Regeneron shares rose 1.7% to $596.88, beating analysts' estimates. Their patient visits and eye drug sales increased due to lockdowns.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals surpassed past analysts’ estimates for quarterly profit on Thursday. The company also announced it would produce 80,000 doses of the Covid-19 antibody treatment by the end of this month, and 300,000 doses by end-January.
Meanwhile, Regeneron's sales of Eylea, its eye drug, increased to $2.10 billion in the third quarter, beating estimates of $1.75 billion, according to four analysts polled by Refinitiv.
Dupixent's sales rose 69.4% to $1.07 billion, inching past estimates of $1.06 billion. This drug is used to treat eczema and asthma.
Net profit soared to $842.1 million, or $7.39 per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, from $669.6 million, or $5.86 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, Regeneron shares had $8.36 each, defeating estimates of $7.14.
Total revenue increased by 31.6% to $2.29 billion, also surpassing estimates of $2.09 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Emergency use authorization
An analyst noted the production of the drug could be slightly delayed, as the company needs U.S. emergency use authorization.
Earlier this month, Regeneron has asked the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization for its coronavirus antibody treatment.
Regeneron previously issued a statement saying that “if an EUA is granted the government has committed to making these doses available to the American people at no cost and would be responsible for their distribution.”
The therapy is accessible to about 50,000 patients, according to the biotech firm, “and we expect to have doses available for 300,000 patients in total within the next few months.”
According to Regeneron, preclinical studies revealed that REGN-COV2 lessened the amount of virus and associated damage in the lungs of non-human primates. The biotech firm has worked with Roche to boost the global supply of REGN-COV2.
“If REGNCOV2 proves safe and effective in clinical trials and regulatory approvals are granted, Regeneron will manufacture and distribute it in the U.S. (beyond the initial U.S. Government supply) and Roche will develop, manufacture and distribute it outside the U.S.,” the company said.
“Last discussion we had with management indicated 300K by year-end 2020,” said Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Raymond.
The U.S. government signed a deal in June to purchase up to 300,000 doses of the Regeneron antibody cocktail for $450 million.
Treatments and vaccines are deemed as important in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic that has killed over a million people all over the world.
Effectiveness of Regeneron treatment
Earlier in October, Regeneron has released early data from tests using its antibody cocktail in coronavirus patients.
In some of the early results, Regeneron said the antibody cocktail appears to reduce levels of the coronavirus and improve symptoms among patients. The firm claimed that the biggest improvements were observed in patients who hadn’t already mounted a natural response to the infection.
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, the director of the division of infectious diseases at University of Alabama at Birmingham, mentioned that while the results only involve 275 patients of the 1,000 enrolled in this particular trial, they appear “very promising”.
According to Regeneron, the antibody cocktail also showed positive trends at reducing medical visits for the patients, who were not sick enough to be hospitalized at the beginning of the trial.
However, the numbers in this early release of information were small and are yet to be peer-reviewed. The company posted a news release of only the topline data.
