What happened
Shares of TherapeuticsMD (TXMD 1.07%), a biopharmaceutical company focused on women's health, jumped 37.8% higher in January, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Investors were glad to hear the company's new estradiol treatment for dyspareunia due to menopause is off to a better start than originally expected.
So what
TherapeuticsMD thinks there are around 32 million affected women in the U.S. who could benefit from Imvexxy, but an approval by the Food and Drug Administration last year that included a black box warning lowered sales expectations. Despite warnings of increased risks for cancer and dementia, the company reported 19,800 prescriptions in the month of December, which was 38% more than in November.
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So far, patients have been far more eager to refill their Imvexxy prescriptions than previous dyspareunia treatments. That has investors increasingly hopeful that Imvexxy can gain a meaningful share of an enormous addressable population.
Check out the latest TherapeuticsMD earnings call transcript.
Now what
In October, the FDA approved another treatment from TherapeuticsMD called Bijuva, for vasomotor symptoms due to menopause. This is a combination of estradiol and progesterone, and TherapeuticsMD intends to launch it in the second quarter. With around 36 million potential patients in the U.S., the company thinks it could go even further than Imvexxy.
In the second half of 2019, TherapeuticsMD expects to launch Annovera, a procedure-free contraceptive that lasts an entire year. The company will price Annovera at a level competitive to NuvaRing, which must be replaced every 28 days.
Compared to December, Imvexxy scripts rose 19% to around 23,500 in January. The early launch numbers are encouraging, but TherapeuticsMD only reported $15 million in total revenue during the year ended September. At recent prices, the company sports a $1.4 billion market cap; that has a long way to fall if sales don't continue rocketing higher.
