Affimed N.V. (NASDAQ:AFMD) reported earnings per share of 3 cents in the first quarter of 2019 against a loss of 18 cents in the year-ago quarter. Earnings also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 16 cents.
The revenues were $13 million million in the first quarter, up from $1 million in the year-ago quarter. Revenues also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7 million. The increase in revenues is mainly owing to the recognition of €10.6 million as revenues from Genentech, a member of the Roche Group (OTC:RHHBY) collaboration, in the first quarter of 2019.
The company plans to direct its research and development investments toward advancing the on-going and previously announced clinical trials for its innate cell engager candidates, AFM13 and AFM24.
Shares of the company have inched down 0.6% year to date against the industry’s growth of 2.7%.
Quarter in Detail
Research and development (R&D) expenses were €8.0 million in the quarter compared with €6.4 million in the year-ago quarter. The increase can be primarily attributed to higher expenses related to clinical study startup activities for the AFM13 registration study in PTCL, and early-stage development and discovery activities.
General and administrative (G&A) expenses were €2.4 million compared with €2.0 million in the first quarter of 2018. The increase was primarily related to higher personnel expenses.
Pipeline Updates
Affimed filed with the FDA the full study protocol for its phase II registration-directed study on AFM13 as monotherapy in relapsed or refractory patients with peripheral T cell lymphoma (PTCL) and transformed mycosis fungoides, a subset of cutaneous T cell lymphoma. The study is expected to begin in the second half of 2019, pending agreement with the FDA on the final study protocol.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) along with Affimed has planned an investigator-sponsored study directed toward the development of an off-the-shelf adoptive immunotherapy comprising AFM13 pre-mixed with expanded cord blood-derived allogeneic NK cells in patients with relapsed/refractory CD30-positive malignancies.
As part of the plan, Affimed will terminate the phase I study on AFM11, a CD19/CD3-targeting bispecific T cell engager.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Affimed currentlyhas a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the biotech sector are Anika Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK) and Applied Genetics Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:AGTC) . Both of them carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Anika’s earnings per share estimates have moved up from $1.22 to $1.28 for 2019 and from $1.21 to $1.33 for 2020 in the past 60 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in the trailing four quarters, with average beat of 72.00%.
Applied Genetics’ loss per share estimates have narrowed from $1.25 to 1 cent for 2019 and from $2.39 to $2.15 for 2020 in the past 60 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in three of the trailing four quarters, with average beat of 83.47%.
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Roche Holding (SIX:ROG
Anika Therapeutics Inc. (ANIK): Free Stock Analysis Report
Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC): Free Stock Analysis Report
Affimed N.V. (AFMD): Free Stock Analysis Report
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