Spectrum Pharma (SPPI) Q1 Earnings Lag Estimates, Revenues Nil

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPPI) incurred adjusted loss of 27 cents per share in the first quarter of 2019, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 23 cents. However, the loss was in line with the year-ago quarter.

During the quarter, the company completed the sale of its marketed portfolio to privately-held Acrotech Biopharma for an upfront payment of $158.8 million. The company is also eligible to receive additional regulatory and sales-based milestone payments up to $140 million. With no marketed products, the company did not record any revenues in the first quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was pegged at $20.45 million.

Spectrum Pharma’s shares have increased 6.5% so far this year compared with the industry’s rise of 8.8%.

Quarter in Detail

Adjusted research & development (R&D) expenses were $20.4 million, up 60.5% from the year-ago quarter.

In March, Spectrum Pharma withdrew the biologics license application (“BLA”) for Rolontis. The company had stated that the time required for gathering the additional manufacturing-related data as requested by the FDA was unlikely to be completed within the review period which ended on Mar 29. The company will re-submit the BLA as soon as possible.

Adjusted selling, general and administrative (SG&A) spending was down 25.5% to $10.7 million.

Pipeline Update

Spectrum Pharma is developing its pipeline candidates, poziotinib, as monotherapy or in combination with other drugs for the treatment of lung cancer and breast cancer. A phase II study — ZENITH20 — is evaluating poziotinib in previously-treated non-small cell lung cancer (“NSCLC”) patients with an exon 20 mutation in EGFR or HER2. Data from EGFR cohort is expected in the fourth quarter of 2019. Enrollment in the HER2 cohort is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter as well.

Concurrent with the earnings release, the company announced an asset purchase and license agreement with privately-held ImmunGene to acquire a novel immuno-oncology platform and two early-stage assets. The acquired platform, Focused Interferon Therapeutics (“FIT”), has potential for broad application in oncology. The two assets, antibody-interferon fusion molecules, have been developed using the FIT platform.

One of the assets, targeting CD20, is in phase I development for treating relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma, including diffuse large b-cell lymphoma. Another candidate, targeting GRP94, has potential for treating both solid and hematologic malignancies.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Spectrum Pharma currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the pharmaceutical sector include Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ:CLSN) , Fibrocell Science Inc (NASDAQ:FCSC) and Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) . While Celsion and Fibrocell sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Editas carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Celsion’s loss estimates narrowed from 94 cents to 78 cents for both 2019 and 2020 over the past 60 days.

Fibrocell’s loss estimates narrowed from $2.68 to $1.15 for 2019 and from $2.55 to 97 cents for 2020 over the past 60 days.

Editas’ loss estimates narrowed from $2.74 to $2.68 for 2019 and from $3.10 to $3.01 for 2020 over the past 60 days.

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