Blueprint Medicines (BPMC) Q2 Loss Widens, Sales Top Mark

Blueprint Medicines Corporation (NASDAQ:BPMC) incurred a loss of $2.04 per share in the second quarter of 2019, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $1.92 and also the year-ago quarter’s loss of 62 cents.

Collaboration revenues, comprising the company’s total revenues, came in at $5.1 million, down 87.7% year over year. However, the top line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3 million.

Blueprint Medicines has no approved product in its portfolio at the moment. The revenues generated by the company are all related to its partnership with Roche (OTC:RHHBY) and CStone Pharmaceuticals for the development and commercialization of its pipeline candidates.

Shares of Blueprint Medicines were down more than 6% following earnings announcement on Thursday. However, the stock has rallied 74% so far this year versus the industry’s decline of 0.5%.

Quarter in Detail

In the quarter, research and development expenses were $87.1 million, up 48.6% from the year-ago period’s figure, mainly owing to higher spending associated with the lead candidates’ development and higher personnel costs.

General and administrative expenses were $21.9 million, up 78% year over year on account of higher personnel costs, professional fees and pre-commercial planning activities.

Avapritinib & Other Pipeline Updates

The company’s lead pipeline candidate avapritinib, an inhibitor of KIT and PDGFRA proteins, is being evaluated in several late-stage studies for cancer indications. In June, Blueprint Medicines filed the new drug application (NDA) for avapritinib to treat patients with PDGFRA Exon 18 mutant gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), regardless of any prior therapy, and the fourth-line GIST in the United States. The indication currently has no approved therapy.

Last month, Blueprint Medicines announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has validated its marketing application for avapritinib to treat adult patients with PDGFRα D842V mutant GIST, regardless of a prior therapy, and the fourth-line GIST.

During the quarter, Blueprint Medicines dosed the first patient in China in the ongoing phase III VOYAGER study on avapritinib for treating patients with the third-line GIST. The company plans to complete enrollment in the study by this year-end. It also plans to initiate a phase III COMPASS-2L precision medicine study on avapritinib for addressing second-line GIST.

Other than GIST, Blueprint Medicines is pursuing a broad clinical development program for avapritinib across the advanced, indolent and smoldering forms of systemic mastocytosis (SM).

Avapritinib is currently being evaluated in two studies, namely the phase I EXPLORER clinical study and the registration-enabling phase II PATHFINDER study for advanced SM. The company plans to submit an NDA for avapritinib for the advanced SM indication in the first quarter of 2020. It also plans to present initial data from the phase II PIONEER study on avapritinib for treating indolent and smoldering SM by the end of 2019.

Blueprint Medicines has several other pipeline candidates in early developmental stages.

Pralsetinib (formerly BLU-667) in being studied in the phase I/II ARROW study in previously-treated patients with receptor tyrosine RET-fusion non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and RET-mutant medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC).

Other pipeline candidates in phase I development are Fisogatinib (formerly BLU-554) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) — a type of liver cancer — and BLU-782 for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, a severely disabling genetic disease caused by mutations in the ALK2 gene. The company aims to begin a phase II study on BLU-782 by the end of the current year.

Blueprint Medicines Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Zacks Rank and Other Stocks to Consider

Blueprint Medicines currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).Other top-ranked stocks from the healthcare sector include Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACOR) and Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) , both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Acorda’s loss per share estimates have been narrowed 2.2% for 2019 and 1.3% for 2020 over the past 60 days.

Repligen’s earnings estimates have been revised 4.3% upward for 2019 and 3.6% for 2020 over the past 60 days. The stock has soared 81.1% year to date.

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