Shares of Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. NTLA were down in pre-market trading on Jan. 10 after the company announced a strategic reorganization to prioritize its portfolio of late-stage pipeline candidates and key anticipated milestones for 2025.
As part of this portfolio reorganization, NTLA is planning to prioritize the development of its investigational in vivo genome-editing candidate, Nexiguran ziclumeran (nex-z, also known as NTLA-2001), which is being studied for two indications, ATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy (ATTRv-PN) and ATTR amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM).
Intellia is developing another pipeline candidate, NTLA-2002, for the treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE).
In the past year, shares of Intellia have plunged 57.3% compared with the industry’s decline of 14.3%.
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NTLA's Strategic Reorganization and Workforce Reduction
Owing to the latest portfolio reorganization, Intellia has decided to stop the development of its in vivo gene insertion candidate, NTLA-3001, for the treatment of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) associated lung disease.
Also, with the strategic reorganization, NTLA is looking to reduce its current workforce by almost 27% over the course of 2025.
The company expects to incur around $8 million in charges related to the reorganization, which is expected to be recorded in the first quarter of 2025.
NTLA had approximately $862 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments at the end of the fourth quarter of 2024.
Per the company, the existing cash balance and the anticipated cost savings from the above-mentioned strategic reorganization are expected to provide the cash runway into the first half of 2027.
NTLA Focused on Late-Stage Pipeline Candidates
Intellia has collaborated with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals REGN for the development of nex-z.
Nex-z is part of the company’s co-development and co-promotion agreement with Regeneron. While NTLA is the lead party in the deal for nex-z, REGN shares 25% of the development costs and commercial profits.
The phase III MAGNITUDE study is evaluating the safety and efficacy of nex-z in patients with ATTR amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy. Enrollment is currently ongoing in the study.
The phase III MAGNITUDE 2 study is actively screening patients with hereditary ATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy, with the first patient expected to be dosed later in the first quarter of 2025. The FDA recently granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation to nex-z for the treatment of ATTRv-PN.
The phase III HAELO study is actively enrolling patients evaluating NTLA-2002 for treating HAE. Intellia plans to dose the first patient in this pivotal study later in the first quarter of 2025. Enrollment in the same is likely to be completed in the second half of 2025.
The company plans to submit a potential biologics license application for NTLA-2002 in HAE in the second half of 2026.
With the latest strategic priorities and expected milestones in 2025, Intellia is looking to evolve from a clinical-stage company to a commercial-ready organization by the end of 2026.
NTLA's Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Intellia currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks from the biotech sector are Puma Biotechnology, Inc. PBYI and CytomX Therapeutics, Inc. CTMX, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
In the past 60 days, estimates for Puma Biotechnology’s 2025 earnings per share have increased from 42 cents to 54 cents. In the past year, shares of PBYI have declined 22.2%.
PBYI’s earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters while missing the same on the remaining occasion, the average surprise being 32.78%.
In the past 60 days, estimates for CytomX Therapeutics’ loss per share have narrowed from 55 cents to 35 cents for 2025. In the past year, shares of CTMX have surged 41.8%.
CTMX’s earnings beat estimates in two of the trailing four quarters while missing the same on the remaining two occasions, the average surprise being 115.70%.
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