=CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) reported earnings on Tue 8 May 2018 (b/o)

CRISPR Therapeutics beats by $0.05, misses on revs; on track to file an IND for CTX101 by YE18 

• Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.62 per share, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.67); revenues fell 49.6% year/year to $1.36 mln vs the $3.64 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Corporate Update
  • After announcing the acceptance of the first Clinical Trial Application (CTA), CRISPR, together with its partner, Vertex (VRTX), remains on track to initiate a Phase 1/2 trial to assess the safety and efficacy of CTX001 in patients with transfusion dependent -thalassemia in the second half of 2018. In addition, the Company remains on track to begin clinical studies for CTX001 in SCD in 2018. CTX001 is an autologous gene-edited hematopoietic stem cell therapy for patients suffering from severe hemoglobinopathies.
  • CRISPR remains on track to file an IND for CTX101, its lead allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy targeted toward CD19+ malignancies, by year-end 2018. At the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting held in April 2018, CRISPR presented data demonstrating the generation of CAR-T cells targeted toward BCMA and CD70 through CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing that have high editing rates, consistent expression, and selective and potent cell killing.
• Cash as of March 31, 2018 was $341.8 million, compared to $239.8 million as of December 31, 2017, an increase of $102.0 million. The increase in cash was primarily driven by the January 2018 follow-on offering.