The San Francisco-based biotech company’s stock has been on a roll in recent months. Rigel Pharmaceuticalhas approved hematology and oncology treatments as well as potential new drugs in the pipeline.
The company’s stock price has risen about 50% in the past three months alone, earning it a spot on CNBC’s list of top performing stocks for City-by-the-Bay-based companies. To find the stocks, CNBC screened regionally based stocks with market capitalizations above $500 million. We then screened the top performers over the past three months via FactSet.
“Our business is growing significantly,” CEO Raul Rodriguez said in an interview with CNBC’s Brian Sullivan. “(We’ve) grown an average of 30% over four years, and this year we’ve grown about 50%…We’re adding new products, growing those products, staying financially disciplined and profitable.”
Rigel Pharmaceuticals Year to date
Rigel announced second-quarter results in August, beating analyst expectations. The company’s earnings were $3.28 per share, compared to the expectations of analysts surveyed by FactSet of $2.58 per share. Revenue was $101.7 million, well above the consensus estimate of $88.9 million. The company also raised its full-year sales forecast to a range of $270 million to $280 million, up from its previous forecast of $200 million to $210 million.
We also saw growth across the three drugs currently on the market. Tavalisse treats patients with low platelet counts due to chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Gabreto is a lung cancer treatment, and Reslihya is a treatment for adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 (IDH1) mutations.
Two clinical programs are currently underway, one of which is partner-led. Eli Lilly An autoimmune and inflammatory disease treatment drug called Ocadusertib. The other, which Rigel calls R289, is aimed at treating patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (LR-MDS), a type of blood cancer.
R289 is currently in early clinical trials, and Rodriguez hopes to present some data at the American Society of Hematology meeting in December.
“We are starting a new phase of the trial and are adding significantly more patients,” he said. “So by the end of next year we will be able to say more definitively about this product and this indication.”
Rigel is scheduled to release its latest quarterly results on November 4th.
Correction: Rigel’s R289 treats patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. The company offers hematology and oncology treatments. A previous version of this article misstated the drug’s name.
