Why ISIS Pharmaceuticals' Shares Dipped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of biotechnology company ISIS Pharmaceuticals (NAS: ISIS) dropped as much as 11% earlier in the trading session after reporting disappointing third-quarter earnings results.

So what: For the quarter, ISIS reported a higher loss per share relative to last year of $0.37 and revenue of $11.6 million. Although earnings reports aren't closely monitored by investors of clinical-stage companies, shareholders seem peeved that EPS was $0.10 worse than expected, and revenue was about half of Wall Street's forecast.

Now what: I don't often say this, but consider today's earnings report a short-term event -- perhaps even a non-event. All eyes should be on ISIS' homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia drug, Kynamro, which is being developed in collaboration with Sanofi (NYS: SNY) Â and received a statistically favorable, but still worrisome, 9-6 nod to recommend the drug by the Food and Drug Administration panel. At the moment, Aegerion Pharmaceuticals' (NAS: AEGR) lomitapide has a more clear and severe side-effect free path to approval than Kynamro, and investors will want to keep a close eye on both drugs in the coming months as we approach their FDA judgment day.

Craving more input? Start by adding ISIS Pharmaceuticals to your free and personalized Watchlist so you can keep up on the latest news with the company.

The article Why ISIS Pharmaceuticals' Shares Dipped originally appeared on Fool.com.

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