Inovio Pharma shares fall on Q1 miss

Shares in Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ:INO) have fallen today after the biotech company missed expectations on Wall Street with its first quarter earnings results.

The Plymouth Meeting, Penn.-based company posted losses of $32.4 million, or 36¢ per share, on sales of $1.5 million for the three months ended March 31, seeing losses grow 40.1% while sales shrunk 85.3% compared with the same period during the previous year.

Losses per share were much larger than the 14¢ consensus on Wall Street, where analysts expected to see sales of $16.4 million, which the company did not meet.

“During the first quarter of 2018, Inovio has made significant progress in its clinical trials, while continuing to secure corporate partnerships and obtain significant non-dilutive funding. These accomplishments further validate our proprietary Aspire technology targeting cancer and emerging infectious diseases in addition to positioning us as a global leader for treating a wide spectrum of HPV-related diseases. We look forward to building on our treatment capabilities, while continuing to expand on our partnering successes from the first quarter,” prez & CEO Dr. J. Kim said in a press release.

Shares in Inovio have fallen 7.5% so far today, at $4.47 as of 11:23 a.m. EDT.

Last month, Inovio inked a $56 million partnership with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to develop vaccine candidates against Lassa fever and middle east respiratory syndrome.