What happened
Shares of Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX -0.87%) were trading almost 10% higher as of 12:20 p.m. EDT Tuesday after the biotech company announced better-than-expected second-quarter results after the market closed on Monday.
So what
One good quarter (or one bad quarter, for that matter) doesn't really mean a lot in the grand scheme of things. However, for a small biotech with its first drug on the market, an exceptionally strong quarter can significantly improve investors' confidence. That's what is happening with Neurocrine.
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Ingrezza, the company's tardive dyskinesia drug, is certainly outperforming expectations: Its sales in Q2 were $180.5 million, up 86% year over year. The biotech also generated slightly over $3 million in revenue from its collaborations.
Neurocrine's total revenue of $183.6 million also came in well above analysts' consensus estimate of $163.14 million. And it delivered an upside surprise with earnings of $51.3 million, or $0.54 per share. Wall Street analysts were expecting Q2 earnings of $0.11 per share.
Now what
It's certainly great news that prescriptions for Ingrezza are continuing to grow, and Neurocrine could have more wins on the way.
AbbVie plans to file this year for FDA approval of elagolix, a drug developed by Neurocrine, as a treatment for uterine fibroids. Elagolix is already approved to manage endometriosis pain, and is marketed by AbbVie under the brand name Orilissa.
Neurocrine also anticipates an FDA approval decision by April 26, 2020, on opicapone as an adjunctive therapy to levodopa/carbidopa in treating Parkinson's disease. In addition, the biotech intends to meet with FDA soon about advancing its congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) drug candidate, NBI-74788, to the next phase of clinical testing. If all goes well for Neurocrine, it could have three FDA-approved treatments in four indications by the end of 2020.
