Regeneron stock jumped Thursday, bolstered by strong sales of a high-dose version of its blockbuster eye disease treatment, Eylea.
High-dose Eylea came in at $200 million, beating expectations for $189 million, Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger said in a report. The high dose is a new formulation with a longer patent life — a key development with standard Eylea set to lose patent protection later this year.
Shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals rose 3.8% to 937.61. That reversed from a premarket dip.
Sales of standard Eylea, on the other hand, were light at $1.2 billion, down 16%. Analysts called for $1.24 billion, RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams said in a client note. Excluding a one-time $40 million inventory charge, Eylea sales would have been in line, he said.
"Given significant concerns about the Eylea number we were hearing from many investors going into the quarter, we believe (sales) may actually have been better than many had expected," he said.
Regeneron Stock: Better Than Feared
Abrahams kept his outperform rating and 1,189 price target on Regeneron stock.
Overall, revenue ticked down 1% to $3.15 billion, missing forecasts for $3.23 billion, according to FactSet. Adjusted earnings were also light at $9.55 a share, a decline of more than 5%. The Street projected a higher $10.18 per share.
Revenue included $1.76 billion from the products Regeneron markets. Those sales climbed 6%. Regeneron also partners with Sanofi and Bayer on a number of drugs, and notched $1.27 billion from collaboration revenue, up nearly 10%.
Regeneron stock is forming a flat base with a buy point at 998.33, according to MarketSurge. That's Regeneron's record high, achieved Feb. 28.
A Potential COPD Delay
Less promisingly, Regeneron issued a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, noting the Food and Drug Administration has requested additional analyses of patients who received Dupixent for their chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD.
This could lead to a delay in the FDA's review, RBC's Abrahams said.
"It does not appear this will necessarily be a significant issue," he said. "Regeneron has a history of responding quickly to FDA requests, and even if there were a three-month delay, we would not view this as material as we expect much of the uptake to begin in 2025 anyway as Regeneron and Sanofi build the biologics market."
The COPD market is worth more than $4 billion, he said.
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