Shares in United Therapeutics (NSDQ:UTHR) fell today even though the biotech beat expectations on Wall Street with its second quarter results.
The company recorded a net loss for the quarter and revealed that it has set aside $210 million for a possible settlement with the Dept. of Justice, according to United’s quarterly regulatory filing.
The DOJ is reportedly investigating whether the company’s work with patient-assistance groups violates federal laws barring kickbacks and false claims.
“Although we believe that we would successfully defend any action the DOJ might bring, we are engaged in settlement negotiations with the DOJ as part of our efforts to resolve the matter,” United wrote.
The Silver Spring, Md.-based company posted a loss of -$56 million, or -$1.25 per share, on sales of $444.6 million for the 3 months ended June 30, for sales growth of 8% compared with the same period last year.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were $4.37, ahead of consensus on The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $391.5 million.
“Our second quarter total net revenues reached $445 million, our highest quarterly net revenue level ever,” chairman & CEO Martine Rothblatt said in prepared remarks.”We continue to believe that Orenitram is well-positioned given the large and growing number of pulmonary arterial hypertension patients in need of a true prostacyclin analogue therapy following their use of other oral therapies, and we think we are beginning to see the early signs of this transition reflected in Orenitram’s 21% growth in second quarter net revenues as compared to the second quarter of 2016. We are also advancing a growing number of pipeline priorities such as our new chemical entity esuberaprost, which has fully enrolled its phase III Beat study, our phase III studies of new indications related to pulmonary fibrosis and heart failure, and our new organ manufacturing technologies, since lung transplantation is currently the only curative treatment for PAH.”
UTHR shares were trading at $125.08 apiece today in afternoon activity, down -4.8%.
