Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc: New Name, Same Waiting Game

Ionis Pharmaceuticals released fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, the first time since renaming itself from Isis Pharmaceuticals, but it was business as usual at the biotech, with management more focused on the pipeline than the earnings -- as it should be.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals results: The raw numbers

Q4 2015 Actuals

Q4 2014 Actuals

Growth (YOY)

Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments

$779 million

$729 million

7%

Data source: Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

What happened with Ionis Pharmaceuticals this quarter?

  • Cash is the most important number investors should watch at unprofitable companies, and Ionis Pharmaceuticals has done a good job at keeping its level high, even increasing it in 2015 thanks to getting more than $320 million in cash from partners.
  • But the biotech reported a net loss for the quarter and full year; the difference in cash and earnings has to do with reporting requirements for when cash from partners is booked -- typically over a series of years even though Ionis gets the cash all at once.
  • The company gained rights to Kynamro back from Sanofi's Genzyme division in January. The drug was always presumed to be a big flop because Sanofi never disclosed sales, so ending the partnership isn't a big surprise and could offer upside that Ionis could find another partner.
  • On the pipeline front, Ionis had a busy end of the year with the initiation of quite a few clinical trials and data readouts for others, including IONS-TTRRx at theFirst European Congress on Hereditary ATTRamyloidosis and IONS-APO(a)-Rx and its related compound IONS-APO(a)-LRx at American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

What management had to sayWhen confronted about Sanofi's Genzyme handing back Kynamro and whether the company could finally let investors know how many patients are on the drug, Ionis' Chairman, President and CEO Stan Crooke was a little wishy-washy:

Image source: Sanofi.

On the pipeline front, Ionis' CFO Beth Hougen threw out the "p" word: "Efforts are under way to prepare for the commercial launch of our phase 3 drugs, any one of which has the potential to make us profitable." I'd get excited about how she said "any" of the late-stage drugs could make the company profitable, but she also qualified it with "has the potential."

Looking forwardThis year will still be an unprofitable year for Ionis, but the company is expecting revenue of more than $240 million, most of which will come from partners, including a $55 million milestone payment from Bayer for advancing IONIS-FXIRx. And the potential for a $25 million milestone from AstraZenecafor advancing a drug in their cardiometabolic collaboration.

Ionis thinks it'll end the year with a cash balance in excess of $600 million, which should put it in good shape going into 2017, when there will be multiple phase 3 readouts resulting in the potential approval of multiple drugs.

The article Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc: New Name, Same Waiting Game originally appeared on Fool.com.

Brian Orelli has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Ionis Pharmaceuticals. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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