Infinity Provides Pipeline Update - Analyst Blog

Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. (INFI) recently provided an update on its pipeline and issued its guidance for 2013. The company expects to report data from both its development programs - phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K) and heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) - in the first half of 2013.

These two programs target areas like hematologic malignancies, inflammatory diseases and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Candidates in Infinity Pharma’s PI3K inhibitor program include IPI-145 and IPI-443 among others.

The company is developing IPI-145 for the treatment of hematologic malignancies and expects to initiate around five cohort expansions in its ongoing phase I trial of the candidate by the first half of this year. The company expects to determine the phase II dose of the candidate in the first half of 2013 and initiate at least two additional studies on IPI-145 this year.

Infinity Pharma is also evaluating IPI-145 for rheumatoid arthritis and mild, allergic asthma. The company plans to initiate a phase II study in the first half of 2013 in rheumatoid arthritis and provide an update on a phase IIb study in the second half of the year in allergic asthma patients.

The company is set to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the initiation of a phase I study on IPI-443 after completing its non-clinical studies on the candidate by year end.

Meanwhile, Infinity Pharma is developing retaspimycin hydrochloride (HCl) which is under the company’s Hsp90 inhibitor program. The company will be reporting data from two studies on the candidate, one in combination with Sanofi’s (SNY) Taxotere (docetaxel) and another in combination with Novartis’ (NVS) Afinitor (everolimus) in the first half of 2013.

2013 Outlook

Besides providing its pipeline update, Infinity Pharma announced its financial guidance for 2013. The company expects to incur around $115 million–$125 million as operating expenses in 2013 which is lower than the company’s current 2012 operating expense guidance of $125 million–$135 million. Infinity Pharma pegged the net loss for the year also in the range of $115 million to $125 million.

The company expects to exit 2013 with cash and investments balance of about $210 million and $220 million. We note that the company had $327 million in cash and investments (unaudited) at the end of 2012. Infinity Pharma believes with its current cash position, it can easily fund its operations till 2015.

Our Recommendation

We currently have a Neutral recommendation on Infinity Pharma. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). However, other pharma stocks like Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ONXX) and Valeant Pharma (VRX) carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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