Juno (JUNO) Q2 Loss Wider-than-Expected, Focus On Pipeline

Juno Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:JUNO) reported a loss of 67 cents per share (including stock-based compensation expense) in the second quarter of 2016, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 51 cents per share and the year-ago loss of 40 cents per share.

The company recorded revenue of $27.6 million in the reported quarter, up 120.8% from the year-ago period. Reported quarter revenues include revenue recognized under the Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) collaboration and CD19 opt-in as well as milestone revenue from Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) .

The company’s adjusted research and development expenses in the reported quarter shot up 201.7% from the year-ago period to $72.1 million. Meanwhile, general and administrative expenses were $16.8 million, down 16.8% from the year-ago period.

Juno continues to expect cash burn of $220 million - $250 million in 2016 excluding the impact of business development activities.

Juno is looking to revolutionize cancer treatment by bringing immunotherapies to market. Cancer immunotherapy is a highly lucrative area as these therapies have the potential to change the treatment paradigm for cancer -- they basically use the natural capability of the patient's own immune system to fight the cancer. Pipeline candidates include JCAR015, JCAR017 and JCAR014.

However, the company faced a major hiccup with the development of its lead pipeline candidate, JCAR015. Last month, the FDA had placed a clinical hold on the company’s phase II study (ROCKET) on JCAR015 in adult patients with relapsed or refractory B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (r/r ALL). The hold was placed after two patients died within a week due to severe neurotoxicity following the recent addition of fludarabine to the pre-conditioning regimen.

But the good news is that the clinical hold was lifted a week later and the study has resumed under a revised protocol. Juno is now guiding towards FDA approval of JCAR015 in the first half of 2018.

Meanwhile, JCAR017 is in a phase I study for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and is also being evaluated in a phase I/II study in pediatric and young adults with r/r ALL. Juno continues to advance its pipeline beyond CD19 as well.

Juno is a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) stock. A better-ranked stock in the healthcare sector is Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) – a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock.

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