What happened
A unique stock even among the many distinctive titles that make up the biotech sector, Mind Medicine (MNMD -4.62%) reported its second-quarter results after market hours on Thursday. This followed the publication earlier that day of a "value enhancement plan" from a onetime top official at the company. Combined, these two events pushed the specialty clinical-stage company's share price nearly 12% higher on Friday.
So what
For the quarter, Mind Medicine -- which is still in a pre-revenue stage -- managed to trim its expenses considerably, which certainly helped with investor sentiment on the stock. It booked just shy of $17 million in operating expenses. Thanks to a nearly $30 million decline in general and administrative costs, these expenses were well down from the Q2 2021 level of over $45 million. The company's net loss for both periods was roughly around those amounts.
In per-share terms, Mind Medicine's bottom-line shortfall was $0.04, slightly better than the average $0.05 deficit estimated by the few analysts tracking the stock.
The company is one of the rare biotechs that concentrates on adapting psychedelic substances to practical medicines. Mind Medicine has several pipeline programs in development, including one that utilizes a form of popular 1960s drug lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to help treat generalized anxiety disorder.
Now what
Not everyone is impressed by Mind Medicine's results and methods. Earlier on Thursday, FCM MM Holdings, an entity led by the company's co-founder and onetime chief medical officer Scott Freeman, wrote a letter to Mind Medicine's board. In it, according to an FCM MM press release, Freeman called for the biotech to adopt a new strategic plan that included a "refocusing" on its most important drugs, limiting cash burn, and canceling an at-the-market stock offering announced in May.
Mind Medicine has not yet formally and publicly responded to the letter.
