Biotech company Seattle Genetics, which develops cancer treatments, reported mixed earnings results on Thursday, its first earnings report since it closed its $614 million acquisition of Cascadian Therapeutics.
The company outperformed its revenue expectations, bringing in $140.6 million in the first quarter of 2018 compared to an analyst prediction of $119.7 million. Its only drug currently on the market, Adcetris, brought in $95.4 million in revenue and $15.7 million in royalties from a deal with Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda.
But high losses kept the quarter from being a runaway financial success. The company lost $111.7 million in the quarter or $0.73 per share. Analysts had expected a much lower $0.41 per share loss.
The high loss isn’t surprising given Seattle Genetics’ continuing pipeline of cancer treatments and the big dollar acquisition that closed this quarter. The company is close to completing three clinical trials that would bring more of its drugs to the market and has twelve other programs that are in earlier stages.
“The first quarter of 2018 marked several significant milestones across our business,” CEO and President Clay Siegall said in the earnings report. “We delivered record ADCETRIS sales that were up 36 percent from the first quarter of 2017, received FDA approval for ADCETRIS in frontline advanced Hodgkin lymphoma, completed the acquisition of Cascadian Therapeutics and were granted FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for our late-stage program enfortumab vedotin in metastatic urothelial cancer… We are striving to build a global oncology company with multiple transformative therapies, and we believe our recent progress illustrates our dedication to making a meaningful difference in patients’ lives.”
Seattle Genetics stock rose just under two percent following the report.
