Pacira's Exparel Spurs Growth, Exclusive Reliance A Concern

On December 13, we issued an updated research report on Pacira BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCRX) . The company’s top line mainly comprises contribution from its sole marketed product Exparel, other product sales and royalty revenues.

Shares of Pacira have increased 6.2% so far this year compared with the industry’s rally of 10.8%.

Exparel is a liposome injection of bupivacaine, which is indicated for single-dose administration into the surgical site to produce postsurgical analgesia.

Exparel revenues grew 23% year over year during the first nine months of 2019. Continued adoption of the drug for transversus abdominis plane (TAP), infiltration procedures for abdominal and genitourinary surgeries, should boost sales going forward. The company is currently looking for partners to expand its geographical footprint for Exparel.

In June 2019, the European Medicines Agency accepted the marketing authorization application for Exparel as a medicine to treat postsurgical analgesia. An opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use is expected in the second half of 2020.

Meanwhile, Pacira is working to expand Exparel’s label, which should drive demand. In September 2019, the company completed enrollment in the phase III study on Exparel for treating pediatric patients aged from six to less than 17 years. Results from this study will support a supplemental new drug application for the medicine in the United States regarding its label expansion to include children aged six years and above. There are currently no approved alternatives to opioids for managing severe post-surgical pain in pediatric patients.

Notably, Pacira has partnership with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) wherein the latter continues to support the uptake of Exparel through its world class educational programs and orthopedic procedural solutions for the former.

We would like to remind investors that in April 2019, Pacira acquired the privately held MyoScience, Inc. following which the former added the latter’s iovera system to its portfolio, which is highly complementary to Exparel as a non-opioid therapy. Moreover, upon completing the acquisition, Pacira changed its corporate name to Pacira BioSciences, Inc.

Notably, the company is heavily dependent on Exparel for growth, which is a concern. Therefore, a decline in the drug’s sales will affect the company's top line and weigh heavily on the stock.

Pacira BioSciences, Inc. Price and Consensus

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Pacira currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the healthcare sector include Anika Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK) and Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) , both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Anika’s earnings estimates have moved 16% north for 2019 and 17.4% for 2020 over the past 60 days. The stock has soared 58.1% year to date.

Guardant Health’s loss per share estimates have narrowed 30.7% for 2019 and 8.5% for 2020 over the past 60 days. The stock has skyrocketed 101.9% so far this year.

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