Shares in United Therapeutics (NSDQ:UTHR) rose today after the biotech beat expectations on Wall Street with its third quarter results.
The Silver Spring, Md.-based company posted profits of $267.3 million, or $6.28 per share, on sales of $445.5 million for the 3 months ended Sept. 30, for bottom-line growth of 71% on sales growth of 9.1% compared with the same period last year.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were $4.69, ahead of consensus on The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $430.9 million.
“Our third quarter net revenues totaled $446 million,” chairman & CEO Martine Rothblatt said in prepared remarks. “We also continued to invest in our growing pipeline of late stage programs in cardiopulmonary diseases and oncology, including the initial enrollment of patients into our phase III Distinct study of dinutuximab in small cell lung cancer, and our Southpaw study of Orenitram in patients with WHO Group 2 pulmonary hypertension associated with left heart failure. Finally, we have continued to invest in our regenerative medicine and organ manufacturing programs to ultimately find a cure for PAH and other end-stage organ diseases.”
UTHR shares were trading at $122.58 apiece today in mid-morning trading, up 3.1%.
Earlier this week, United Therapeutics said that its third-generation inhalation device designed for use with its Tyvaso treprostinil inhalation solution won FDA approval.
Tyvaso first won FDA approval in 2009 as a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension, the company said, with an ultrasonic nebulizer. United Therapeutics touted its drug-device combo as the most-prescribed inhalation therapy for PAD in the U.S.
The TD-300/A device, designed using patient and physician feedback, has a single button and an interface that helps patients get through the inhalation process, according to the company.
