss of 5 cents per share on $26.2 million in revenue.

Isis received $4.6 million from a partnership with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., $3.3 million from its subsidiary Ibis Biosciences, a $2 million milestone payment from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., and $1.4 million in revenue from Antisense Therapeutics Ltd.

Ibis Biosciences revenue grew to $3.3 million from $1.9 million. Abbott Laboratories owns a minority stake in Ibis and has an exclusive right to buy the rest of the company. Ibis makes the T500 biosensor system, which is used to quickly identify infections.

Isis also gets licensing fees from Genzyme Corp., which is codeveloping the cholesterol drug candidate mipomersen. Genzyme Corp. bought $150 million in Isis stock at $30 per share in the first quarter, and paid Isis a licensing fee of $175 million in the second quarter. Both the stock premium and the licensing fee are being counted as revenue spread over each quarter until June 2012.

The company also has a joint venture with Alnylam called Regulus Therapeutics LLC. Isis received $656,000 in revenue from Regulus in the second quarter, most of it from an alliance with British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC.

In 2007, Bristol-Myers Squibb licensed an Isis drug that targets a protein called PCSK9, which helps regulate the amount of cholesterol in the bloodstream. The drug is still in development.

In morning trading, Isis shares dipped 22 cents to $17.11.