The biotechnology company MorphoSys is sticking to its annual goals in the midst of the corona crisis.
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The biotechnology company MorphoSys benefits from its partnership with the US pharmaceutical company Incyte and is sticking to its annual targets in the midst of the corona pandemic. Management restricted that the crisis could still have an impact on business operations and thus also on forecasts.
In the past first quarter, the MDAX group from Planegg near Munich was able to increase its sales significantly thanks to an advance payment from the Americans and posted a positive result – after red figures in the previous year. Bavaria’s capital cushion has also grown significantly within three months.
MorphoSys’s revenues jumped to EUR 251.2 million in the first quarter, compared to EUR 13.5 million in the same period last year. The company received the advance payment from Incyte as part of the agreed collaboration for the cancer drug tafasitamab.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) came to plus EUR 213.6 million after minus EUR 23.6 million in the previous year. The bottom line was almost 200 million euros, compared to 22.7 million in the first quarter a year earlier, MorphoSys had reported a deficit. The cash register has now also filled up opulently: MorphoSys put its liquidity at 1.1 billion euros – at the end of December it was 357.4 million euros.
MorphoSys is about to launch its first cancer drug, tafasitamab. Preparations for this have been in full swing for a long time. At the beginning of the year, the company signed the contract with Incyte. In the United States, the companies want to market the drug jointly, and outside the United States, the Americans have been granted exclusive marketing rights.
A decision on approval in the United States for the treatment of lymph gland cancer is expected by August 30. MorphoSys has now appointed Roland Wandeler as sales director to oversee operations in the United States and worldwide.
Even the current corona pandemic does not shake the project for tafasitamab – MorphoSys has switched the work on the preparations for the market entry to digital channels. However, it cannot be ruled out that there may be delays in the admission of patients to other tafasitamab studies. Admission and screening for the study with the drug candidate Mor202 will also continue to pause.
In addition, after extensive data analysis, MorphoSys had decided not to exercise the license option for a specific cancer therapy from Vivoryon Therapeutics that had been agreed last July. MorphoSys has held a minority stake in the company since 2019.
MorphoSys shares completely make up for losses from stock market crashes
The shares of MorphoSys did the second big price jump in a row on Thursday.
If they had already increased by 7 percent on Wednesday, they are currently soaring via XETRA a further 12.27 percent to 114.85 euros.
You have thus completely made up for the losses from the phase of the major slump on the stock exchanges.
JPMorgan analyst James Gordon noted that strong first quarter sales also impacted profits. For example, the operating profit (EBIT) exceeded the consensus estimate by more than half. Due to a lower tax rate, the net profit even exceeded the analyst consensus by three quarters. The expert advised to further overweight the papers in the portfolio.
PLANEGG (dpa-AFX)
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