Mesoblast revenue doubled by coronavirus treatment
Mesoblast’s revenue has surged thanks largely to the biotech’s treatment for patients with coronavirus complications.
Stem cell-focused biotech Mesoblast has more than doubled its revenue in its first three quarters to $US31.5m ($47.58m), as it surges ahead on a treatment for patients with potentially lethal coronavirus complications.
The jump in revenue in the nine months to March 31 helped reduce the company’s net loss to $US43.3m from $US69.1m a year earlier.
Chief executive Silviu Itescu said the result was largely due to the success of its drug remestemcel-L, which is currently being trialled in the US on patients with serious COVID-19 complications.
The company initially developed the drug to treat children with steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease.
Dr Itescu said Mesoblast had received an 81 per cent surge in royalty revenues to $US5.9m from sales of TEMCELL HS from its licensee for steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease in Japan.
Meanwhile, milestone revenues had soared 127 per cent to $US25m from strategic partnerships with Grünenthal GmbH and Tasly in China.
“This past quarter has underscored the value of our lead product candidate remestemcel-L and the experience we have gained in its use over recent years in patients with severe cytokine release syndromes.”
Immune cells secrete inflammatory cytokines to fight the disease, but those cytokines can destroy lung tissue and damage other organs, including the liver, kidneys and heart.
The same immune response is seen in coronavirus-infected patients who have developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Remestemcel-L aims to suppress that response.
“We are ... proud to be developing remestemcel-L as a potential very important therapy in the battle against COVID-19,” Dr Itescu said.
“A phase 3 randomised controlled trial in the United States is underway to confirm the remarkable pilot data from compassionate use of remestemcel-L in COVID-19 infected patients with moderate to severe ARDS, and to definitively determine whether this product candidate can contribute meaningfully to this urgent, unmet medical need.”
In the meantime the company is awaiting marketing approval of RYONCIL(remestemcel-L) in children with steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease. Dr Itescu said it is currently under priority review by the US Food and Drug Administration and he expected to make the product available to patients suffering from the life-threatening inflammatory condition next year.
After a strong rally in the past two months, rising from a low of $1.10, Mesoblast shares eased 3.91 per cent on Thursday to $3.69. This compared with the broader sharemarket gaining 1.3 per cent.
Mesoblast is also in talks with the federal government about launching local clinical trials of its experimental treatment to help the worst-affected COVID-19 patients fight the novel coronavirus.
The Australian understands Mesoblast is awaiting an answer on funding for the trials from the Morrison government. The US government, through the National Institutes of Health, is funding the US study.
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