Blueprint Medicines (BPMC) Q4 Loss Narrows, Revenues Top Mark

Blueprint Medicines Corporation (NASDAQ:BPMC) incurred a loss of $1.35 per share in the fourth quarter of 2019, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $1.71 and also the year-ago quarter’s loss of $1.83.

Collaboration revenues comprising the company’s total revenues came in at $51.5 million, reflecting a significant rise year over year. The top line also comprehensively surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $24 million.

Notably, last month, Blueprint Medicines’ lead product Ayvakit (avapritinib) was approved by the FDA for treating unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), harboring a PDGFRA exon 18 mutation including PDGFRA D842V mutations in adults.

Following this nod, Ayvakit became the first precision therapy to be approved by the FDA for treating genomically defined patients with GIST, a rare form of cancer. The drug was launched in January as well. Hence, the company did not report any sale from the drug in the reported quarter.

Hence, revenues generated by Blueprint Medicines are all related to its partnership with Roche (OTC:RHHBY) , CStone Pharmaceuticals and Clementia Pharmaceuticals for the development and commercialization of its pipeline candidates.

Shares of Blueprint Medicines have declined 16.1% in the past year compared with the industry’s decline of 4.1%.

Quarter in Detail

Research and development expenses were $88.6 million, up 25.7% from the year-ago figure, mainly due to higher spending associated with the lead candidates’ development and increased personnel costs.

General and administrative expenses were $32.3 million, up 137.5% year over year on account of higher personnel fees, infrastructure costs and other commercial costs.

Blueprint Medicines had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $548 million as of Dec 31, 2019, lower than the sequential quarter’s level of $594.5 million.

Ayvakit & Other Pipeline Updates

Though Ayvakit is approved for one GIST indication, it is also under review for fourth-line GIST in the United States with a decision from the FDA expected on May 14, 2020.

Meanwhile, a phase III VOYAGER study is evaluating the safety and efficacy of Ayvakit compared to Bayer’s (OTC:BAYRY) Stivarga (regorafenib) in patients with third- and fourth-line GIST. Top-line data from the same is expected in the second quarter of 2020.

Ayvakit is also being studied for advanced, indolent and smoldering forms of systemic mastocytosis (SM). The company plans to submit a supplemental NDA for the same to address the advanced SM indication in the second half of 2020.

Blueprint Medicines initiated the rolling submission of NDA to the FDA for its precision therapy pralsetinib to address the RET fusion-positive non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) indication. Notably, pralsetinib is also being studied for RET-mutant medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). The company plans to complete this NDA submission to treat NSCLC in the first quarter of 2020 while the same for the MTC indication is expected to be filed in the second quarter.

A marketing application in Europe for pralsetinib to address RET fusion-positive NSCLC is expected to be filed in the second quarter of 2020.

Blueprint Medicines Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Zacks Rank & Key Pick

Blueprint Medicines currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the biotech sector is Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:KALA) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Kala Pharmaceuticals’ loss per share estimates have narrowed 0.9% for 2020 over the past 60 days.

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