Update on Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX)
Following up on Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX) here. This week the company closed the purchase of the U.S. rights to FYCOMPA from Eisai. This is an epilepsy drug that will add revenue and earnings in the current year. FYCOMPA sales in 2022 should be about $136 million. That compares to Catalyst’s expected 2022 revenue of $205 to $210 million, so it’s a sizeable addition. It’s also a relatively efficient drug to sell for Catalyst given that about 45% of physician-related sales calls for FIRDAPSE overlap with FYCOMPA. This was expected, but it’s good to get confirmation.
After falling sharply on Monday (I sent out a Special Bulletin detailing why) on the news of Teva’s (TEVA) FDA filing for a generic version of FIRDAPSE, shares of CPRX have bounced back a little and are now up 8% from their closing level on Monday. This dispute is now moving into the courts (again, refer to my previous Special Bulletin for details). We don’t have any new information on that front.
I’ll continue to dig for information on this. We’ll hear from Teva when it reports earnings on the morning of February 8. That might provide a few clues. We don’t have an earnings date for Catalyst yet. I honestly don’t expect this legal challenge to be resolved quickly. But then again there could be some deal making going on behind the scenes. I’ll provide updates as we move forward, and until we have some clarity, CPRX remains a hold. HOLD
