Atara shares up behind slew of good news, earnings
Shares of Thousand Oaks-based Atara were seemingly in free-fall mode for much of the year, but over the past month, the company has racked up the wins and analysts and investors are taking note.
Most recently, Atara, a biotechnology company with two facilities in Thousand Oaks, announced its earnings results for the second quarter of 2025.
Announced Aug. 11, Atara announced that revenue for the second quarter was $17.6 million, as compared to $28.6 million for the same period in 2024.
Total revenues decreased by $11 million year-over-year, primarily due to the accelerated recognition of deferred revenue in the first quarter of 2025 following the transition of manufacturing responsibilities to Pierre Fabre Laboratories.
Despite that, the mark still beat analysts’ expectations, according to the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
Moreover, the company delivered a profit, with $2 million in net income for the quarter ended June 30, up from a net loss of $24 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company’s 20 cents earnings per share were enough to also beat analysts’ expectations.
As a result, shares of Atara were up about 5% the day after the company’s earnings announcement. Shares closed at $11.76 on Aug. 20.
Perhaps the even bigger news for the company, however, is the fact that its lead treatment could be getting approval to be used in the United States soon.
Shares of Thousand Oaks-based Atara Biotherapeutics finally saw a huge lift on the week of July 21, as the company announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted the filing of its Biologics License Application for tabelecleucel, or Ebvallo, the main product in its pipeline.
Shares climbed as high as $13.02 on July 22, a nearly 70% gain from June 22. Shares closed at $11.76 on Aug. 20, but are still up over 50% in the last two months.
Atara’s main treatment is aimed to be used as monotherapy for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients two years of age and older with Epstein-Barr virus-positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (EBV+ PTLD) who have received at least one prior therapy.
The BLA has been granted Priority Review with a Class 2 Resubmission Prescription Drug User Fee Act target action date of Jan. 10, according to the press release. If approved, Ebvallo would be the first approved therapy in the United States for Epstein-Barr virus-positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease.
“The acceptance of the tab-cel resubmission moves us one step closer towards making this first-of-its-kind treatment available to patients in the U.S.,” said Cokey Nguyen, president and CEO of Atara. “We continue to work closely with the Pierre Fabre Pharmaceuticals team to help prepare for the potential launch in the U.S.”
The FDA’s decision came about two weeks after Atara announced it would be resubmitting its application for the drug.
Ebvallo’s application was rejected by the FDA in mid-January, citing concerns not about the therapy itself, but from a pre-licensing inspection of a third-manufacturing facility that turned up problems.
That denial had quite the ramifications for Atara.
For one, shares of the Thousand Oaks-based company were hovering about $13-$16 before the announcement. Those same shares fell as much as 40% after the rejection and have yet to make their way back. Shares climbed about 2% after Atara resubmitted the license, with the stock price closing at $9.28 on July 14.
Due to the denial, Atara also announced that it would need either to secure more funding or significantly reduce company expenses in order to fulfill the FDA’s requests and get Ebvallo approved in the United States. It did so by significantly reducing company expenses and laying off nearly half its workforce.
Atara cut nearly 80 jobs from January to March, cutting 31 employees from its 1280 Rancho Conejo Blvd. research center by May 2. It cut 30% of its staff later in the year and is now left with about 23 employees.
The company’s headquarters is nearby at 2380 Conejo Spectrum St., Suite 200, in Thousand Oaks.
Atara Biotherapeutics resubmitted the Ebvallo BLA on July 11, having rapidly addressed the third-party manufacturing facility observations outlined in the January 2025 Complete Response Letter in collaboration with Pierre Fabre.
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