ANN ARBOR–Officials at Esperion Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ESPR) announced record revenue in the second quarter ended June 30, as its cholesterol-fighting drugs Nexletol and Nexlizet have been approved for use by regulators.
Revenue was $212.2 million in the second quarter, up from $982,000 a year earlier. Net income was $124.6 million or $4.32 a share, up from a loss of $54.2 million or $2.01 a share a year earlier.
For the first half of 2020, revenue was $214.1 million, up from $146.4 million a year earlier. Net income was $46.4 million or $1.60 a share, up from $33.2 million or $1.16 a share a year earlier.
“Esperion is in a stronger position today than ever before, fortified by the significant business achievements of our lipid management team,” said Tim Mayleben, president and CEO. “We successfully navigated through the unprecedented environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic to launch our first two medicines, deliver on our partnerships in Japan and Europe, and strengthen our balance sheet. The early feedback from U.S. healthcare providers and payers on Nexletol and Nexlizet has been extraordinary, reflecting strong positioning as affordable, complementary, convenient, oral, once-daily LDL-C lowering medicines and further confirmed by the broad, high-quality managed care coverage we’ve already secured so early in our commercial launch. While stay at home orders that were in effect across the U.S. for most of the quarter shifted the deployment of our field sales team, July prescription volumes demonstrate that all the pieces are now in place for healthcare providers and patients to access our medicines in volume.”
Research and development expenses were $35 million for the second quarter of 2020 and $69.7 million for the six months ended June 30, down from $42.8 million and $89.1 million for the comparable periods in 2019. The decrease stemmed from a decline in costs related to clinical trials and regulatory affairs.
Selling, general and administrative expenses were $47.7 million for the second quarter of 2020 and $89.2 million for the six months ended June 30, up from $13.5 million and $25.7 million for the comparable periods in 2019. The increase was due mostly to costs to commercialize the two drugs, increases in staffing, increased stock-based compensation expense, and other efforts to support the company’s growth.
Officials said research and development expenses for the full year 2020 are expected to be $135 million to $145 million. Selling, general and administrative expenses for the full year 2020 are expected to be $200 million to $210 million. These amounts do not include $30 million in non-cash stock-based compensation. They also said they expect that current cash resources, coupled with revenue from Nexletol and Nexlizet product sales are sufficient to fund continued operations through profitability.
To listen to a conference call discussing these results, visit investor.esperion.com.
Esperion’s drugs have been shown to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the blood through a different mechanism than today’s statin drugs, which can cause muscle weakness and other side effects in some users.