BRIEF—Spectrum Pharma files BLA for Rolontis

US biotech Spectrum Pharmaceuticals saw its shares fall as much as 13% yesterday, despite announcing that it had submitted a Biologics License Application (BLA) with the US Food and Drug Administration for Rolontis (eflapegrastim).

Rolontis is intended to treat neutropenis, low white blood cell count, in patients receiving certain types of chemotherapy.

“Rolontis is an important and significant future growth driver for our company,” said Joe Turgeon, president and chief executive of Spectrum Pharmaceuticals.

“Today’s milestone brings us one step closer to bringing the first novel G-CSF to healthcare providers in over 15 years in a large market that is familiar to Spectrum,” he added.

So why are shares tumbling today? While Rolontis is likely to become the first new granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) to hit the market in 15 years, analysts are projecting relatively tame peak sales that won't be achieved until the mid-2020s, according to The Motley Fool.

That's a long time away. Considering Spectrum Pharmaceuticals' stock collapsed earlier this month following news that the FDA rejected the company's bid for breakthrough therapy designation for one of its promising drug candidates, poziotini, it appears many investors are simply selling before the end of 2018 to harvest tax loss benefits.