There's a conference call at 11:00 am EDT today. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/questcor-conduct-conference-call-discuss-003600492.html In the latest quarter QCOR shipped a total of 4,710 vials of Acthar vs 2,430 for the same quarter in 2011. Ninety six, or just 2% were for Infantile Spasms, the ONLY condition Aetna will now cover. If other insuruers follw suit, this couldkill QCOR. Scroll down the page 21 to see the breakdown in sales. http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/displayfilinginfo.aspx?filingid=8730917&tabindex=2&type=html
Piper Jaffray's comments September 19, 2012 Questcor (QCOR): Overweight Much Misunderstanding About Aetna Policy Bulletin on Acthar; Buy on Weakness CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT CONCLUSION We believe that the claim that Aetna will not cover Acthar at all, based on a recent clinical policy bulletin, is not accurate. The language in the bulletin is highly nuanced, and our read is that this is at worst more restrictive prior authorization/step edits surrounding Acthar, and likely only in the multiple sclerosis (MS) relapse setting at that. Given that usage of Acthar (beyond infantile spasms (IS)) is generally already limited to patients failing prior treatments (often multiple prior treatments), we do not see how Aetna's statement will usher in a sea change in the way Acthar is viewed, broadly speaking, by managed care organizations (MCO), particularly given that there have been a number of recent favorable coverage decisions from other MCO's (see below for more details). Our bullish thesis on Questcor is unchanged, and we reiterate our Overweight rating and $67 PT. ⢠Would not interpret Aetna statement as a major change in how Acthar will be covered. The statement notes that Acthar is "not medically necessary for "corticosteroid-responsive conditions"" because it is not more effective than corticosteroids (also referred to Acthar as "rarely" necessary in "corticosteroid-responsive conditions"). The statement does not explicitly say that it will not reimburse for Acthar in a patient failing prior treatment(s) with corticosteroids. It is a reality that a minority of patients with conditions like nephrotic syndrome (NS) or dermatomyositis/polymyositis (DM/PM) do not respond too well to corticosteroids or cannot tolerate them. These are the kind of patients that QCOR has been targeting. Interestingly, Aetna made public statements earlier today that implied that its policy bulletin was driven by feedback from neurologists. The implication, at least on the surface, is that the policy statement is designed more to address usage in MS (intuitive in our view given the large size of the market and the large and growing costs borne by MCO's for MS treatments in general). We did speak with a number of Aetna representatives who indicated that Acthar will be covered, though with restrictive prior authorization (which has generally been the norm already). ⢠What of other coverage decisions? These certainly look favorable for Acthar. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, and UnitedHealth all came out with coverage decisions this summer clearly providing access to Acthar in cases of corticosteroid failure/intolerance (refer to the chart on the following page). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also came out with a coverage statement in October 2011 that made it clear that Acthar has limited value in "conditions responsive to corticosteroid therapy", but yet still provides broad access in a range of conditions including MS (in other words, there is managed care recognition that when corticosteroids as an option have been exhausted, Acthar is a reasonable alternative).
Just a thought for you guys convinced it's going back to 50$ ... you can buy the Oct 40-42 call spread for like .20 cents (@29.50) - 10 contracts will cost ya 200$ versus 100 shares of stock which will run ya 2900$ Using options is alot easier way of making ~2000$ ... let's face it the stock could be 15$... I'm locked in either way with a 38>40 call spread and a 42>40 put spread - an Oct close right at 40$ doubles my money. I could have tried to close the Oct puts but the spreads are so wide it was almost as cheap to buy the call spread & it gives me the chance to double my money. GLTA
More pain, people. Glad I dumped at 32 last Friday. Premarket is at 21.95 right now. Leerink flip-flopped, last week they reiterated support for QCOR. 06:16 (QCOR) Questcor downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink Leerink downgraded Questcor citing increased Acthar reimbursement risk. The firm has a $35 price target for shares. 06:07 (QCOR) Questcor says government investigation involves company's promotional practices On September 21, Questcor Pharmaceuticals became aware of a U.S. government investigation involving the Company's promotional practices. The Company intends to cooperate with the government in its investigation. Company representatives will not be able to provide any additional information on this matter, other than through potential public Regulation FD-compliant disclosures.
Pop today didn't last long ....... buyback news is good, but it'd be nice to see mgmt step up and buy back some of those shares they dumped... I snapped up some Jan 16$ calls yesterday hoping for a pop over 20$ ~ I'm way ahead from put spreads ~
They didn't do anything to address the insurer reimbursement drops nor the government investigation of their marketing methods. Maybe they have nothing new to add at this time. But a (potentially one-time) dividend of 20 cents and a share buyback isn't going to counteract the feeling that revenues could drop big. They need to provide some clarity on this.