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Biotech Incyte ( INCY ) tumbled to a 15-month low Thursday after it ended a trial of its lead drug in pancreatic cancer, though its Q4 earnings beat Wall Street estimates. Incyte said that it’s ending a phase-three trial of its drug Jakafi, or ruxolitinib, along with capecitabine (also known as Roche ’s ( RHHBY ) Xeloda) as a second-line treatment for advanced metastatic pancreatic cancer, after an interim analysis showed that it would be futile. Jakafi is sold for the blood cancers myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera, but Incyte is studying it in various solid tumors, including lung, breast and colorectal cancer, in combination with Merck ’s ( MRK ) Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and AstraZeneca ’s ( AZN ) Tagrisso (osimertinib), among other things. Incyte said that it will continue these studies despite the trial failure. Incyte also said that its Q4 revenue, which came from a combination of Jakafi sales, royalties and contract revenue, jumped 97% over the year-earlier quarter to $243.9 million. That’s about $18 million above analysts’ consensus, according to Thomson Reuters. Net income was 29 cents a share, reversing a year-earlier loss and soundly beating consensus of 9 cents. The company did not offer revenue or EPS guidance for this year but said that Jakafi sales should be $800 million to $815 million, up from $601 million last year. It forecast R&D expenses of $620 million to $640 million, plus selling, general and administrative expenses of $255 million to $270 million. Incyte stock was near 56, down nearly 23% in morning trading on the stock market today . Scalper1 News
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