Peregrine Pharma’s Revenues and EPS Miss Estimates (PPHM)

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc.

just reported fiscal Q4 earnings, which misses analysts’ estimates. The company reported that Q4 EPS came in at a loss of $0.16 per share on revenue of $4.42 million; this compares to the analysts consensus of a loss of $0.09 per share on revenue of $6.78 million. The company also announced today that it has initiated a second randomized Phase IIb non-small cell lung cancer trial, this one in front-line patients. The clinical trial will compare bavituximab plus carboplatin and paclitaxel versus treatment with carboplatin and paclitaxel alone. A first-in-class phosphatidylserine targeting monoclonal antibody, bavituximab is now being evaluated in combination with standard chemotherapy in two Phase IIb trials, the first in refractory patients and the second in front-line NSCLC patients. Positive data from a previous Phase II signal-seeking trial which preceded this new Phase IIb trial were recently presented at the ASCO 2010 Annual Meeting. "Our clinical, scientific, and operational progress this quarter was unparalleled in the history of our company," said Steven W. King, president and CEO of Peregrine. He also noted, "Building on promising results from three Phase II trials demonstrating bavituximab's broad-spectrum potential in oncology, we recently launched two new randomized Phase IIb trials in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)." "These trials are designed to support independent regulatory paths, in refractory and front-line NSCLC, for our novel monoclonal antibody bavituximab. Looking ahead, we expect to generate important clinical data and news flow from our open-label front-line NSCLC trial, as well as from multiple company-sponsored trials and planned investigator-sponsored trials, building to unblinding top-line data from our refractory Phase IIb NSCLC trial by the end of 2011." Shares of PPHM were trading lower by 1.58%, at $1.87 in the after-hours.