For a drugmaker whose leadership has drawn considerable criticism lately, yesterday's second-quarter earnings call from PDL BioPharma
Revenue rose 32% year over year, with royalties from marketed products like Genentech's
In PDL's pipeline, there won't be any interesting clinical developments with lead drug Nuvion for the remainder of the year, except for the likely completion of enrollment in the phase 2/3 Restore-1 study by year's end. The 150-person study is expected to finish in early 2009, with results out shortly thereafter. Cancer-fighting drug candidate PDL192 should enter the clinic soon, and PDL guided that most of its future R&D drug candidates would be directed at oncology targets.
On the partnering front, an ularitide partnership agreement is still expected by the end of the year, and PDL even mentioned that it would seek a partner for Nuvion in areas outside inflammatory bowel disease.
Notwithstanding the ongoing Third Point mudslinging, the second quarter produced fairly mundane royalty and sales growth. Investors are waiting for more clinical trial results from PDL's drug pipeline, and a resumption of ularitide R&D investment. Until then, don't be surprised if things stay quiet.
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Fool contributor Brian Lawler does not own shares of any company mentioned in this article. The Fool's disclosure policy is the prescription for your financial woes.