United Therapeutics reported Q3 earnings of $276.3 million or $6.37 per share Wednesday, topping analysts’ estimates of $4.01 per share.
Based in Silver Springs, Maryland and Research Triangle Park, the company posted $445 million in revenue, which also beat analyst consensus estimates by Zack’s Investment Research of $430.9 million.
CEO and chair Martine Rothblatt said the company’s Orenitram drug for pulmonary arterial hypertension sufferers saw net revenues grow by 29 percent in Q3 compared to the same period last year.
Revenues for the three months ended September 30, 2017 increased by $37.3 million as compared to the same period in 2016. The growth in revenues resulted from the following:
- a $34.9 million increase in Remodulin net product sales;
- an $11.8 million increase in Orenitram net product sales; and
- a $3.8 million increase in Adcirca net product sales.
An international distributor made a one-time purchase of Remodulin inventory of $47.4 million due to an expansion of the distributor’s commercial responsibilities. Because the payment terms span two quarters, this purchase increased United Therapeurtics net revenues by $23.7 million during the three months ended September 30.
An additional increase of $23.7 million is expected in the fourth quarter.
The increase in research and development expense of $24.8 million for the quarter, as compared to the same period in 2016, was driven by the expansion of the company’s pipeline programs to treat cardiopulmonary diseases and cancer and to develop technologies in organ manufacturing.
During a conference call, the company said its technology under development is intended to increase the supply and distribution of transplantable organs and could potentially double or triple the number of lung transplants, for instance.
United Therapeutics (Nasdaq:UTHR) stock price rose $7.34 or 6.3 percent to $126.40 a share in mid-morning trading Wednesday.
