Biohaven Pharmaceuticals’ newly approved migraine drug brought in nearly $10 million for the company during the first full quarter since its launch, company officials said Monday.
The New Haven company reported revenue of $9.7 million between April and June, slightly more than Wall Street analysts expected. A consensus estimate from Zacks Investment Research predicted revenues of $9.14 million for quarter two.
The migraine drug, Nurtec ODT (orally dissolving tablet), is Biohaven’s only revenue-producing product. No revenues were reported for the second quarter of last year.
CEO Vlad Coric, MD, said in a conference call with investors that the launch of Nurtec has exceeded the company’s initial expectations, especially since it coincided with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March.
He said Biohaven now leads the competition for oral calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) therapies with a market share of 52.6% when measured by new prescriptions written to patients who have never taken the drug before.
This gives Nurtec a slight edge over competitor Allergan (now owned by Abbvie), which beat Biohaven to market with the first oral CGRP drug, Ubrelvy, early this year. CGRP treatments are part of a new class of migraine drugs that work by blocking a brain chemical that transmits pain.
“As the second-to-market oral CGRP, this is a tremendous accomplishment for our team and a testament to our best-in-class product profile to become the new-to-brand leader approximately one quarter after our launch,” Coric said during the call.
The company reported a net loss of $180.9 million, or $3.08 per share, for the quarter, compared to $211.1 million ($4.67 per share) for the same period in 2019.
Adjusted for one-time transactions, Biohaven’s net loss was $150 million, or $2.55 per share, slightly less than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.78 per share, but higher than the year-ago loss of $1.32.
The company said it had $263.9 million in cash on hand and access to $725 million in non-equity-based financings, enough to support commercial and development operations into 2022. It had $429.2 million in cash as of Dec. 31.
Biohaven’s stock (NYSE: BHVN) was trading at $62.57 as of mid-morning Tuesday, up from Monday’s close of $61.95.
Shares were up almost 3.5% in premarket trading following the earnings release Monday, according to Zacks Investment Research.
Contact Natalie Missakian at news@newhavenbiz.com.
