Sage Therapeutics, Inc. SAGE reported a loss of $1.56 per share for the fourth quarter of 2024, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $1.45. The company had reported a loss of 55 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.

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Revenues in the fourth quarter totaled $12.8 million, significantly down from $78 million reported in the year-ago period. Revenues missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14 million.

The year-over-year revenue decline was due to a $75 million license and milestone revenue recorded in the year-ago quarter

SAGE markets its new depression drug Zurzuvae (zuranolone) in partnership with drug giant Biogen BIIB. Zurzuvae, the first and only oral treatment indicated for adults with postpartum depression (PPD), was approved in August 2023 and was commercially launched in December 2023.

In the past year, shares of Sage Therapeutics have plunged 68.7% compared with the industry’s decline of 9.5%.

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More on SAGE's Q4 Earnings

Total revenues in the reported quarter comprised product and collaboration revenues.

Product revenues came in at $0.4 million, recorded from the company’s first marketed drug, Zulresso (brexanolone), which was approved in 2019, as the first-ever FDA-approved treatment for adults with PPD. Zulresso sales plunged 63.3% year over year due to cannibalization from Zurzuvae.

Collaboration revenues from the sale of Zurzuvae were $11.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, up 3.6% on a sequential basis.

Sage Therapeutics and partner Biogen equally shares profits and losses for the commercialization of Zurzuvae in the United States. In ex-U.S. markets, Biogen records product sales (excluding Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, where Shionogi holds the rights) and pays royalties to SAGE.

BIIB recorded around $22.9 million in Zurzuvae product sales in the fourth quarter.

Per Sage Therapeutics, around 2,500 prescriptions were shipped and delivered during the quarter, representing an increase of 21% sequentially.

Research & development (R&D) expenses were $37 million, down 42.5% from the year-ago quarter’s levels. The downside was due to restructuring measures, including reduced headcount and lower spending on early-stage pipeline programs.

Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) declined 2% from the prior-year quarter’s figure to $54 million. The downside was caused by reduced headcount and lower expenditures.

The company had $504 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of Dec. 31, 2024 compared with $569 million on Sept. 30, 2024. This cash balance, combined with expected funding from collaboration revenues and potential savings from the recent reorganization, is expected to support SAGE’s ongoing operations into mid-2027.

SAGE's Full-Year Results

For 2024, Sage Therapeutics generated revenues of $41.2 million, reflecting a 52.4% decline year over year.

For the same period, the company reported an adjusted loss of $6.59 per share compared with a loss of $9.05 per share in the year-ago period.

2025 Guidance

The company anticipates operating expenses to substantially decline in 2025 compared with 2024. SAGE also expects Zurzuvae joint commercialization investment to increase in 2025.

SAGE's Key Developments & Pipeline Updates

Biogen made an acquisition offer to buy the remaining shares of SAGE that it does not already own for $7.22 per share earlier in January 2025.

Last month, the company’s board of directors rejected the unsolicited, non-binding proposal offer from Biogen to acquire the remaining shares of SAGE as it significantly undervalued the company and was not in the best interest of shareholders.

Sage Therapeutics has also faced several pipeline setbacks in recent times.

In September 2024, Biogen terminated its rights under the collaboration and license agreement with SAGE related to the development of neurology candidate, SAGE-324, for treating essential tremor (ET). A phase II study on SAGE-324 for the chronic treatment of ET failed in July 2024.

We remind investors that following a string of pipeline setbacks related to the development of SAGE’s neuropsychiatric candidate, dalzanemdor (formerly SAGE-718), the company decided to stop the development of the candidate for all indications in November 2024.

Several phase II studies, which evaluated dalzanemdor for treating cognitive impairment associated with Huntington’s Disease, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild dementia in Alzheimer’s Disease and MCI associated with Parkinson’s disease, have failed to meet the primary endpoints.

SAGE is currently evaluating SAGE-324 for potential indications, including seizures in developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs). An update on the next steps of development of SAGE-324, if any, is expected in mid-2025.

Sage Therapeutics is developing SAGE-319, its wholly-owned extra-synaptic-preferring GABA-A receptor-positive allosteric modulator, as a potential treatment for behavioral symptoms associated with certain neurodevelopmental disorders.

SAGE's Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Sage Therapeutics currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the biotech sector are Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc. HRMY and Pacira BioSciences, Inc. PCRX, both 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 Harmony Biosciences’ earnings per share have increased from $2.64 to $3.16 for 2025. In the past year, shares of HRMY have surged 9.2%.

HRMY’s earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters while missing the same on the remaining occasion, the average surprise being 147.24%.

In the past 60 days, estimates for Pacira BioSciences’ earnings per share have increased from $2.79 to $3.40 for 2025. In the past year, shares of PCRX have decreased 9.2%.

PCRX’s earnings beat estimates in two of the trailing four quarters and met the same once while missing the same on the remaining occasion, the average surprise being 7.13%.

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