(Reuters) – Incyte Corp on Tuesday reported first-quarter profit below Wall Street estimates on weak sales of its blood cancer drug Jakafi, sending its shares down 2.4%.
The company is working on strengthening its pipeline to counter competition from newly approved drugs, which could impact sales of Jakafi, the company’s biggest-selling drug, as it nears the loss of exclusivity later this decade.
During the first quarter, the Delaware-based company gained worldwide exclusive global rights for Monjuvi, approved by the FDA for the treatment of certain kinds of blood cancer, from MorphoSys AG.
In April, the company also announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Escient Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage company involved in the development of treatment of various skin diseases.
Sales of Jakafi were down 1% to $571.8 million for the quarter, compared with analysts’ expectations of $615.80 million, according to LSEG data.
Chief Executive Officer Hervé Hoppenot said, “As anticipated, the revenue growth during the quarter was offset by an inventory drawdown for Jakafi and the typical first-quarter net pricing dynamics.”
Total revenue for the reported quarter came in at $880.90 million, below estimates of $923.6 million. Revenue generated by the drugmaker in the first quarter from royalties was $126 million, up 9% from a year earlier.
Incyte earns product royalty revenues from Novartis AG for the commercialization of Jakafi outside the United States and from Eli Lilly for Olumiant for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Opzelura, which is approved in the U.S. to treat vitiligo and mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis, recorded revenue of $85.7 million, up 52% from a year earlier. Analysts were expecting a revenue of $66.60 million.
Excluding items, the U.S. drugmaker earned 64 cents per share in the quarter, missing estimates of 84 cents per share.
(Reporting by Vaibhav Sadhamta; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
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