The Mesoblast Ltd (ASX: MSB) share price is blasting off today.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) clinical-stage biotechnology company closed yesterday trading for $1.79. In early afternoon trade on Friday, shares are swapping hands for $2.47 apiece, up a whopping 38.0%.
And this is a $3 billion company we're talking about.
Here's what's spurring ASX investor interest today.
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Mesoblast share price leaps on update
The Mesoblast share price is heading to the moon today following the late morning release of the company's June quarter update.
Investor interest has clearly been piqued after the company announced gross revenue from sales of Ryoncil (remestemcel-L-rknd).
Ryoncil is the first and only FDA-approved mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) product in the United States. The FDA approved it for the treatment of steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease (SR-aGvHD) in children.
Ryoncil only became commercially available for purchase on 28 March. And judging by today's surging Mesoblast share price, the results are already paying off.
Among the financial highlights for the quarter, the ASX 200 biotech stock reported US$13.2 million in unaudited gross revenue from sales of Ryoncil post-launch on 28 March through to 30 June.
Mesoblast also reported US$1.6 million in quarterly revenue from royalties on sales of its TEMCELL product, sold in Japan by its licensee.
On the cost front, the company's net operating cash spend over the three months came to US$16.6 million.
Mesoblast had US$162 million of cash on hand as at 30 June.
What else happened during the quarter?
The Mesoblast share price fell by around 15% over the June quarter as the company worked to onboard more than 25 transplant centres since the launch of Ryoncil.
The ASX 200 biotech stock said it expects to complete the onboarding process across all 45 priority transplant centres in the current quarter. Together, these account for around 80% of all US paediatric transplants.
Also likely grabbing investor attention, the company reported that coverage for Ryoncil continues to expand. It said that more than 250 million US residents are insured by commercial and government payers.
Mesoblast noted that Federal Medicaid coverage by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) is in place, and mandatory fee-for-service Medicaid coverage for Ryoncil became effective 1 July in all US states.
What did management say?
Commenting on the quarter results sending the Mesoblast share price rocketing today, CEO Silviu Itescu said:
We are pleased with the commercial launch activities of Ryoncil in the first quarter post-launch and look forward to updating on the current quarter's progress now that mandatory state CMS coverage has become effective as of July 1, and we complete onboarding of the remaining major US transplant centres.
