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Global Blood Therapeutics Reports Q1 Beat, Impressive Oxbryta Sales

Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) has reported a solid first quarter earnings beat, with Q1 GAAP EPS of -$1.20 beating the Street forecast by $0.31. Meanwhile revenue of $14.12M easily topped Street expectations by $10.47M.

Most notably Oxbryta sales for the first quarter were $14.1 million, well above consensus of $3.7 million, and were largely driven by increased clinical experience that drove demand and the number of prescriptions.

Oxbryta (voxelotor) is the first sickle cell treatment for patients aged 12 and above that directly inhibits the sickling and destruction of red blood cells that mark sickle cell disease (SCD).

“Our first quarter performance exceeded our expectations” commented CEO Ted W. Love, M.D. “We have received positive feedback from patients and physicians, with increased awareness of Oxbryta and many patients responding well.”

During the first quarter GBT recorded approximately 1,650 new patient prescriptions of Oxbryta, for a total of approximately 2,000 since launch. The vast majority of new patient prescriptions were enrollments into GBT Source™, the company’s patient support program, the company said.

And while GBT did observe a decline in new patient prescriptions beginning in the second half of March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it “believes this decline is temporary and expects new patient prescriptions to return to pre-COVID levels once the pandemic subsides.”

Looking forward GBT plans to expand Oxbryta to other geographies, as well as to children under 12. The company has a meeting with the both the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the FDA planned for the second quarter to advance these goals.

“Overall we are impressed by the initial launch of Oxbryta and expect prescription demand to ramp back up once COVID-19 subsides” cheered William Blair analyst Raju Prasad as he reiterated his GBT buy rating.

“We view the company’s progress in achieving 25% patient coverage and the number of healthcare providers prescribing Oxbryta positively. While management noted roughly 60% reduction in new patient starts due to COVID-19, we believe that the sickle cell disease market demand is strong” he said.

Based on the strong initial launch and management commentary, Prasad increases his 2020 full-year revenue estimate to $81.6 million and 2021 full year estimate to $207.7 million.

Indeed, the stock has a bullish Strong Buy Street consensus with an average analyst price target of $104 (28% upside potential). Shares are currently trading up 3.4% year-to-date. (See GBT stock analysis on TipRanks).

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Harriet Lefton
Harriet Lefton, originally from the UK, began her career as a journalist specialising in the niche world of metal markets. She graduated from the University of Cambridge before becoming a qualified UK lawyer. Now she has turned her attention to the world of financial blogging, covering US stocks, analysts and all manner of things finance-related.

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