Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX 1.26%) shareholders should be pleased with the stock so far in 2019. The biotech's share price is up more than 30% year to date. And it reported solid revenue growth in its first-quarter results announced in April.
Anyone wondering if Neurocrine could keep the momentum going got a strong affirmative when the company announced its second-quarter results after the market closed on Monday. It again delivered a solid performance.
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By the numbers
Top-line performance improved significantly in the second quarter. Revenue jumped nearly 90% year over year to $183.6 million. Analysts estimated that the company's revenue for the Q2 would come in at $163.14 million.
The biopharmaceutical company reported net income under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) of $51.3 million, or $0.54 per share. This was a major improvement over the prior-year period when the company announced a net loss of $5.9 million, or $0.07 per share. Analysts were expecting Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.11 per share.
Neurocrine ended the second quarter with cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments of $766.5 million as of June 30, 2019.
Behind the numbers
Most of the revenue in Q2 was generated by the tardive dyskinesia drug Ingrezza. Sales for Ingrezza jumped 86% year over year to $180.5 million. The company also reported collaboration revenue of a little over $3 million.
This sales growth for Ingrezza also drove the company's net income higher. And it benefited from a $21 million gain from its equity investment in Voyager Therapeutics.
But spending increased significantly in the second quarter. Research and development (R&D) jumped 67% year over year to $61.7 million. Part of this increase was related to the acceptance by the Food and Drug Administration of the New Drug Application for opicapone. Sales, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses also increased 33% year over year to $80.8 million, driven primarily by the expansion of Neurocrine's sales force and other promotional efforts.
Looking ahead
Neurocrine projects that its operating expenses for full-year 2019 will be between $658 million and $688 million. Ongoing expenses for SG&A and R&D are now anticipated to be between $540 million and $570 million, lower than the company's previous guidance range of $550 million to $600 million.
The company has several pipeline developments to watch in the not-too-distant future. Its partner AbbVie should file for FDA approval of elagolix in treating uterine fibroids later this year. The FDA is scheduled to make an approval decision on opicapone as an adjunctive therapy to levodopa/carbidopa in patients with Parkinson's disease by April 26, 2020. Neurocrine also plans to talk with the FDA in the third quarter of this year about advancing its NBI-74788 program in adult patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia.
All of this activity has CEO Kevin Gorman pretty fired up. "We are pleased with this exciting progress and remain on track to have three FDA-approved treatments in four indications by 2020," Gorman said.
