Delays push SkyePharma back into red
pharmafile | October 3, 2003 | News story | Sales and Marketing |
Drug delivery specialist SkyePharma losses grew in the first half of 2003 to £18.6m due primarily to delays to several milestone payments.
The company announced its first ever full-year profit of £1.3 million in April with a 51% rise in turnover, but warned at the time it could slip back into the red because of uncertainty over the timing of milestone payments from several partners.
In July, the companys problems mounted when it revealed a number of licensing deals had not been finalised.
The companys operating losses grew to £17m compared to £2m for the same period last year, and turnover fell by 18 per cent. Shares in the company dropped 15 per cent to 60p straight after the announcement.
But Chairman Ian Gowrie-Smith stressed that the outcome could be more positive, as royalty income still had the potential to negate the effects of the delays.
Royalties for the half-year exceeded those of the same period last year, and already amount to more than the total for 2002. Royalties are said to be key to the future rapid growth in earnings that Skye Pharma expects to achieve.
Skye Pharma is assured of a $5 million milestone payment from Endo Pharmaceuticals following the FDA accepting a new drug application DepoMorphine, Skye Pharmas sustained release formulation of morphine for post-operative pain.
Licensed to Endo in the US, the drug is expected to bring in a further $95m if approved, as well as 20-60% of the proceeds from sales.
Skye Pharma anticipates filing DepoMorphine with the European Agency for the
Evaluation of Medicinal products (EMEA) this autumn, as well as announcing its licensing partners.
Any delays in finding European partners could have further consequences for final full-year profits.
