BioMarin's second-quarter losses reduced $382 million

BioMarin Pharmaceutical reaped $317 million in second-quarter revenue, up 6 percent from the same quarter in 2016, according to the company's earnings report released on Wednesday.

The Novato-based company, with major presence also in San Rafael, had even rosier figures for the first half of 2017, up 16 percent over last year's numbers to $621 million.

Still the company, with CEO and chairman Jean-Jacques Bienaimé, ran at a loss of $37 million for the second quarter, but far less than the $419 million loss in the same quarter last year. The current quarter's losses amounted to 21 cents per diluted share. The huge improvement in losses year over year was due mostly to lack of a $599 million impairment of intangible assets due to discontinuance of Kyndrisa and Reveglucosidase alfa (BMN 701) programs in 2016.

In May 2016, BioMarin pulled its Kyndrisa application from the European Medicines Agency because its Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use planned to issue a negative opinion. Kydrisa is an experimental drug used to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

In June 2016, BioMarin dropped development of its drug for Pompe disease, also called acid maltase deficiency. In the disease, glycogen accumulates in cells and wrecks their ability to function normally. The drug, reveglucosidase alfa, is a synthetic form of the enzyme normally produced in a human body. That enzyme helps metabolize accumulated glycogen.

BioMarin, which has six main drugs on the market, had two huge contributors to second-quarter revenue: Kuvan, with $102 million, and Vimizim, with $103 million.

Kuvan, sapropterin dihydrochloride, treats a genetic disorder called phenylketonuria. BioMarin bought global rights to Kuvan in 2015 from Merck for 340 million euros, about $405 million. PKU is rare, and causes amino acid phenylalanine to build up in the body. The buildup of the amino acid can cause grave health problems.

Vimizim treats patients with mucopolysaccharidosis type IV-A, also called Morquio A syndrome, which is a metabolic disorder that inhibits the body's ability to process certain mucopolysaccharides. It is usually inherited.

James Dunn covers technology, biotech, law, the food industry, and banking and finance. Reach him at: james.dunn@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4257