The latest financial report from Jaguar Animal Health ($JAGX) reflects a company that’s struggling to realize the promise of its pipeline of drugs to treat gastrointestinal disorders in animals. The Silicon Valley company has two products on the market--Neonorm Calf and Neonorm Foal--but neither is generating enough revenues to support the company’s pipeline, according to Jaguar’s latest 10Q.
During the most recent quarter, Jaguar’s revenues were $24,143, down from $63,142 in the same period a year ago. But its research and development costs grew 12% to nearly $2 million, and its operating loss rose from $3.2 million to $3.4 million.
Neonorm is derived from Croton lechleri, an Amazonian tree that has long been known for its medicinal properties. In the quarterly report, Jaguar didn’t offer any explanation for why sales of the products fell, saying only, “We are increasing our efforts to promote sales growth.” Jaguar has said it hopes to develop Neonorm line extensions for beef cows, horses, goats and sheep. It recently released positive results from a study in China of Neonorm in piglets.
But Jaguar’s biggest potential revenue generator is Canalevia, a prescription product it is developing to treat diarrhea in dogs. The company released positive results from a proof-of-concept study in early 2015 and is currently completing a pivotal trial. It is also working on SB-300, a prescription product to treat ulcers in horses.
Wall Street showed a flicker of optimism for Jaguar in early June, when the company formed a $15 million stock purchase deal with Aspire Capital Fund and hinted at the possibility that it may strike some sort of agreement with Napo Pharmaceuticals. Jaguar was spun out of Napo in May 2015 but has since struggled to gain much traction as an independent company. Its stock hit $2.25 on the Aspire deal but has since fallen back to $1.38.
Still, the company continues to boost its R&D expertise. On June 25, Jaguar announced it had hired Novartis veteran Roger Waltzman as its chief scientific officer. Waltzman, an oncologist who has spent his career working in human health, helped develop cancer and anti-malarial drugs at Novartis and will lead the development of SB-300 and Canalevia, Jaguar said.
- here’s the 10Q
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