-
The new indication is relatively rare in the US, but the price is substantial and the need for treatment is significant.
-
The positive update turns the company’s fortunes around after a disappointing update earlier in the year.
-
10 stocks we like better than Agios Pharmaceuticals ›
Actions in Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AGIO) it shot up more than 18% at 11am today. The move follows the company’s receipt of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for AQVESME (mitapivat) for the treatment of anemia in both non-transfusion-dependent and transfusion-dependent alpha or beta thalassemia. Additionally, management held a positive conference call to discuss the approval and outlined its marketing and pricing plans.
Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that causes the body to produce an insufficient amount of the protein hemoglobin, leading to excessive tiredness and weakness and ultimately increased morbidity. Mitapivat targets the internal mechanism of the red blood cells themselves, allowing the red blood cells to be stronger and longer lasting. As such, it is expected to reduce patients’ fatigue and need for transfusions.
During the conference call, the pharmaceutical company’s management noted that it had an “addressable launch population” of 4,000 patients (thalassemia is a relatively rare disease in the US, but more common worldwide) and a price tag of $425,000 per year in the US.
Combined with its approval in other indications (mitapivat is already approved by the FDA for adults with pyruvate kinase deficiency (PKD) and management believes it has the “potential to generate peak annual sales of $1 billion in PKD and thalassemia indications.”That could increase if migration trends toward the United States draw more potential thalassemia patients and their offspring to the U.S. market.
It is a positive result after a previous disappointment with mitapivat in an essay on sickle cell anemiaand the company is on track to rapidly expand sales following this approval.
Before you buy Agios Pharmaceuticals stock, consider this:
He Varied and Dumb Stock Advisor The analyst team has just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Agios Pharmaceuticals was not one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you would have $504,239!* Or when NVIDIA made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you would have $1,159,896!*