Neurocrine Biosciences shares catapulted Tuesday on "surprising commercial momentum" for its newest drug, a treatment for an inherited disorder that affects the adrenal glands.
The drug, Crenessity, treats classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia, or CAH. In this condition, the body doesn't make enough cortisol and often makes too much androgen. This leads to a hormone imbalance that causes serious illnesses, early puberty and other problems.
During the three months ended March 31, Crenessity generated $15 million in sales. There were 413 new patients on the drug, with 70% receiving insurance reimbursement, RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams said in a report.
Abrahams hiked his price target on Neurocrine Biosciences shares to 145 from 137. He kept his outperform rating on the stock.
He noted there could have been "some element of a bolus effect" that contributed to demand and formulary reviews over the year could change price and access. But the strong start prompted him to increase his sales estimate to $124 million for the year.
"With some of the uncertainties aside, we believe NBIX could be viewed again as a steady story well-insulated from most macro dynamics and could continue to appreciate to what we now see as a fair value of $145," he said in a report.
At the close, Neurocrine Biosciences shares jumped 8.4% to 118.92.
Neurocrine Biosciences' Key Drug Also Beats
In addition to strong Crenessity sales, revenue from Neurocrine's bread-and-butter drug, Ingrezza, came in at $545 million, in line with expectations. Ingrezza treats a movement disorder called tardive dyskinesia.
"While seasonal dynamics, one fewer selling week, and (reauthorization) challenges were headwinds as expected, record (patient) starts suggested earlier- than-expected pull-through from salesforce expansion, and apparently manageable contracting dynamics that may only lead to modest net price erosion in 2Q should set the stage for a better rest of '25," Abrahams said.
Neurocrine Biosciences kept its full-year Ingrezza outlook at $2.5 billion to $2.6 billion.
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