Endocyte (ECYT) Reports Narrower-than-Expected Loss in Q2

Endocyte, Inc. ECYT reported a second-quarter 2016 loss of 25 cents per share, narrower than both the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 26 cents and the year-ago loss of 33 cents.

On the other hand, the company's collaboration revenues remained flat at $13,000 in the reported period.

The Quarter in Detail

Research and development (R&D) expenses were up 1.5% year over year to $6.8 million. The increase was primarily due to an increase in expenses related to the EC1456 and EC1169 dose escalation studies.

General and administrative expenses were up 80.5% to $7.4 million due to an increase in compensation expenses.

2016 Outlook

Endocyte has revised its cash balance guidance. The company now expects cash balance to be above $130 million at the end of 2016 (previous projection: $125–$130 million).

Pipeline Update

Endocyte is focused on the development of two candidates – EC1456 and EC1169 – in phase I studies.

The first part of the phase I study on EC1456 is designed to evaluate safety and tolerability, and identify the maximum tolerated dose MTD of EC1456 in patients with metastatic or locally advanced solid tumors, while the second part will determine the efficacy of the candidate in patients with FR-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with the MTD.

Meanwhile, in the phase I study on EC1169, the first part will evaluate the safety and tolerability, and identify the MTD of EC1169 in patients with prostate cancer. The second part of the study will determine the efficacy of the MTD of the candidate in metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients who have been previously treated with a taxane-based chemotherapy

The company expects to provide updates from these studies on EC1456 and EC1169 later in 2016.

ENDOCYTE INC Price and EPS Surprise

ENDOCYTE INC Price and EPS Surprise | ENDOCYTE INC Quote

Our Take

Endocyte's narrower-than-expected loss in the second-quarter was encouraging. We are also positive on the company's pipeline development efforts. 2016 is going to be a data-rich year for Endocyte and we expect investors to focus on further pipeline updates by the company.

Endocyte carries a Zack Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the health care sector are Anika Therapeutics Inc. ANIK, Geron Corporation GERN and Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated CORT. Each of these stocks sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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