VRTX Q2 Earnings Beat, Stock Down as Pain Drug Misses Study Goal

Vertex Pharmaceuticals VRTX reported adjusted earnings of $4.52 per share for the second quarter of 2025, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.24. In the year-ago quarter, the company had incurred an adjusted loss of $12.83 per share, reflecting the costs related to the $4.9 billion acquisition of Alpine Immune Sciences.

Vertex reported total revenues of $2.96 billion for the second quarter, which also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.89 billion. Total revenues rose 12% year over year, primarily driven by higher sales of Trikafta/Kaftrio (marketed as Kaftrio in Europe) and early contributions from the three ongoing launches.

VRTX’s total revenues comprised cystic fibrosis (“CF”) and other products revenues, as well as other collaboration revenues.

Shares of Vertex have rallied 17.3% so far this year compared with the industry’s rise of 0.2%.

VRTX's Q2 Earnings in Detail

Total revenues rose 14% year over year in the United States to $1.85 billion, reflecting strong patient demand. Outside the United States, sales increased 8% to $1.12 billion due to strong performance across multiple geographies and a contribution from Casgevy.

The company recorded $20.7 million of collaboration revenues in the second quarter.

Vertex’s total product revenues comprise sales of Trikafta/Kaftrio, the newly approved CFTR modulator therapy, Alyftrek (vanza triple) and other product revenues, including the newly approved pain drug, Journavx (suzetrigine) and Casgevy.

Trikafta generated sales worth $2.55 billion, up 4.2% year over year. The product’s sales narrowly missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.56 billion but beat our model estimate of $2.50 billion.

Vertex’s fifth CF medicine, Alyftrek, was approved by the FDA in December 2024 for treating people with CF aged six years and older. The European Commission approved Alyftrek for a similar indication in July.

Alyftrek generated sales worth $156.8 million in the second quarter compared with $53.9 million recorded in the first quarter of 2025. Management said it is seeing a steady uptake from all patient groups who are eligible for treatment with Alyftrek in the United States.

Revenues from other products increased 20.2% year over year to $236.1 million.

Other product revenues included sales from Vertex and partner CRISPR Therapeutics’ CRSP one-shot gene therapy, Casgevy, sales from Vertex’s new pain drug, Journavx, as well as sales of VRTX’s other CF products, Symdeko/Symkevi (marketed as Symkevi in Europe), Orkambi and Kalydeco.

Casgevy sales of $30.4 million surged 114.1% on a sequential basis, reflecting strong adoption. Per management, the global launch of Casgevy continues to gain momentum with patient initiations, cell collections and infusions.

VRTX and CRSP’s new drug, Casgevy, is approved for two blood disorders, sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia.

Vertex leads the global development and commercialization of Casgevy under the terms of the 2021 agreement with support from CRISPR Therapeutics.

Journavx, an oral, non-opioid, highly selective NaV1.8 pain signal inhibitor, was approved by the FDA for the treatment of adults with moderate-to-severe acute pain in January 2025. The drug generated sales worth $12 million in the second quarter. Per management, Journavx has been witnessing positive feedback from physicians and patients.

VRTX's Q2 Cost Discussion

Adjusted research and development (R&D) expenses were up 25.9% year over year to $878.1 million, while adjusted selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses increased 28.2% to $359.4 million in the reported quarter due to higher investment associated with ongoing clinical studies for various pipeline candidates and the build-out of commercial capabilities in pain.

During the second quarter, Vertex recorded acquired in-process research and development (AIPR&D) costs of $2.2 million compared with $4.44 billion reported in the year-ago quarter, which included the acquisition of Alpine Immune Sciences.

Adjusted operating income was almost $1.33 billion in the second quarter against an adjusted operating loss of $3.15 billion.

VRTX's 2025 Guidance

The company maintained its total revenue guidance for full-year 2025, which it had provided earlier this year.

Vertex continues to expect total revenues in the range of $11.85-$12 billion for 2025. The guidance takes into account the continued growth in CF medicines, including the ongoing launch of Alyftrek, the uptake of Casgevy and early contributions from the launch of Journavx.

Combined adjusted R&D, AIPR&D and SG&A expense for 2025 is expected in the band of $4.9-$5 billion. The adjusted tax rate is expected to be in the range of 20.5%-21.5%.

VRTX's Pipeline Update

In a separate press release, Vertex announced top-line data from a phase II study that evaluated the safety and efficacy of its investigational next-gen Nav1.8 inhibitor, VX-993, administered orally for treating acute pain after bunionectomy surgery.

Data from the same showed that treatment with VX-993, administered orally, failed to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement on the primary endpoint of the time-weighted sum of the pain Intensity Difference from 0 to 48 hours versus placebo.

Following the disappointing results, the company decided not to advance VX-993 into pivotal development as a monotherapy for acute pain. Per management, it is not likely to be superior to Vertex’s existing NaV1.8 inhibitors.

This hurt investors' sentiments and resulted in the stock declining 14.4% in after-hours trading on Aug. 4.

VX-993 (oral formulation) is also being evaluated in a separate phase II study for treating diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), a form of peripheral neuropathic pain caused by damage to nerves.

Vertex continues to enroll and dose patients in a pivotal phase III study evaluating suzetrigine for treating patients with DPN.

In December 2024, Vertex announced unimpressive data from a phase II study evaluating suzetrigine for treating painful lumbosacral radiculopathy (LSR), another form of peripheral neuropathic pain, which showed largely undifferentiated pain reduction from placebo.

Vertex also has a rapidly advancing mid to late-stage pipeline in other disease areas, like APOL1-mediated kidney diseases, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and cell therapy for type 1 diabetes (T1D).

The acquisition of Alpine in May 2024 added povetacicept to Vertex’s pipeline. Povetacicept is designed to target two proteins, namely BAFF and APRIL, which are jointly responsible for the cause of multiple serious autoimmune diseases.

The phase III RAINIER study is investigating povetacicept for the treatment of IgA nephropathy. Vertex is on track to initiate a phase II/III study on povetacicept in patients with primary membranous nephropathy later in 2025.

Vertex is developing zimislecel in the phase III portion of the ongoing phase I/II/III study for treating patients with T1D with severe hypoglycemic events (SHEs) and impaired awareness of hypoglycemia. Enrollment and dosing in this study are expected to be completed later in 2025. Vertex plans to submit regulatory filings seeking approval for zimislecel in T1D in 2026.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated Quote

VRTX's Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Vertex currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the biotech sector are CorMedix CRMD and Immunocore IMCR, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

In the past 60 days, estimates for CorMedix’s earnings per share have increased from 93 cents to 97 cents for 2025. During the same time, earnings per share estimates for 2026 have increased from $1.64 to $1.65. Year to date, shares of CRMD have rallied 52.7%.

CorMedix’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 25.82%.

In the past 60 days, estimates for Immunocore’s 2025 loss per share have narrowed from 86 cents to 68 cents. Loss per share estimates for 2026 have narrowed from $1.34 to $1.10 during the same period. IMCR stock has increased 10.3% year to date.

Immunocore’s earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters while missing the same on the remaining occasion, the average surprise being 76.18%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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