On October 28, 2021 PharmaMar Group (MSE: PHM) reported that recurring revenues, comprising net sales plus royalties received from sales by our partners, increased by 31% year-on-year to €119 million for the first 9 months of the year (Press release, PharmaMar, OCT 28, 2021, View Source [SID1234596672]).

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As in previous quarters, the increase in recurring revenues was mainly driven by the good performance of our oncology business unit. Oncology sales revenues reached €88.7 million year-to-date in 2021, an increase of 21% compared with the same period last year.

It is worth highlighting the growth in revenues from Zepzelca (lurbinectedin) in Europe under the compassionate use authorization program, which amounted to €23.3 million through September 30th. This represents an increase of 77.7% when compared with the same period last year. Yondelis (trabectedin) sales remained stable in 9M 2021, €56.5 million compared to €57.1 million in 9M 2020.

Royalty revenues amounted to €27.2 million in 9M 2021, compared to €7.4 million over the same period in 2020. This significant increase was mainly driven by royalties received from our partner Jazz Pharmaceuticals, which accounted for €25.2 million and have been entirely generated as a result of sales of lurbinectedin in the US. As our partner Jazz Pharmaceuticals has not reported its 3Q 2021 results yet, our recorded 3Q 2021 royalties are an estimate based on our conservative, best available information.

Revenues from licensing agreements refer, both in 2020 and in 2021, to the licensing agreement signed with Jazz Pharmaceuticals in 2019, reaching €24.4 million in 3Q 2021, and €130.4 million in 3Q 2020. This difference is due to the recording as revenue of the upfront payment for the license agreement, as well as the milestone for the approval of lurbinectedin in the US. Both events occurred in the first half of 2020 and are being recognized on the income statement, based on the degree of progress of the contractual commitments.

PharmaMar plans to commence a confirmatory trial with lurbinectedin in second-line recurrent Small-Cell Lung Cancer at the end of 2021. This will be a three-arm clinical trial comparing lurbinectedin in monotherapy or in combination with irinotecan, versus the investigators’ choice of irinotecan or topotecan. If positive, this trial will be used with the US FDA to confirm the benefit of lurbinectedin in the treatment of Small-Cell Lung Cancer when patients progress after first-line treatment with a platinum-based regimen, as well as with the European Medicine Agency as a registration trial in Europe.

GENOMICA, PharmaMar Group’s molecular diagnostics company, reported net revenues of €3.5 million up to September 30th, 2021, compared to €10.5 million in the same period of 2020. This difference was mainly due to increased competition in the market for COVID-19 tests, both PCR, lateral flow and antibody tests, which led to lower prices. Similarly, the decrease in the incidence of COVID-19 has considerably reduced the use of these tests.

As a result, PharmaMar Group’s total revenues for the first 9 months of 2021 amounted to €143.9 million, compared to €222.2 million over the same period of 2020, which, as mentioned above, included the upfront payment for the licensing agreement with Jazz Pharmaceuticals and the milestone payment for the approval of
lurbinectedin in the US.

The Group’s R&D expenditure increased by 21.2% to €47.4 million during the first nine months of 2021, compared with €39.1 million in the same period last year.

As a result, PharmaMar Group posted a net profit of €54.7 million on September 30th, 2021.

As of September 30th, 2021, the PharmaMar Group had cash, and cash equivalents, plus financial investments of €222.0 million and a total debt of €50.7 million. As a result, total net cash amounted to €171.3 million.

Earnings conference call for analysts and investors

PharmaMar will hold a conference call with analysts and investors on Friday, October 29th at 1:00 pm (CEST). The numbers to connect to the teleconference are +34 91 901 16 44 (from Spain), +1 646 664 1960 (from the US or Canada) or +44 20 3936 2999 (other countries). Participant access code: 296923.

The teleconference and recording will be available on PharmaMar’s website, by visiting the Events Calendar section of the company’s website at www.pharmamar.com.