What happened
Shares of ImmunoGen (IMGN) rose by almost 27% Friday morning after the company announced its first-quarter results. The biotech company's stock had previously been having a sluggish 2023 -- it's now up by 9.7% year to date.
So what
The company, which focuses on cancer-fighting antibody-drug conjugates, has seen strong early sales for its new drug, Elahere, which was given accelerated approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November to treat platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. In the first full quarter since its launch, the injectable drug did $29.5 million in sales. In May, ImmunoGen expects to report top-line results from its phase 3 MIRASOL study of Elahere that it anticipates will support a full approval of the drug's biologics license application in the U.S. and a marketing authorization application (MAA) to support its approval in Europe.
For the quarter, the company reported overall revenue of $49.9 million, up 30.9% year over year. It had a net loss of $41 million ($0.16 per share) compared to a net loss of $24.1 million ($0.10 per share) in the same period last year. The company said it has enough cash on the books to fund its operations into 2025.
ImmunoGen also increased guidance to say that it expects, even without Elahere, to make between $45 million and $50 million this year in revenue, up from $41.2 million last year. The 2022 figure included $2.6 million in Elahere revenue in the fourth quarter.
Now what
Elahere was the company's first independent commercial launch, and it's off to a strong start. According to the National Institute of Health, 20,000 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and 13,000 die from the disease. Investors will want to see how the MIRASOL trial pans out. The company has five other early-stage programs in its pipeline, and success for Elahere would help fund their development.
