What happened
After market hours on Wednesday, Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) released a first-quarter earnings report that investors didn't digest well. As a result, the following day, the stock fell by 8% -- a steep rate, even on a very bearish day when the S&P 500 index declined by 3.6%.
So what
For the quarter, Global Blood Therapeutics' sales hit nearly $55.2 million, representing quite an encouraging improvement over the year-ago quarter's $39 million. But increased research and development, along with selling, general, and administrative (SGA) expenses, widened the company's net loss. This landed at nearly $83.5 million ($1.26 per share), while in the first quarter of 2021, it was just shy of $75 million.
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Although the revenue figure didn't quite reach the $56.1 million analysts were collectively estimating, Global Blood Therapeutics beat on the bottom line. Those prognosticators expected a deeper shortfall of $1.30 for the quarter.
At the moment, the company's sole commercialized product is sickle cell disease (SCD) treatment Oxbryta. It's not only the one product it has on the market, it's also the single source of revenue, at present.
During the quarter, the biotech received marketing authorization from the European Commission (the regulator for the 27-nation European Union) for Oxbryta. Global Blood Therapeutics also launched the drug for patients aged 4 to 11. Both events should help boost sales as we move through 2022.
Now what
As for Global Blood Therapeutics' pipeline, the company said it's currently enrolling patients for a pair of phase 3 clinical trials that will put vaso-occlusive crisis treatment inclacumab through its paces. It's also hoping to restart its stalled phase 1 trial for another SCD drug, GBT021601.
While that's encouraging, investors either expected more from Oxbryta or found the experimental-drug news wanting. The coming months should give a better indication of the future paths of both.
