Cancer drug developer ImmunoGen takes bigger loss
ImmunoGen 2nd-quarter loss nearly doubles as it waits for ruling on cancer drug T-DM1
WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) -- Drug developer ImmunoGen Inc. said Friday its fiscal second quarter nearly doubled, as it continued developing treatments for cancer.
ImmunoGen does not have any approved drugs. Its most advanced experimental product is T-DM1, which includes the main ingredient in Roche's drug Herceptin, used mainly to treat breast cancer. The Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to make a decision on T-DM1 by Feb. 26.
ImmunoGen said it expects to report clinical trial results from its three most advanced wholly-owned drugs in 2013 and will start clinical testing of a fourth drug.
The company is developing T-DM1 through a partnership with Roche. The drug contains trastuzumab, the active ingredient in Herceptin, with a second drug and a chemical that keeps the drugs linked until they reach a cancer cell, where the cocktail can be released. ImmunoGen developed the technology that combined the drugs, and it will get royalty payments on sales if the product is approved.
The companies have asked the FDA and European regulators to approve T-DM1 as a treatment for breast cancer. Roche is running additional clinical trials of T-DM1, studying the drug in different settings as a treatment for breast cancer as well as gastric cancer. ImmunoGen is running its own trials of drugs designed to treat lung cancer and multiple myeloma, ovarian cancer, and blood cancers.
In the fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, ImmunoGen said it lost $24.4 million, or 29 cents per share. A year ago it took a loss of $12.8 million, or 17 cents per share.
A 10-percent increase in the number of outstanding shares made the loss in the recent quarter seem smaller on a per-share basis.
Revenue fell to $2.6 million from $7.6 million, because the company received fewer payments from its drug development partners.
Analysts were expecting a loss of 25 cents per share and $5.2 million in revenue, according to FactSet.
Shares of ImmunoGen lost 48 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $14.87 in midday trading.
