Vertex Pharma reports 3Q loss

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Tuesday reported a loss of $41.8 million in its third quarter.

On a per-share basis, the Boston-based company said it had a loss of 17 cents. Earnings, adjusted for stock option expense and non-recurring costs, were 16 cents per share.

The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 19 cents per share.

The drugmaker posted revenue of $413.8 million in the period, which also did not meet Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $419.8 million. Vertex said sales of its two treatments for cystic fibrosis — Orkambi and Kalydeco — rose 38 percent to $410 million.

Separately, the company announced it was advancing two compounds into mid-stage testing as potential treatments for the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, a deadly disease that affects the digestive system and lungs, making it difficult to breathe. Data from the studies of VX-400 and VX-152 are expected in the second half of 2017.

Vertex shares have declined 38 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen almost 5 percent. Shares closed Tuesday at $78.71, a drop of 31 percent in the last 12 months. The stock rallied 6 percent in after-hours trading, to $83.38

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on VRTX at http://www.zacks.com/ap/VRTX

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Keywords: Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Earnings Report