On April 13, 2020 Coherus BioSciences, Inc. ("Coherus" or "the Company", Nasdaq: CHRS), reported preliminary unaudited revenue for UDENYCA and net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 (Press release, Coherus Biosciences, APR 13, 2020, View Source [SID1234556258]). Coherus also provided an update on the impact of COVID-19 for first quarter 2020 as well as additional insights on COVID-19 impact for the balance of 2020.
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First Quarter 2020 Financials and Update
The Company expects preliminary unaudited first quarter 2020 net product revenue to be between $115.0 million and $117.5 million, a 210% to 217% increase compared to the net product revenue of $37.1 million for the first quarter of 2019. Preliminary unaudited first quarter 2020 net income is expected to be between $33.5 million and $38.0 million, compared to a net loss of $(20.0) million for the first quarter of 2019. These financial results reflect a modest COVID-19 impact in March 2020.
First quarter 2020 showed good unit growth for the pegfilgrastim class with the last four weeks of March having 6% growth over the previous four weeks according to the IQVIA March 27, 2020 report. A 6% increase, year-over-year, for pegfilgrastim was also seen according to the report. Specifically, UDENYCA saw a 7% unit growth in the last four weeks ending March 27, 2020 over the previous four weeks as the COVID-19 crisis accelerated.
Second Quarter 2020 and Second Half 2020 Insights
There are reasons to expect that the adverse effects we are experiencing and expect to continue to experience from COVID-19 in the second quarter and second half of 2020 will be transient and most significant during the period that the COVID-19 pandemic is having its greatest impact on the medical system and personal behaviors. We expect that patients and physicians will balance the need for the administration of drugs, such as pegfilgrastim, which are indicated for curable cancer treatment or other serious diseases against the risks associated with COVID-19.
Patients who have already initiated chemotherapy, especially with curative intent, appear to be continuing on therapy, as any dose reduction or delay could have a significant impact on survival.
Coherus believes referrals and cancer diagnoses could recover as referring providers determine ways to navigate the new environment and previously delayed treatments are initiated.
"We think it’s important when projecting second quarter COVID-19 impact to look primarily at recent pegfilgrastim sales and demand data in the context of current customer feedback, and not to impute trends from other drugs such as antiemetics. Additionally, any preliminary usage trends for such drugs at an early stage of the Covid-19 crisis may not be good predictive models for overall pegfilgrastim use, or pegfilgrastim use during the second quarter of 2020," stated Chris Thompson, Senior Vice President, Sales at Coherus.
Declines in referrals and cancer diagnoses are potentially compensated for by revised National Comprehensive Cancer Network ("NCCN") treatment guidelines that recommend growth factor use in chemotherapy regimens where there is at least a 10% risk of febrile neutropenia. This new guidance expands the previous guidelines of a greater than 20% risk of febrile neutropenia, thereby potentially increasing overall usage of pegfilgrastim.